AT THE DOCK.
MORE EXPERIMENTS IN DEEP WATEK. A NEW IDEA. Tlie problem as to how to get concrete to set hard and close at a depth of 45ft. is still occupying the attention of Messrs. John M'Lenn and Sons, contractors for the Harbonr Board's dock at Te Aro. The latest experiment is interesting. As the contractors had not been able to get the concrete to set satisfactorily by lowering it in boxes, it was resolved to try a now idea which promised better results. Taking the view that the water pressure at such a depth, or in going through such a body of water, affected the virtue of the concrete, it was decided to try a different means of lowering it to the bed ,of the harbour. In the latest experiments a plug of sacking is placed in a 12-inch steel tube (with a large mouth) which reaches to the bottom of the harbour, and on top of it is poured a. stream of concrete mixed on a platform directly over the spot. Three vards of concrete (a cask of English Portland cement in a yard of fine gravel and sand) were lowered in this manner on Tuesday morning, but owing to the bottom of the tubo being on the ground when the mixture was toppled down, the water in the pipe rose up through the concrete as it settled at the bottom end. Mr. Murdoch M'Lenn, who was in charge of the work and superintended, personally informed a Dominion representative Hint the water must have spoiled the concrete. ■ A second experiment was made on Tuesday afternoon, when provision was made to keep the lower end of the tube two or three inches oft , the ground so that when the concrete was poured in, the water would bo pressed out, and the concrete (which would, if the experiment proved successful, be lowered in a continuous stream) would arrive in position in the same condition as when it left the platform above. Mr. M. M'Lean has high hopes that the new idea will provo effective. If so, it will mean the installation of an entirely now plant to that at present insbiUcd at the works. The .Manawalii Auctionccrinr Co.. Pal-
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19100526.2.66
Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 826, 26 May 1910, Page 6
Word Count
370AT THE DOCK. Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 826, 26 May 1910, Page 6
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