Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-21
The CEMENT SHOW.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

81 By Frederi
a Nearly all Of the big manufacturers o.
Element, concentrating machinery ant
Gcement products will take part in tn
Fifth annual western cement show to ~
~held in Chicago. beginning today. One O.
s.the sights which will greet the eye OF thu
Fccment men in Chicago is the work, nov
Sin progress. of taking up granite paHlns
S,bloeis- grinding them up into materia
FLOR concrete and laying them down agar
@in that form. to serve as the base OF
(which wooden paving blocks Will rest
rsrhe contractor uses a crusher hitched &c
"a steam road roller. 1t is said that the
Inew form of paving is greatly superior to
s1hc ol1-fashioned granite block
Z: Few of the industries of the United
Estates have enjoyed such a remarka BILE
ss,rowth as the cement industry The
ZJcturns for 1910 showed that U,0W,CE
5lbarrels of cement were manufactured
hat year. Reduced to weight, this means
sj,pward OF Io,0oo.ooo tons. Indications
y:ir. that when the reports for 1911 are
Eheckcd UP they will reveal an even
.sreater output. The production OF cement
gin the United States has more than quad
syupled In a single decade.
- one of the developments OF the cemen'
afndustry last year was the reduction In
rtDrice, at the eastern mills, from 10 to to
gents barrel The reduction In the
@Srice of cement has resulted in great
Af,oom I'm. concrete construction. Pr1or
40 this reduction it was found that the
>cost of concrete construction on large
buildings and other structures was ABOUT
,pne-half the cost of brick constructor.
-1n the work of building subways con-
rsrete is practically king. When the New
a ork city officials were considering the
building of subways last fall the friends
spf brick We're urging the use OF that ma
yterfal instead of cement and concrete.
"a was found. however, that the use OF
sbrick would have entailed an additional
Expenditure of more than four million
Sdollars.
( *
=. The versatility of cement as struc-
stural material is surprising, and it is be-
ing used to-
sMany Uses Are Found day for pur-
:. Along Building Lines. w peS IN.
slreamed of decade ago. For instance
Several bridges in Hamburg. Germany,
swere found recently to be crumbling from
rage. They had been built of stone. The
;e4ridge engineers decided that they could
sIepair the bridges by using injections OF
S3quid Portland cement. They filled all of
othe ereyices and cracks with the liquid
-2and the result was that the bridge was
smade as strong as ever.
= That there is nothing new under the
,sun again has been illustrated by the
sliscovery of pieces of concrete in the
Gums of Ephesus. The material was used
dor facade decoration in some of the
stemples of that ancient city. Concrete
stnakers are now engaged in turning out
All T0f Inr dnC OnC nd hay orr rnd r.
ssng columns, which in many cases are
sQuite as attractive as marble, and even
SInore durable.
:. Telegraph poles, fence posts and rail-
s5oad ties are now being made from ce-
Idnent and sand. With the fence-post
nmachine six of the posts may be manu-
Fractured at time, and when completely
l'cured they are as durable as stone.
nnlade of reinforced concrete. \ railroad
stie made of this material is practically
.indestructible. The rails are attached to
ga metal block resting on a wooden cush-
3on deeply seated in the tie. 1t is said
chat the spreading of rails is rendered
Spext to impossible by the use of such ties.
If one type of these ties is used, 1T Is
claimed that an old rail may be taken out
and new one put in place in four min
Stes-
: ~
= OF course, the last word in the concrete
syorld is the utilization of cement in the
= = building of
May Some Time Be Used furniture. It
:; in Building Furniture. , Il a large
EASY chair made of reinforced concrete
S1nay be built to be as light in weight as
3sne. of oak, and, of course, much stronger.
= library table of the same materlai Is
sxictured i'm one of the cement magazines
Tia OF
x,ne of the popular cartoonists has
Ee:zed upon the humorous aspect of the
ctubstiti,tion of concrete for wood in
.household furniture. He pictures Moran
Ahe cook, sharpening her meat hnite on
Toncrete PIANO: the head or the mousse
Esing a pickax to recover collar button
4rom beneath a concrete chinon1er, while
grandpa employs crowbar to push ms
concrete easy chair up to the concrete
fireplace
Sreasing rapidly The farmer finds 1T is
available for a thousand and one pur-
S3ijses. even down to ratproofing the floors
Trs are using concrete for building silos.
"a cooperative Silo building circuit mas
Ieen established for the benefit of the
Farmers Of certain sections. Inc organ
izer of this circuit rents forms or moids
for the building of the silos and fur
Sishes student instructors who go to the
farm and superintend the construction
KOrk This has been so arranged tndt
ahe cost of the forms and supervision
Heed not amount to more than $40 per
s.No other engineering project in the
world has required such vast quantity
nj cement as the Panama canal Not
XnIy does il require several million bar
4s.Is for the locks and dams, but many
Hundreds of thousands of barrels for dry
Aocks piers and other structures Tor the
accommodation of an enormous amount
IF shipping Much concrete Will also be
Ssed ian lighting the canal All OF the big
range lighting towers and beacOns
through the canal will be built Of this ma
1erial.
likewise the banks Of the great Culebra
cut will be lined with cement. This will
er' be literally shot
Cement Used Freely into position. a
in Building Canal. ing used for
That purpose This gun resembles an
oxyhydrogen blowppe. On large
truck are mounted two tanks. one filed
with water and the other with mixed
lement and sand. Both of these are ex-
relied under heavy pressure. They meet
near the muZzle where the mixing process
goes on. and whence it spouts in a stream
against the bank of the canal Here 1t is
allowed to dry, when il becomes as hard
as aAanlant