The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-05-24
Says $1,2OO Will Build Homes Ordinarily Cost
 ing $3O,OOO.
Plumbers Skeptical-Inven- tor May Have Overlook ed Wage Scales in Esti- mating en Concrete Struc- lures.

mating en Concrete Struc-
 lures.
 New York, May 24.-Thomas A. Edi-
 son sent word to the newspapers yes
 terday that he had completed his
 scheme for building a. concrete house
 for s1,2oo. which, if constructed of stone in the same design would cost
 between S20,0O0 and $30,0O0. The fact that Edison includes in his S1, 200 esti- mate the heating and plumbing for
 the house is construed by practical men to mean he has fixed his figures without previously having consulted plumbers and steam filters and with out taking into consideration the eight
 hour day and the prevailing rate of
 wages. The price he cites could not prevail if only a single house was to
 be built. That he wants to be under stood clearly. What he means is that if the reinforced concrete houses were built in blocks, by his design and through the use of his molds. the cost of each house in a block would not be greater than about $1 200.
 He also says that figure Is depend ent upon the houses being built on soil which yield sand and gravel from the excavations. Even after making due allowance for these conditions, prac- tical builders here in New York said yesterday they felt sure Edison would find himself in a losing game if he contracted to put up those blocks of detached one-family houses for $1, 200 each, with the plumbing and steam heating apparatus included. Opinion was expressed that a mistake had been
 made in the estimates. and before con- tracts were entered into for building g such houses the estimates would be re- vised and changed materially. The Edison housebuilding plan calls
 for a .one-family house, on a lot 4Ox60 feet. The floor plan of the house is ExrQ0 fnaf Inc 7Ss eight feet and the back stoop three feet. Each house will contain six rooms and bath, and the cellar will extend beneath the entire house and
 will contain the boiler. washtubs and coal bunker. The main living room
 and also the outside of the house will be richly decorated. The decorations will be cast with the house and there
 fore will come from the molds as part of the structure and not merely be
 stuck on.
 The entire house will be of reinforce ed concrete. That includes the walls, roof, floors, porches, bathtub and the laundry tubs. The only wood in the
 building will be the doors, door frames, windows and window frames. The in- side walls also will be of concrete and there will be no plaster finish. The surface will be smooth and may be tinted or painted, as the owner may desire. Edison seems to think that
 with his plan in working shape it will
 
 tion which now exists in cities and practically enable every workingman to own his home or to be a tenant in
 a detached house at expense-that is, for rent and car fare of not more than $9 a month.
 Cast-iron moulds will be used in building the houses, and they will vary | in design After the concrete founda- | tinn has been laid and has hardened
 tl-e moulds will be set up upon it. The term foundation is not to be construed as meaning the cellar walls, but mere
 ly base of concrete upon which the mouldS will rest. Edison estimates that the moulds needed to begin the
 work of building such houses on whole sale lines will cost $25,000 and that the
 necessary plant will cost s15,O0O more. At least six sets of moulds must be
 used to keep the men and the plant busy.
 Edison says it will take four days to set up the moulds. The liquid con-
 hours. Ire molds will be kept in use
 for four days until the concrete hard ems and then it will require four days to remove them. That means the house
 will be finished in a fortnight. With the six sets of moulds, if that schedule is adhered to, IA houses can be built in a year. The initial cost of the cast iron moulds will be comparatively
 great. but they may be used indefinite ly, Edison says, and in the long run will be much cheaper than the wood en moulds now used and which be-
 cause of their destructability, decrease greatly the expense of concrete con- struction.
 Edison has George F. Small and
 Henry J. Harms. Jr., engineers, work ing with him now. They designed the house and mounds and made the
 experiments. The first house will be poured in sections for experimental purposes and to discover and remedy defects. Then an entire house will be moulded with ont pouring. In other words, a lot of liquid concrete will be
 run into the moulds and when they are
 removed that muddy-looking mixture will have been turned into a hand some home where a workingman can
 live and rear his family cheapIy and in comfort-that is. if the Edison es- inmates are right