Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-08-03
water


proportion From 1870 to 1890 the
price OF Portland cement was the
price Of the German product, plus
the freight, going from 81 to 81 bar
rel in that time With the growing
Importance Of the American industry,
the prices dropped sharply after 1890,
reaching the lowest average, about
so cents barrel, in 1904. The de-
mand has been so great in the past
two or three years, however, that the
price has again risen and for the last
year the average was about $175.
The manufacture Of cement has
proved to be a very profitable bust
ness. but only when undertaken on
large scale. According to experts,
the smallest plant that could be ex-
pected to pay a remunerative return
would be a four-kiln mill, which
would cost about $4,000 to erect. A
tenkiln plant would cost $1,000000
to s1,500,000 Half of the Portland
cement Of the country is made in
Pennsylvania, the largest plant being
at Northampton in the Lehigh Valley.
The Missouri and Kansas plants come
next, while In California there Is
wonderful growth of the industry, due
in part to the enormous amount of
cement being consumed in the recon
struction of San Francisco.
The chief fault to be found with
concrete for construction purposes is
that a mistaken idea has been spread
broadcast in the minds of the people
that anybody can work it, even to
erecting buildings. Therefore, when
no egineer is employed the advice OF
a concrete expert is not asked and
common labor is put to work,
building sometimes collappses before
ii is finished, just as brick or stone
building would collapse under similar
Where the concrete
building is properly constructed it Is
almost perfectly safe, as was proved
in the Baltimore fire and in the earth |
quake and fire at San Francisco, the (
most severe tests to which any
building could be subjected.
For smaller houses and residences 4
the use of concrete building blocks Is
spreading rapidly. AS the blocks can
be made in any desired shape or fash /
ion, the increasing use of this mate
rial is adding to the artistic merit OF
small cottage construction. Thomas
A. Edison has a scheme which he de-
clares will soon be in everyday prac-
tice. whereby the building of cot
tage will be the work of one day. He
proposes to make molds of metal
which can be taken to pieces and
carried about. These molds will be
set up and screwed together and the
cement pumped into them When it
hardens the molds will be unscrew-
and taken away and there viii be the
house-roof, walls, floors, sta!rways'
porches. columns, chimneys, every
thing but the doors and windows.
This will reduce the cost of cottage
now costing $4,000 to $500 or less,
and Mr. Edison thinks it will mean
home for every workingmal.
Piles made of concrete can be driv-
en- in two minutes, with an ordinary
/ pile-driVer without so mucn as Knock
ing a chip off as big as a finger nail.
The three enforcing bars of steel be-
ing buried in them They are zorro
gated with deep fluting, six or eight
to the circle. and the pile has a tube
running through the center. Under
the hammer on the pile driver is a
cushion cap which fits ON the head
of the pile. Through this cap runs
a pipe into the hole in the center of
the pile When the hammer first
falls water is forced into the pipe at
high pressure. The water forces the
sand and dirt away from the bottom
of the pile and it finds its way to the
surface along the Fittings. AS the
water excavates the hammer drives