GLASS FOR AIR RAID SHELTERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 7, 2 September 1940, Page 7

GLASS FOR AIR RAID SHELTERS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S GRANU'Nls PHEW PIONEERS NEW INVENTION Abraham Lincoln's grand-nephew is one of two young British architects who have opened up a new field of investigation by using glass instead of steel as the reinforcement in concrete. He is Mr John Abraham Lincoln, one-time purser on liners, civil servant and journalist. His 33 years old partner is Mr A. W. Soden, A.R.1.8.A. As soon as the war began, Soden and Lincoln began to search for a substitute for steel for reinforcement. Their tests showed that, besides being cheaper, glass actually has some technical advantages over steel, and that it Avill probably be used in the future for the sake of its own qualities, not merely as a war-time substitute. Glass reinforced" concrete will carry four times the maximum load required by the Home Office for a'ir raid shelters. Further tests arc being carried out for spans up to 18 feet. The glass, which is not speciallystrengthened in any way, is in strips cut from the edge of the glass as it comes from the rolling mill, a feature being that the outside edge, known as the selvedge, being firefinished and not cut, is stronger for reinforcement purposes than glass which has been cut, polished or refined. Thus material can be used which is ordinarily broken up for remelting.