The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1907-10-31
RAP|OHOUSEDU|LD
Edison to Erect Concrete Struc-
ture In Half a Day.
WITH ELEVEN ROOMS IN II.

/ Viii Cost Less, Than $1,000, Says the
Wixard--Deciares Poor Man Can
Own = Palace and Need Not Live In
Box For Home.
"The poor man need no longer live
In box for house" said Thomas A.
Edison recently to a representative or
| the New York Globe at his laboratory
In Orange. N. j. He can own pal
ace
Before next summer I will build a
three story, indestructible concrete
house that laboring man earning
S1.50 a day can buy and run. 1t will
ISbe as artistic and comfortable as any
Fifth avenue mansion and will be built
in half a day Come up and see it."
Had any one else made these state
was a dreamer. But when Edison had
led you through the balconies of his
study. packed with charts, diagrams
and models of his successful inven-
tions. you began to believe him. Then
when he had reached the top floor OF
the building, thrown open the door Of
a spacious room fitted with quarter
size model of the house and pointed
out of the window to huge concrete
building in the distance, where he was
making machinery to build not only
one, but thousands of houses like It,
you knew that lie meant business.
There 1t is,' he said briefly, though
with bit Of pride heightening his
clear gray eyes. The model was a
three story Queen Anne house with n
high peaked tiled roof and a bay front
very suggestive of the houses on Riv-
erside drive in New York. The eleven
rooms were high studded and well
| lighted. The walls within and with
out were frescoed simply.
'sYou hardly think we can put that
up in half day?" the inventor ques-
toned in his shrill, high pitched voice
"Well, we can, and for less than ST.
600 too. This is how we'll do it.
"Over in that factory you just looked
at we are molding cast iron forms.
The inside facings OF these forms are
nickel plated and are fashioned exact
ly like the outside of the model. When
these are done we are ready to build
any number Of houses.
"At O in the morning we take the
Il, ix,xrc 70 mt
lot. These are clamped together with
bolts, and you have before you a house
| Of iron, with hollow walls. Meantime
we are mixing our concrete-one part
cement, three parts sand and three
parts quarter inch crushed stones. The
machinery to raise this soft concrete
to the top OF this iron framework, a
big mold, you understand, is already
ON the spot
by Q o'clock at night there Is your
house inside your ironwork Every
thing except the doors ana windows is
In place. In six days the iron frame
Is unbolted and removed. In another
eight days the concrete is completely
hardened and the house ready to live
in Fifteen days from start to finish.
"The only wood used Is the strips
around the edges Of the floors on which
| to tack down carpet and those
around the wall for the picture mold
ing All this is put In place in the
lronwork before the concrete has been
poured in. The thing around the fire.
place and in the chimneys, the gas
and water pipes are also stuck In the
same way In the concrete walls. The
furnaces. the heating pipes. the bath
tubs aud water closets are all cast
with the walls There will be no
plumbing bills; there is no plumbing to
be done. There is no insurance; there's
nothing to burn Rome wasn't built
In day. they said, but New York
can be.
.I've done this for the workingman
who is doing his best to bring up a
family. won't make cent on It.
One day went through the east side
| in New York. You know it. Nothing
but a mess OF brick boxes. got the
idea OF this house at the time.
''In few years all this will be
changed. You will go outside OF Man
haitian and see rows of healthful. beau
tiful concrete houses. one for each
family. The expense of making them
Will be less than that OF the dirtiest
tenement on Rivington street. These