El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-19
LOCAL PLANT
BUILDING
SAMPLE
Kroeger Will Show Eastern
ers Specimen of Ell Paso
Ingenuity.
To BE EXHIBITED
AT CEMENT SHOW

Tom Edison says he can build com-
p1ete cement houses, So a month, with
a plant which Will cost sI5O,0oO for the
plant.
Otto Kroeger says he can build 30
houses a month of concrete with a
plant to cost $4,000.
To prove it, Mr.. Kroeger is going TO
do what Edison has so far failed TO do.
He is going to build a sample house,
put it on flatcar and ship it TO the
New York cement show, which will
open soon, just to show the fasteners
that all the brains in the concrete
world are not confined TO East Or
ange n. Y
Out by the Southwestern shops, on a
sand lot enclosure. the Sectional Con-
crete Construction company, which
is the incorporated name Of Otto P.
Kroeger and company. is building three
exhibition mo De Ka" sectional, or
knockdown houses, which are to be
placed on exhibition in FL Paso, Los /.
Angeles and New York.
Plant Simple But Complete.
This plant consists of a pattern shop.
office, pouring and curing sheds, a
mixing bed and concrete mixing ba-
chine and an experimental house in
course of construction. Not much OF a
plant for a thing that Is expected to
dences in the southwest But, says
Mr. Kroeger therein lies one Of the vir-
tues of his invention. 1t IS so simple
in equipment that a plant could be
loaded on a car and shipped to town
site or city where houses were to be
supplied while you wait Simpler still
is the construction principle : Of the
sectional house upon which Mr. Kroe-
ger has asked for letters patent Made
in forms which are adjustable, the
houses may be made at the plant, ship
PEG to the surrounding towns and
mining camps and set up by one man
with the assistance of a few day Ia
borers and a roll of blue prints
All Made of Concrete
Foundation, floors, walls, ceiling.
roof chimneys, bathtubs. everything
about the mo De Ka" houses are
made of concrete, the cheapest building
material known, because its use can
be estimated to the lowest economic
basis. Even the fence posts and flow
er pots are to be Of concrete and one
OF Mr. Kroeger's foremen. who was for
merly an undertaken, has suggested
that he throw in concrete coffin for
good measure.
The foundation of the house is COM
posed of slabs of concrete in the form
of girders resting on piers The floor
slabs are laid on top Of this foundation
with grooved floor plates in which
are set the wall plates. These are
tongue and grooved and with the an
gle slabs for the ,corners form the
complete room. In the more expensive
huoSes these walls are double thick
ness with an insulation of air between
The cheaper ones have a single wall
A duplicate plate fits over the top or
the wall slabs and upon this rest the
unit channels which form the roof in
oh
nels are a1ternated with slabs and
smaller slabs are laid along the lower
flange Of the channels to form the cell
ing of the house. This gives ventf-
lating air chamber between the slabs
and the channels.
Plastering Not Needed.
Orders and concrete may be used to
give a sloping roof effect and these
as well as the fronts of the house and
the gallery may be decorated in artis-
tic design without additional cost, ex-
cept the original cost of the moulds.
which may be used innumerable times.
The window frames are also of con-
crete and the only thing about the
house construction which is of wood
is the door and window jams. and
even these are to be replaced later with
some fireproof material The walls OF
the interior do not need plastering, a
coat Of tinting paint being sufficient
The exterior can be left the natural
color or painted as desired
KrOeger Process Unique.
The Kroeger invention is the only
one known where the concrete can be
finished in the mOulds The KrOeger
process is also the only one known
where a core may be removed from
concrete for columns, etc, where 1t is
desired to reduce the weight The
finish is obtained by the method OF
moulding the slabs which are the units
of the sectional house. The concrete
is poured into moulds holding four
slabs Each one of these is troweled
separately 1t is then allowed TO set
before the next slab is poured over
T57oo+jD,,a5 on Next Page)