American Machine Can Build House In One And A Quarter Hours

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 94, 31 October 1947, Page 5

American Machine Can Build House In One And A Quarter Hours

, There’s a new kind of fowl in the United States. “She” lays a house a day and they call her “Bungalow Biddy.” Weighing 165 tons, Biddy is a close relative of the bulldozer. She was created, by Mr R. G. Le Torneau, Texas, in an effort to solve the housing problem of his employees.

Biddy is 54ft. long by 36ft. wide and 16ft high. She carries inner and outer moulds, into which concrete can be poured to complete a two-bedroom house in as little as I'' hour 14 minutes. The amount of concrete used varies from 32 to 38 cubic yards, depending on the amount of window space in the house.

Though Biddy’s advent may sound like more housing standardisation, her moulds can be altered to give a great variety of design if not a variety of size.

Once the' concrete has set—a process taking from 16 to 24 hours—the inner moulds are removed and the new home is carted to a prepared site. Here, three electric hoists mounted on Biddy’s trailer. unit manoeuvre it into the correct position.

Fittings have only to be connected with power lines * and drainage and a floor laid for the house to be ready for occupancy. Will “Bungalow Biddy” make her debut in New Zealand? That is a question which may be considered when Mr ’C. E. K. Alecock returns to the. Dominion from a tour of the United States, where he has been studying engineering developments.

A Public Works construction engineer, Mr Alecock has been asked by Housing Department officers to report on “Bungalow Biddy” to see if her services can be used locally in the continual fight to beat the housing shortage.