The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-07
coNcnrrr nuILpIras.

Concrete. or .1iquid stone." as 1t is sometimes called. is fast winning its way into favor as substitute for brick. stone and wood as building material writer in The Technical
 World Magazine tells something of how the modern engineer is utilizing and extending it in various sections.
 He says:
 First he builds the gaunt steel skel- eton of a sky-scraper, with a wood en mould of the desired width about the thin steel girders: Into .als ssts m1sla few hours for 1t to harden: Then the wooden shields are removeds and there stands smooth wall. which grows and will withstand a..greater pressure than granite or steel itself. Or he builds great bridge, leaping hun. slender steel rods. forces concrete i'm side the temporary wooden skin which marks the desired shape, and has, next mbonnlns bsanty witch viii defy ali shs powe1 of winds and waves anke. or. where twenty years ago a tall Ih,mney would have sss ana Sossn 4s est n spider web. pours his liquid stone into thin shell of less tha na dozen inch eTins ano h1ndrsds 1saG fnS of feet into the air and strong enough. to stand anythins short of cyclone!
 That concrete walls with steel cores will make a safe and durable build- ing seems well establihed, and the same is doubtless true of chimneys and various other structures heretofore constructed of brick. but we confess to some doubt about the bridge con- struction as above described. A bridge of wide span. built of concrete and slender steel rods" would not, 1t seems to us, be a safe structure for heavy trafic. The danger can be ob- viated, of course, by having the steel core so strong that there would be no giving way. and then the concrete would solidify and steady the struct- ure and doubtless make it safer and more durable than if made in the usual way.
 But whatever uncertainty or dimcul- ties may iie in the way of this kind of bridge 1t is certain that concrete appears now to be the building mate rial of the future. The raw material lis practically without limit. and it's preparation offers no material dim culties. It can be moulded into blocks of any form or size and laid in walls as brick or stone is laid, or the walls can be built solid, as above indicated, by using wooden shields or mouids and pouring the concrete into them. as is sometimes done. In either case we have a wall which win be as solid as natural granite, and the limit of it's durability has not been ascertain ed. No one can yet tell whether walls of this kind will endure for centu- ries. as some of the ancient stone and brick structures have done. but the opinion of experts seems to be that it will stand the test of ages and not fail.
 Buildings of this character are some what expensive, as compared with the cheap wooden buildings now so com mon, but that difficulty will disappear in two ways. Tn the first place. as the concrete comes more and more into general use it will be manufactured at less cost than at present and in | the second, wood for building is be- coming scarcer and higher priced. so | that we may expect that before many
 years the concrete will be the cheaper l material But even if the first cost
 of a building should be greater than
 one of wood the disadvantage will be
 far overcome by having safer and more
 durable houses. In fact, any way we
 look at it the prospects are that con-
 crete is going to be the building ma | terial of the future.