A Unique Building Method

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 12, 2 October 1911, Page 846

A Unique Building Method

Casting Cement Buildings Walls on the Ground. "We have been accustomed to look to our American cousins for the last thing in concrete construction, both as to the results attained and the manner of their attainment. Edison recently promised to show how it was possible to build moulds for houses so that when you wanted a house all you had to do was to erect the mould on the site chosen, pour in the concrete, allow it to set, and there you were. However, that doesn't seem to have quite come off yet, but almost as quick a way of attaining the finished result, is a scheme of building carried out recently with success as shown in our illustrations. These and the accompanying text, both from "The Scientific American" (New York, July 29) illustrate how a reinforced concrete church was built in sections lying fiat on the ground, which were afterwards raised into place, and cemented into one homogeneous whole. Although there is no doubt a size limit to the walls that can with safety be built horizontally and raised afterwards, still there is no doubt that buildings of a considerable size could be put together in this way. One ad vantage of this system over the old way of building is that it practically does away with scaffolding and the time taken in its erection, and the elevation of material piecemeal as the building grows. We read :— "The accompanying illustrations show a method of a new system of reinforced concrete building construction, in which the church walls are erected by means of raising-jacks. "On the foundation wall, and on piles inside of the build : ng-!ot are set a series of jacks made of steel. These jacks consist of a supportingcarriage, a pivoted walking-beam, and a collapsible screw driven by a worm gear and worm. A platform is laid on the jacks and on this platform are set in their proper relative positions all door frames, window frames, and other openings. The concrete is poured around the opening thus established. The reinforcement is easily and properly placed horizontally and vertically, because the wall resembles a great drafting board, and is very readily 'laid out.'

The entire wall is poured at once, which can be done in a single day, even though the wall be 200 feet long and three stories high. After the wall is finished, it is allowed to set for fortyeight hours; then a small gasoline engine or electric motor is connected with the drivingshaft, and the wall rises from the inside slowly and quietly to its permanent vertical position. "When all the walls are in place the corners where reinforcements from either. Avail project and interlock are poured, and we have a complete, monolithic, well-finished structure. Floors and roof of concrete or of any construction desired are put in place in the same way as in any other building.

"No forms are used whatsoever in this wall construction, except the wooden jack platform, which is never destroyed, but is used over and over again. An air space can be made merely by filling in with loose sand, which is rodded out when the concrete sets and the wall is partially raised. The reinforcement is placed both horizontally and vertically exactly where it belongs in both inner and outer wall. It is possible to use rods, fabric, or any other kind of reinforcement without the slightest difficulty.