New Britain herald., 1918-02-22
AMERICA LEADS IN
 OUTPUT OF CEMENT
Furnishing Material for Construc- tion of Ships in Dozen Countries

New York, Feb. 22.-The sugges-
 tion that the use of concrete In ship
 building may aid in solving the ship 1 ming problems of the United States, lends interest to a compilation by
 The National City Bank of New York regar rding the cement and concrete industries of the United States and
 the world, and the progress of con- crete vessel building in this and oth- CT countries
 The statement shows that concrete, made from 'Portland'' cement, is now being used in tho construction of vessels in more than a dozen lead ing countries of the world and that the United States is the worlds largest producer of the materials used in this new form of shipbuild- ing. The type of vessels now being constructed from concrete range from the barge and floating dock up to the ocean steamer of several thou cand tons capacity.
 Concrete made from Portland or other hydraulic cement, reinforced with steel, is the chief material of these vessels. The keel and ribs of the vessel are of steel, and quantities of wire mesh are also used in re- taining and reinforcing the concrete which fills the spaces between the steel ribs. This com bination of con- crete and steel has given to this type of work, the title of ''ferro con- crete" and reinforced concrete" but in both the chief requirements of the new type of vessel, concrete and steel the United States far exceeds any other country in it's ordinary year-to- year production. Portland" cement, which gets its name from it's resum- blance in appearance to Portland stone, is produced in far greater quantities in the United States than any other country of the world and in fact probably exceeds that of all other countries com bined. Our own output of Portland cement in 1917 was the largest in the history of our production, amounting to 93,55o,O00 barrels, while that of the other prin- cipal cement producing countries in the latest available year was, Ger many 3o,000,0O0 barrels, England IT, 0o0,0o0 barrels and France S.O0O,0o0 barrels. Our own production has grown with great rapidity from 42,- 900 barrels in 1880 to ss5,oOo in 1890, s,4s2,ooo in 1900, 6s,2o6,ooo in 1910 and 93,54o.o0o in 1917. the high record year of production, while the value has grown from s126,00o in 1880 to $101. 100000 in 1917. In the iron and steel required for use in conjunction with the cement in shipbuilding, we are also by far the worlds largest producer, our total output of pig iron, the basis of all iron and steel products, being more than the com bined production of any other three countries in the world.
 Portland cement, which is scien- tif1cally described as "an artificial mixture, based on chemical analysis, of limestone and clay, or mari and chalk, or shale and limestone" burned to incipient vitrifaction and the clinkers finely ground. hardens when exposed to water and is thus often designated hydraulic ce- ment," though the smaller quantities designated as natural and "puzzo- lanic'' cement are also properly in cluded in the term "hydraulic.' The natural cement, made solely from certain classes of limestone, and the "puzzolanic" composed of blast fur mace slag and lime, show marked fall-off in production in the United States in recent years, while the Portland" shows a rapid increase, and now forms over 95 per cent of the output of hydraulic cement in the United States, it's value amounting in 1917 to $1O1, 1,OO0.0O0 and that of the natural and "puzzolanic' less than $1,000,0 900. The census of 1914 shows the capital invested in cement man. ufacture $243,4S5, 900.
 The countries which have already utilized concrete for vessel construc
 tion in some form include Great Brit ain, France, Italy, Germany, Neither 1 lands Denmark, Norway, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, Australia, Canada and the United States. the construc ton in the United States of vessel1 of this type occurring chiefly at New York, Baltimore, and San Francisco. Cement production in the United
 States is widely distributed, occurring ! in no less than twentV eight states, while it's general use for docks, piers. | reservoirs, irrigation works, tunnels
 bridges, and pavaments, is even more 1 widely distri ibuted, and it's use rapid 1 ly increasing. The production in the ' United States is almost exclusively i for domestic use, the exports having [ amounted in value to but $5,622, 600 l in 1913, the high record year, and
 $4112,0OO in 1917.