Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-11-02

necessary to find a proper mixture o
; the sand, gravel and cement, and tina
; these must be carefully and thorough
? " mixed. with sufficient water an,
properly put into place. there need no
! be any great fear but that the worl
! viii result satisfactorily.
Sand and Gravel Must BE Cean
As the sand and gravel, or sand anC
crushed stone. or whatever other ma.
terial may be used, constitute a very
large percentage of the mixture, It il
necessary that this material should be
clean. That is, it must not contain
toe much clay, silt, or vegetable mat.
ter i must also be realized that there
need be enough fine sand in the mix.
lture 10 fill anIhe spaces hetweenth
crushed rock. or gravel, and that the
cement used should fill all the spaces
between the PARTICLES of sand. That
Is. a good concrete mixture must be
practically solid.
SuETVSt5d T g0Tg works on
concrete that the crushed rock or
gravel should be placed in a measur
and enough sand sifted over this to
FIJI all the spaces between the crushed
rock. Then, in order to be certain
that enough cement be used TO fill all
the spaces among the sand, water may
be poured into the measure until the
spaces are all filled. The amount of
water should Indicate approximately
the amount of cement that should be
used. 1t does the mixture no harm to
use more cement than necessary. the
only objection being the cost,
IL must be understood that the
amount of cement necessary to make
& good mixture depends very largely
upon the character of the sand, gravel
and crushed rock. 1t is impossible for
anyone 10 say exactly what this mix
EshvgAa 5ut anyone who has
hpdzeehs+defabh experience w4h sucIr
material can determine very nearly
what should be used, by making a
careful examination.
In many cases banks of sand and
gravel are so mixed that there is very
little that may be added 20 make il
perfect for concrete, and in many
cases one part Of cement to six or
eight Of such sand and gravel will
make almost perfect concrete, while
in other cases, where the sand and
gravel may be coarser, a much larger.
proportion of cement may be neces-
sary, or some of the coarser gravel
may be screened out. In ease the
character of such materials is not
fully understood, some local mason
should be consulted as to the best pro-
portion for mixing these materials.
Cement Must BE New
As the cement is the material which
holds the concrete together, it is read
lily realized that if this material is
not good it would make no difference
what care was taken as to the other
material and the mixing, reinforcing,
etc, the work would not be permanent.
As a general thing cement is not often
to blame for poor concrete work, but
there are cases where cement has been
kept for n long time, or even where a
poor quality was used, but the work
was not satisfactory. Conse-
quently it should be insisted that the
be new and of standard make.
Form Need Not BE Elaborate
The forms for building a concrete
silo need not be as expensive and
elaborate as some have seemed 10
deem necessary.
A fair job Of building a silo may be
done by building the inside form Of
ix6s nailed on to circles cut of 1x6s
DR. lx8s, sawed 10 fit the inside cir
,umference Of the silo. That is, 6-inch
boards may be cut 3 feet long and
lailed on the circles. Care must be
AIKEN that these sections are true in
very way. They should be made and
up on a level floor before using,
o make certain that they are right.
n order to get the circle on the boards
used for mailing these to, take a 1x4
md measure out on IL Just one-half
he diameter Of the proposed silo.
Then, by cutting a little notch in the
dye Of the board, or boring a small
ole through it. so that a lead pencil !
be used for making a mark.
asten the other end Of this board to
omething on the ground or on a
loor; then lay out your boards on
shieh-F0f -te-fHark the circles /
ut the lead pencil IN the hole, and |
Y drawing Il around the center you
an get a mark that is exactly the in
de circumference Of the silo. The
Of this circle may be done with
n ordinary rip saw. and Il is desir-
bic to build this form in four or five
and arrange these sections
, that they can be raised n at a
me. They may be fastened together
hen in place, by hooks or bolts, or
lacking a short piece Of board
ross from one part Of the circle to
e other.
Perhaps 2 more satisfactory form
be made by cutting the circles as
described, and then using a 20
iron. 80 inches wide, for cover
z these circles. These may be fas-
ned together by bolts, which are
readed long 50 that they can be used
set screws for tightening up the
on the inside, or wedges may be
ed to tighten the forms.
For the outside form a single sheet
iron SO inches wide and long enough
reach around the siIo may be used.
G ends should lap over 3 or z inches.
few inches from these ends. Tugs
ould be riveted. through which
It's may be- passed to hold the form
or Aka may be bolted on each