CONCRETE HOUSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 18, 15 July 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

CONCRETE HOUSES.

SERIES OF AD.rrSTAP.LE MOULDS USED. The recent activity of the ActingTreasurer of New South Wales (Mr. Carmiehael) in connection with concrete houses, and the reply of Mr. T. A. Edison that his scheme was not yet perfected, lends additional interest to an article in the Chicago Tribune, by Arthur E. Ormes, on the "Unit Method of Concrete Houses." At a recent cement exhibition in Chicago visitors were attracted by a small electric-lighted model of a poured cement house, and a demonstration of the use of flexible steel plates for repeated use, in building concrete walls, cement Hoots, etc. It has remained for a young Washington architect, Mr. Milton Dana Morrill, tor some time an assistant in the office of the United States Supervising Architect, to invent an economical and practical method of construction. Mr. Morrill was familiar with the use of concrete as a building material, but for the purposes of building floors and walls he came to the conclusion that the accepted method of building up forms of heavy planks and filling them with wet concrete was out of the question. Investigation also showed that the Edison idea of a single giant mould for a whole house was impracticable at present. If the concrete were made thin enough to < pour readily, gravitation carried all the heavier matter to the bottom before the mixture had time to set, and if not made I thin it would not properly fill all the spaces in the mould, which was necessary in order to ensure a smooth and reliable finish. I

Then it was that Mr. Morrill conceived the' idea of a steel mould consisting of a series of steel plates or units, 24in square, easily interchangeable and adjustable. The economy of this cost-re-ducing device was at once apparent, and made possible, the inventor claims, the production of a model house at a low cost.

It was this method of concrete construction, coupled with several sanitary and utilitarian devices that enabled the inventor to design a six-roomed model home for wage-earners, which brought him the first prize in a competition instituted two years ago by the International Congress for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. This house, which also contained a bath-room and roof garden for open-air sleeping, was estimated in groups of 100 as costing £2OO, with a margin of profit for the contractor builder. To demonstrate the practicability of the plan, a concrete house was soon afterwards built at Brentwood, Md., close to the district of Columbia line. A new field was opened at once. One of the first results was the beginning of a suburban settlement at Virginia Highlands, directly across the Potomac from Washington. Here station, stores and dwellings are all of poured concrete construction.

From the time the first spadeful of earth is excavated five weeks is ample time to compleft ah average residence of poured concrete, and. if necessary, the work may be finished in even less time. The foundations are, of cement. Upon completion of the lower course the special steel moulding plates are locked together to form a trough about the walla. These moulds consist of two tiers, each tier clamped together lengthwise, and hinged, so that the lower tier may be unlocked and swung up to the top to form a new trough for pouring the next course as soon as the one directly below has become sufficiently hardened to bear the weight. In this way the walls of a house are actually built up by a succession of ''pourings." A completed wall presents an unbroken surface of smooth and even finish, on which, it is claimed, no plaster is actually necessary. Of course, these* adjustable moulds have the advantage of being quickly adaptable to walls of any dimension, and it is practicable to employ the same set in pouring houses of entirely different design. A single equipment may be used for the building of any number of houses within reason.

At the recent cement show there was exhibited a model of the house which brought Mr. Morrill the prize from the International Tuberculosis Congress, also samples of the steel moulds in operation, as well as photographs and architects' drawings of luanv low-priced concrete houses which have been erected during the last two years

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is endeavoring to solve the problem of the better Housing of its poorer classes. j O . Seph Baiieth, on behalf of the Mayor travelled all over Europe, and then went to America, investigating the housing problem, with special reference to the use of steel forms for poured concrete in house-building. After a thorough investigation of everything available in America and abroad, Mr. Baneth arranged for houses to be built according to Mr. Morrill's plans for workingmea and their families.

These houses can be built at a cost so low that a rental of £1 a month will show fl per cent, interest on the investment, it is claimed.