The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-08-16
LIQUID STONE AGE
IS NOW WITH US
INCREASING USE OF CEMENT AS
A BUILDING MATERIAL.

Technical World Magazine.

Concrete Is the new medium OF the
engineering wonder-worker. First he
builds the gaunt skyscraper with q
wooden mold of the desired width
mold he forces the liquid stone. and
waits q few hours for it to harden.
Then the wooden shields are removed,
and there stands a smooth wall, which
grows harder with the passage of each
day and win withstand q greater pres
sure than granite or steel itself. Or
he builds great bridge. leaping q
hundred and fifty feet at single span,
of slender steel rods, forces concrete
which marks the desired shape, and
has, next morning, a structure of
strength and beauty, which will defy
all the power of winds and waves
alike. Or, where twenty years ago q
tall chimney would have been labor
iously built up, brick by brick, and q
dozen feet in thickness at the base,
he spins his steel spider-web, pours
his liquid stone into thin she'll Of
less than dozen inches and behold q
slender structure towering hundreds OF
stand anything short of q Cyclone.
Varied Uses Of Cement.
skyscrapers, sidewalks, bridges, fence
posts, dams, roofing tiles, telegraph
poles. railroad ties, residences, piles,
chtmneys-these are q few Of the uses
to which concrete has been successfully
put within the last few years.
In 1890 the total production Of Port
land cement in the United States was
600 barrels were produoed-an increase
Of nearly 10000 per cent in fifteen
years. That marks tho growth of the
concrete industry in the same period
for cement is the essential element il
concrete.
| Fifteen years ago concrete was used
principally for foundations and side
walks. It is estimated that during these
fifteen years enough concrete walks
have been laid tos girdle the earth {
dozen times. They are more easily lait
than walks Of natural stone, and ar,
more attractive and durable. But tn,
day when concrete was only trampet
under foot went by several years ago
The industry of making concrete
| building blocks has become large on,
| within the last five years, and in al
most every city and town can b,
found residences and business block.
built of this material. The growins
scarcity and increasing price of lum
be more generally used for bnildin,
purposes. Artistic residences are bull
Of concrete building blocks. They ar
comfortable, being cooler in summe
and warmer in winter than building
constructed Of other materials.
| Office Buildings and Bridges.
Recently there has been built at Lo
Angeles a reinforced concrete girder 10
feet long. In other places there are
tho Is and 20 feet are the more com
mon spans employed. Several ofic
buildings fifteen and sixteen storie
high have been built Of reinforce'
concrete, the largest pieces of steel j
them being rods Of only IN inches Il
diameter.
Concrete bridges with clear spans O
more than 100 feet have been erecte
both in this country and abroad, an
great number Of highway bridges az
being built. 1t is safe to say that with
In a short time no other material tina
concrete will ever be employed i
bridge construction.
In a number of cases, reinforce
railroad ties have been used with SUI
arising from the lack Of resiliency, ye
there 1s absolutely no doubt that thi
and other difficulties viii be overcom
/ and within the next ten years concret
will be the material from which o.
, railroad ties and roadbeds will be bull
We are approaching in this countr
| an era of track elevation such as
, employed in European countries. an
/ here concrete is used almost exclusivel
: for retaining walls. In fact, thel
/ seems to be no place in which concret
, cannot be used to advantage. Hundred
: of patents are being taken out esc
: month FOR applications Of this wonde
: full material.