The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1906-08-31

NOW WORK
Planning to Erect Ten-ROom
Concrete House at 5000.
EVERY PART COMPLETE
Even Plumbing, Gas Fittings, Ornamental
Siairways and Dorn,er Windows
to be Included in Mould.

Whole houses nodded in a single cast.
ing ont of solid concrete. which will
provide cosy homes for workingmen at
cost from $500 to S60J-much less
than the average mechanic pays to.
day is the goal which Thomas A. Edi-
soa Is striving to reach. He is conf
cent of success. Combined with econ
omy OF construction and maintenance,
the inventor aims to embody architect
ural beauty and practical indestruct-
bilty.
Mr.. Edison intends to make his first
practical experiments next year in his
new village in Warren county, New
Jersey. One of the big Edison indus
trial establishments is situated there,
and he proposes to erect the homes by
the new process for the families of the
hundreds of employees of the plant. If
he succeeds in demonstrating the prac-
ticability of the scheme he will intro
duce it generally.
He has already conceived every de-
tail of the project Four days at the
outside is the period Edison estimates
Will be necessary to erect and turn out
whole houses, with from eight to ten
rooms each, complete in almost every
detail and ready to be furnished and
carpeted. The actual time for pump
ing the concrete into the metallic moulds
will be- only a few hours. and the rest
of the time will be consumed in drying
out and hardening. Whole cities of
concrete may be reared in the brief
period of four days, if only enough
moulds and men are provided.
Mr.. Edison thinks that the time is
near when the world must find some
substitute for brick and lumber. The
yellow pine forests of the United States
will be destroyed within fifty years, if
the present drain upon them is main
TENED.
Describing the plan in detail, Mr..
Edison said:
THE first step will be to employ an
architect to design, say, dozen dwell
ing houses of different patterns.
propose to have metallic molds to cor
respond. The molds for each house
will be separate plates and small molds
that can be screwed together easily to
form one mold for an entire house.
That Il fine finish may be obtained, the
inside surfaces of the parts will be
nickle plated.
After the mold for the whole house
is set up, it will be "A simple matter to
pump the concrete into every nook and
Granny. After four days the parts of
the mold will be unscrewed and taken
Oft and the solid concrete house will re-
main.
Mr. Edison says that the plan will be
carried out in such detail that dormer
windows, chimneys, spOuts and orna-
mental designs will be nodded with the
whole and that inside cupboards, fire
places, stairways with ornamental ban
nisters, mantcl pieces, and even bath
tubs will be formed in the cast IN which
the house proper will be made.
The house will be so complete that
when the mold is removed the install
lation of electric wires, window sashes,
etc, will be all that will be necessary
before the furnishers and carpet layers
may go to work. Even the plumbing
and gas piping will be of concrete ana
nodded in the original cast.
AS a practical demonstration of what
may be accomplished by the process
Edison has built "A complete chicken
house in his back yard, nodded in one
solid piece out of concrete. 1t has many
compartments and doorways and de-
corated cornices of intricate design.
The orig intl cost Of each mold with
all it's component parts, the inventor
estimates at $25, 900. From each mold,
however, he says an unlimited number
of houses may be produced. Because
the parts of the mold are to be detach-
able, it will be portable and one mold
may be sent with little difficulty from
town to town. About ninety houses
could be built in one year by the use of
a single mold, at cost of from $500 to
5000 a)iece.