Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-11-02
Edison's Plan Will Make it Pos
Sible to Erect House
in Half Day
WITH ELEVEN ROOMS IN IT
Cost Will Be Less Than $1,000 Says
the Wizard-Declares Poor Man
Can Own Palace.

Edison recently TO a representative of
the New York Globe at his laboratory |
in Orange. y. j. He can own pal |
ace. |
Before next summer ! will build n |
three story. ndestructibe concrete
house that Il laboring man earning |
$50 day can buy and run. 1t will
be as artistic and comfortable as any
Fifth avenue mansion and will be built
in half day. Come up and see 1t.
Had any one else made these state
ments you would have said that he
was 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
| II spacious room fitted with a 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 1t,
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 Il
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.
You hardly think we can put that
up i'll 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 in the morning we take the
movable steel castings To vacant
lot. These are camped together with
bolts, and you have before you Il 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
OH the spot.
All But Doors and Windows.
10y o'clock at night there is your
house inside your ironwork. Every
thing except the doors and 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 Il carpet and those
around the wall for the picture mold
Ing. All this is put in place in the
ironwork before the concrete has been
poured in. The thing around the fire
place and in the chimneys, the gas
/
same way In the concrete walls. The
furnaces, the heating pipes, the bath
tubs and 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 u 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
1 houses won't be all alike. l am leav-
ing the patent open to every one.
Competing companies will spring up,
each making a different kind of house
{ mo; the architecture will not be
monotonous. In fact, the architects
never had their chance till now. Re-
fore they've had to rush out something
cheap. never anything beautiful. Now
they won't have to worry about ex.
pense. The most artistic house IS as
: cheap as the crudest. Why. it's going
to mean revival in architecture
Turner's Rome will not be in it with
New York ten years from now.
) "Of course have patented the house
: It's necessary. | shall give any one
the rights for nothing provided he
uses the right Kind of concrete, en-
5 forces 1t properly with twisted iror
t rods and makes an artistic product
Y The laboring man is going to get @
h square deal on this Improvement.
q Its a great age. | have sixteer
e acres of buildings, twelve of them con
= crete. ! can't begin to turn out goods
!; enough. 1t means work, steady work
g six days week. But it's my hour