Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-08-26
MANUFACTURING
CONCRETE BRICK
A Local Industry of Merit That
Will Grow to Larger Proper
ti0nS.

kIUuos
Although the Cary Concrete Com
pany has been in operation not yet
two months. it has commanded great
deal of interest and attention. The
plant, which is situated on the Carey
property near ST. Paul tracks, is up
to-date in every respect having all the
cOnvienceS necessary for the manu-
facture of good concrete building
material The main building which
is fifty feet long and forty feet wide
con aims the machinery, which is run
by electricity. the power being made
avail able by twenty horse power
motor in the rear of the room.
The process Of concrete book or
brick making is simple but instruct
i've The gravel, which is obtan ned
on he premises, is first thrown into
counter sunk hopper and Immediate
ly caught up by chain elevator. In
this way the gravel is carried TO the
top of the room and turned out in,o
a rotary screen A series of screens
separate he fine sand from the stunes
and coarser gravel. The fine sand
which sif S to the bot tom is saved for
facing, the coarser material is made
into the brick proper, and the large
stones are carried from the rotary
screen 10 the stone crusher A moist
10 xture of three parts gravel to or e
mixer and the machine is set IN
motion. The material after being
we'll mixed is thrown out and caught
by another chain elevator, carried up
and turned out onto S ide which, in
TURN. brings the IA lterial down to
convenient height near the hYdraulic
press The press consists of a bot
tomless cOnv-yOr box and TWO levers,
one which regulates the press. and a
second one which controls the raising
and lowering of the knives which cut
the concrete into equal sized bricks.
After the concrete is put onto
creased board in the conveyor box, it
is Slid under the press and submitted
to pressure of between eighty thou
sand and one hundred thousand
pounds. The mass thus formed is
cut into ten bricks, each of which is
B inches wide, S inches long, and q
inches thick. The bricks are pushed
out upon a platform and carried into
the curing, or ''steaming" rooms.
The curing dep irtment is COM
prised of five steaming rooms, each
two compartments so that
there are virtually ten steaming rooms
each capable Of containing twenty
six hundred bricks, thus making
store room capacity of twenty-six
thousand bricks. The steam for
curing is generated in a large boiler,
and is left on for forty eight hours,
during which time the bricks are
thoroughly cured and rendered strong
enough for the wall The above
method of curing is far better than
the old method of sprinkling because
the steam entirely surrounds the
brick and condenses upon it The
steam is very wet, there being little
or no pressure registered on the steam
gauge.
The smooth surfaced facing brick
is manufactured in essentially the
same manner. Richer material is
used. there being d mixture of two
parts sand to one part cement A
smaller and more delicate mixer is
used in this case.
The cement block which is manu-
factured by the company is in the
form of slab and when built into a
wall the outer block is joined to the
inner block by metal tie, thus form
ing continuous air space both verti-
cally and horizontally. Builders often
prefer to have the outer wall con
structed of brick and the inner wall
Of block. This method is in every
way as advisable as the other.
The Carey Concrete Company have
already furnished material for the
building Of the new chimney on the
Commercial Hotel, and J. L. Nash's
new barn which is now in the process
of construction. The city has used
the cement bricks in the building of
manhOles and fch basiUs
The best and most modern methods
are being used in the manufacture of
this concrete building material and
there is no reason why this industry
should not continue to prosper.