Bisbee daily review., 1906-06-27
AT DOUGLAS
CAST STONE ENTERPRISE IS ONE OF MOST IMPORTANT IN
 SOUTHWEST.

DOUGLAS, June 26.-(Special.l l- one Of the important enterprises of Douglas and of southern Arizona is the factory of the Douglas Cast Stone Company, located in this city. Re- ] gently this enterprise has passed to
 the control of new owners. some of
 the old stockholders selling their in-
 terests. Under the new arrangement w M Adamson, mayor of the city, is
 manager of the concern.
 Mir. Adamson is now receiving new
 machinery and equipment, which will
 turn out better quality of material
 from the several departments than
 ever before. The products of this ! factory consist of building blocks,
 manufactured from sand and Portland cement, and Litholyte cement plaster. The output of these products is being increased, and 1t is the intention to add to the plant machinery for the manufacture of sand-lime pressed
 brick. It is intended to turn out these brick at the rate of 10000 per day. Mir. Adamson will start in a short time to make the purchase of this plant. LithoIyte Cement Plaster. The plaster turned out by the Doug las Cast Stone factory is manufactur- | ed from gypsum rock, the company | owning a large quarry of this material 1 six miles east of Douglas. For the present output about fifteen tons of | gypsum is required for every twenty four hours. The rock is very soft, and l nothing but pick and shovel is re QuiTed to dig it from the quarry. 1 The gypsum is first fed into an i'm mense kettle, where it is roasted, be- | ing heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit | From this kettle the gypsum, after | being pulyeriZed into the finest four | s carried through q series of screens or bolts. and from the screens it is carried 10 a retarding machine, which i gives to it the proper temper. Leay- ] ing the retarding machine, the cement i then goes through fibering machinery, | when it is ready TOT sacking.
 This plaster is pronounced by all 1 builders who have used it to be equal ! to the best ever manufactured in the 1 southwest, and has been used CXtcu- sively in this city for the past two 1 years. II has also found d market l with increasing demand, at Phoenix, 1 Tucson. Tombstone, Cananea. Bisbee, l Fl PasO, Deming and Silver City. ! The plant for making the cement is 1 to be double in capacity by the addi- ! 4-Du Cl d SEJOUQ IpdoiiDS httltt. plGLS 1 for which have already been adopted. , The present output of cement amounts l to twelve tons daily.
 i The cement plaster is turned out in | three grades. or qualities known as fibered, unfibered and unretarded. l The fibered cement is the higher qual- l ity, for scratch coat and lath work. | The unfibered is for finish coat and fer brick and adobe work. The unre-
 tarded IS for use by mining compa- nies in operating diamond drills, as it
 sets very readily in water.
 ! Cement Building Blocks.
 The making of cement building | blocks, which forms part of the in 1 dustry of the Douglas Cast Stone fac tory, is a process of making sand stone. The material used is the best quality of sand and Portland cement. This plant includes special machn- cry for making the face of the blocks two parts sand and one part cement, the remainder of the block being com posed Of five parts sand and gravel and one part cement. After the blocks are cast in the machines or mClds they are removed to the palace sheds, which contain a roof and sidings, with an eighteen-inch space for the clrcula-
 ton of air immediately under the roof. The blocks are carried to the
 shed by means of an overhead carrier
 and placed so that a free circulation of air surrounds each block. On ar. irving at the shed the blocks are kept damp by constant sprinkling for fifteen to twenty days. Power is now
 used in tamping the blocks as they are being nodded. This is a new addi, ton to the process, as formerly the tamping was done by hand. The tamp,
 ing is now done by pneumatic tamp
 CT, manufactured by the Chicago
 Pneumatic Company and by the In gersOll-Sergeant Company. This pow
 CT tamping results in a much better
 block than could be produced by hand tamping, besides reduces the time re , quired for molding.
 The palace sheds will be extended
 to a capacity of accommodating eight
 hundred blocks The time required for the manufacture and curing Oi
 blocks is thirty days.
 The sand and cement is prepared
 for the molds by the American Con
 crete Mechanical Mixer, which mixes
 the material both dry and wet, thus
 insuring perfect mixture, which is one } of the essential features in making } durable blocks.
 ] The entire plant is operated by 8
 fifty-horse power plant, oil being used as fuel and also for roasting the gyp sum rock.