The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-11-07
Thrs Banthrrg Hrralh
Thursday, Nov. Z, 1907.
Our New York Letter.

Thomas A. EQlSOn says Inc poor
man need no longer livejn box for
house. He can own palace
Before next summer | will build
three-story, ,indestructible concrete
house that a laboring man earning
$3.50 day can buy and run. 1t
will be as artistic and comfortable
as any Fifth avenue mansion, and all
will be built in half a day. Come up
and see it,
Had any one else made these
statements you would have said that
he was adreamer. But when Edison
had led you through the balconies of
his study, packed with charts, dia-
grams, and models of his successful
Inventions, YOU begin to believe him.
Then, when he had reached the top
floor of the building, thrown open
the door of a spacious room fitted
with a quarter size model Of the
house, and pointed cut Of the Win
dow 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 he meant business.
ssThere it is" he said briefly,
though with a bit of pride brighten
ing his clear gray eyes.
The model was a three-story, Queen
Anne house, with high peaked tiled
roof, and a bay front very suggestive
of the houses on Riverside Drive.
The eleven rooms were high studded
and well lighted. The walls within
and without were frescoed simple.
seYou hardly think we can put
that UP in half a day." the inventor
questioned, in his shrill, high-pitched
voice. 'tWell, we, can, and for less
than ST. 900, too. This is how we'll
do it: Over in that factory you
iustlooked at we are moulding cast
IRON forms. The inside facings of
these forms are nickle plated and are
fashioned exactly like the outside OF
the model. When these are done we
are ready to build any number of
houses.
Sat 6 in the morning we take the
movable steel castings to a vacant
lot. These are clamped together
with bolts, and you have before you
a house of iron, with hollow walls.
Meantime we are mixing our con-
crete, 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 frame work, a big mould,
YOU understand, is already on the
spot. By 6 o'clock at night there is
your house inside your iron work:
Everything except the doors and
windows are in place. In six days the
iron frame is unbolted and removed.
IN another eight days the concrete
is compile etely hardened and the house
ready to live in. Fifteen days from
start to, finish.
ssThe only wood used are the strips
around the edges of the floors on
which to tack down a carpet, and
those around the wall for the picture
moulding. All this is put in place in
the iron work before the concrete
has been poured in. The thing
around the fireplaces 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, water
closets, are all cast with the walls.
there will be no plumbing bills;
there is no plumbing to be done.
There will be no insurance; there's
nothing to burn. Rome wasn't built
in a day, they say, but New York
can be. -
man who is doing his best to bring
up family. I won't make a cent
on it. One day / went through the
East Side. You know it. Nothing
but a mess of brick boxes. got the
idea of this at the time.
ssIn a few years all this will be
changed. You will go outside of
Manhattan and see rows of health
ful. beautiful concrete houses, one
for each family. The expense of
making them will be less than that
of the dirtiest tenement on Rlvlng-
ton street. -.
. .sThese houses won't be all alike. l
ann leaving the patent open to every
one. Competing companies will
spring up, each making a different
style of house.
mo, the architecture will not be
naonotonous. In fact, the architects
never had their chance till now. Be-
fore they had to rush out something
cheap, never anything beautiful.
Now they won't have to worry about
expense. The most artistic house is
as cheap as the crudest. Why its
going to mean revival in architec-
ture. l.
turner's Rome will not be in it
with New York ten years from now.
Of course have patented the house,
it is necessary. l shall give anyone
the rights for nothing, provided ne