The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1905-09-16
VOL. XVII.
USB CT REINFORCED CON-
CRETE ON WASHIN G.
TONS, UNION SQUARE.
n 1 Foundation of Wire Net-Huge
MASS Of Cement Held Together by
Tiny interviewer Strands Of Metal
Advance Uses Of the Material.


The Union Railway station al
washington, which is TO be one O
tho group Of great buildings that will,
emhellish the city, has reached q
mint where an idea can be gained
NJ #, hugeness. The location of the
huilding however, required some en-
g,neering work of an unusual char
Il acter. for it has been set up IN the
\ air SO to speak, in order to have the
railway tracks on level with the
elevated viaductS which are 10 be
used in the city instead of grade
crossings. 1t IS an actual fact that
the main floor OF the stat N where
the waiting room is located, is nearly
sixty feet above the surface o. the
Potomac river. The basement is
about forty feet above tide water it.
self. Consequently it was necessary
to iii in the station site with an enor-
nous amount of material. In fact
the preparation of the sic aud the
foundations Of the big buildin, com.
prise one of the most important fea-
lures of the entire work. Son.c of
the portions Of the plaza surrounding
the depot will be thirty-five feet
above the original level Of the ground
when the work of grading Is COM
pleted, and to fill up this great hole
nearly million cubic yards of earth
we're required. The hilly character of
This part of Washington required a
great deal Of eXcavating as we'll, and
for over year past huge steam |
shoyels, each handling over a tbous-
and cubic yards every ten hours,
have been in service for the filling
and eXcavating on the station site,
and its approaches represent the re-
m0val Of over $500 C0G cubic yards
Of material in all.
When plans for the depot were be-
Ing considered, the question Of ma
terial to properly support it was of
course an important problem. Realiz.
Ing the progress which has been
made in concrete work in this coun-
Try, the engineers finally decided that
this material would serve as we'll al
natural stone. To supply the mason.
~ support for the outer wall and the
Interior weight, however, no less than
10000 cubic yards OF concrete have
oeen required, nodded into forms,
With reinforcement of metal. Some
OF this was in the form of iron rolls
buried In the blocks, but later, how
ever, 1t was decided to use a sort
of wire formation, the strands of
wire ranging from onc-quarter to
nearly half inch in thickness. This
was, 80 to speak, woven into the COZ.
,fete, being placed in the moulds and
ne mixture poured around 1t. Thus
ae piers and other formations have
metallic skeleton which the en-.
1neers say greatly adds to its
trengtn. That 1t has enormous re- !
power and will withstand the
'lsn OF q very great weight is
nown oy the fact that the ponderous
'eei Orders above 1t have not af-
ected this artificial superstructure 9
the fraction of an inch. $
Inc outside supporting walls n u
0me places extend to a height Of no 0
- taan forty-fve feet from their a
ase' with a thickness which ranges =
great as twenty feet, but perhaps IL
y most massive formations of this Is
,mposilion are some of the pillars IL
ulcn support the interior framework a.
me building. Owing to the great 81
elsnt resting upon them it war nec. "
,sls 10 mould a large number of u
'umns' the size varying according "
me requirements. While some are cl
y Two or three feet square, others u
really enormous piers, no less .
= i 'nirty feet in length by twenty 10
: ~ width. The height of the re- "
ulns walls and pillars was OF OF
lise governed by the formation up. pr
"a'cn they rest, it being neces- "r
= "a many instances to make a nc
SIDERABLE excavation in order TO CO
sn q suitable base. Jo
.cspite the dimensions of the work
'ne large amount of material re.
~ Ior the retaining walls and ,
sr supports, remarkably short m,
: uas oeen needed to complete ca
!, ,suostucture, while the simplicity an
'ue methods used forms one Of it
most interesting features. AS a ot]
.'er OF TACT the average number Of its
"no nave been employed in wi
uhng and mixing the concrete in
3 tne molds, making and remoy. te,
uoius mas not been over $50. no
material for the station was mix. OF
.'most entirely by a gravity pro- at,
AT convenient point a trestle bu
erected, on which the carloads OF in
1ea stone and sand were pushed. fal
emptied into bins built be- ler
Z the trestle. The bins were so,
= reach of derrick placed on inc
platform OF the mixer. When q ye
2 OF concrete was to be made In
cars containing buckets were thi
under the proper bins and loaded es,
the required quantity Of stone q
sand. The buckets were then 10,
Iferred to the mixing platform By ch
% Of the derrick, whore the ce- Il,