December 17, igio.





RECORD   AND   GUIDE





1035





avoid the use of sand entirely. For the
aggregate he would select very small par¬
ticles, one-eighth inch in diameter. No
more water should be used than would
barely provide for troweling, and see that
no flour is con'tained in the crushed stone.
The recipe for a dustless fioor w^as a coat¬
ing of boiled linseed oil. A wash made
from the silicate of soda would do the
same  thing.

Jerome B, Landfield, of the Hotchkiss
Lock Metal Form Company, Binghamton,
discussed "New Methods in Sidewalk,
Curb and Gutter Construction." He said
the secret of a good sidewalk is putting
the top coat on fairly stiff.

The Committee on Roadways, Sidewalks
and Floors reported through C. W. Boyn¬
ton of Chicago, who stated that they were
not yet ready to make definite recommen¬
dations.

At Tuesday's several sessions the prin¬
cipal papers were:

10.30 o'clock a. m.—"A Test of tlie Flat Slab
Floor of a Reinforced Concrete Building," A.
R,   Lord.  University of IlUaoie,  Urbaua,  111.

"A Tentative Analysis of the Reinforced Con¬
crete Flat Slab," Arthur N. Talbot, Uaiversity
of Illinois,  Urbana, 111.

"Discussion of Flat Reiuforced Concrete
Plates,"  Angus E.  MacMillau,  Boston,  Mass.

".Analysis ot Results of Load Tests on Paueig
ot Reinforced Concrete Buildings," Emile G.
Perrot,  Philadelpliia,  Pa.

3 o'clock p. m.—"Some Methods of Measure¬
ment of Concrete Constructiou,'' Robert A.
Cummings,  Pittsburg,  Pa.

Report of the Committee on Reinforced Con¬
crete and Building Laws, Alfred K. Liudau,
chairman.

Specifications for the Design and Construction
of Reinforced Concrete Buildings, Hungarian
Society of Arcliitects and Engineers, Budapest,
Hungarj'.

Rules Concerning Uuiform Nomenclature for
the Binding Materials of the Various Mortars,
Hungarian Society of Architects aud Engineers,
Budapest.  Hungary.

"The Human Element iu Concrete Construc¬
tion,"  Harry  Franklin  Porter,  Kansas  City,  Mo.

S o'clock p- m.—Annual Address by the Pres¬
ident,   Richard  L.  Humphrey,  Philadelphia,  Pa.

"The National Fire Protection Aseociation and
Its  Work,"  William H.  Merrill,  Chicago,  HI.

"Some Thermal Properties of Concrete,"
Charles L. Norton, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology,  Boston, Mass.

"Some Special Uses of Coucrete in Coal Min¬
ing Operalions," George S. Rice, U, S, Bureau
of Mines.  Pittsburg,  Pa.

"The Tavlor Coal Breaker," R. D- Richard-
sou, Coal Mining Department, Delaware, Lacka¬
wanna Sc  Weeteru  Railroad,  Scranton,  Pa,

At Wednesday morning's meeting the
secretary of the Concrete Products' Asso¬
ciation of the State of New Jersey, spoke
of the benefits to be derived through State
organizations. They could not only foster
trade but also improve the building laws,
adjust differences between members, es¬
tablish credit and institute protective fea¬
tures.

Second Vice-President Daniels read the
report of the Executive Board. It showed
over one thousand members, and ex¬
plained that the Cement Products Exhibi¬
tion Company's connection with the As¬
sociation is purely a commercial one. The
Board hoped that the deficit between an¬
nual income and expenses would be wiped
out next year, and that it would not be
necessary to ask again for special con¬
tributions.

On the recommendation of Cloyd M.
Chapman, of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr
& Co., the Executive Board was asked to
arrange for the organizartiion of a sec¬
tional committee on Concrete Specifica¬
tions.

Thomas M. Vinton presented the report
of tbe Nominating Committee on officers
for the  ensuing year,  as  noted above.

Papers were read as follows:

Use of Reinforced Concrete for Storage
Bins, by Jaraes Macdonald, President Mac¬
donald Engineering Co., Chicago. III.

Effect of Electrolysis on Metal Imbedded
in Concrete, by Cloyd M. Chapman, Engineer
in charge, Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co.,
New York, N". Y.

Au Incident oE Value of Concrete in Re¬
ducing the Cost of Insurance, by Emile G.
Perrot.   Architect,   Philadelphia,   Pa.

Report of the Committee on Insurance
Wra. H. Ham, Chairman.

President Humphrey, speaking to the
writer, said this convention was the larg¬
est he had ever known of in the cement
industry, but that on account of the many





attractions of the city members are at¬
tending only such parts of the convention
proceedings as they are most interested
in. In almost any other city the sessions
would be more generally attended, but
even here the attendance has averaged
two hundred for each meeting. Mr.
Humphrey further said that the papers
read were of a very high order, techni¬
cally considered, and when published in
the official proceedings would constitute
a collection of priceless value to the in¬
dustry.

On Wednesday evening in the conven¬
tion hall a paper was read by Seth A,
Moulton of Portland, Me., on "Some Con¬
struction Problems in the Azi-'5cohoes
Concrete Dam," which was illustrated
with tire stereopticon. H. M. Cryder of
St. Louis discussed the "Preparation and
Handling of Concrete," and G. L. Pren¬
tiss, vice-president of the Parsons Man¬
ufacturing Company of this city delivered
an illustrated lecture on the "Use of Com¬
pressed Air in the Handling of Mortar and
Concrete."

The principal items in the program for
Thursday _and Friday were these:

THURSDAY. DEC. 15.

9 a. m.—Meeting of the Section on Speci¬
fications for Cement Products. Discussion
on the Manufacture, Curing, Cost, etc., of
Cement Hollow Building Blocks, Architec¬
tural Concrete Blocks, Fence Posts. Drain
Tile  and  Pipe.

10.-30 a. m.—Report of the Committee ou
Specifications'for Cement Products. P. S.
Hudson, Chairman, (a) Proposed Standard
Specifications for Architectural Concrete
Blocks. (b) Proposed Standard Specifica.-
tions for Plain Concrete Drain Tile.

S p. m.—Reception and banquet.

FRIDAY.   DEC.   IG.

9 a. m.—Meeting of Section on Treatment
of Concrete Surfaces. Topical discussion
on the artistic treatment of concrete sur¬
faces   of  various   kinds.

10.30 a. m.—Report of Committee on Ex¬
terior Treatment on Concrete Surfaces. L.
. C. Wason,  Chairman.

"Comparative Cost and Maintenance of
Varioua Types of Building Construction."—
J. P. H. Perry. Turner Construction Co.,
New York, N. Y.

8 p. m.—"The Hudson Memorial Bridge."
—Wra. H. Burr, Professor of Civil Engineer¬
ing,  Columbia University,   New York,  N. Y.

"The Use of Reinforced Concrete for Hos¬
pitals and Similar Structures."—R. A. Mc¬
Cullough. Chief Engineer for Raymond F.
Almirall, New York, N. Y.

"Advantages of Reinforced Concrete for
Farm Buildings,"—Alfred Hopkins. Archi¬
tect,  New York, N. Y.





Silenl Toast to.Maxwell.

At the banyuet of the National Associ¬
ation of Cement Users at the Hotel Astor
on Thursday evening, a silent toast was
drank to the memory of J. Rogers Max-
well-

Dr. Karl Bittner, from Vienna, delivered
an address in German on "Internationa!
Technical Co-Operation," which was trans¬
lated by the President of the Association,
Prof. Richard L. Humphrey. Songs were
sung from a text-boolt especially com¬
piled.     The number present was 360.

Robert W. Lesley, of Philadelphia, vice-
president of the American Society for
Testing Materials, was the toastmaster.
The president of the Board of Aldermen,
John Purroy Mitchel. responded to the
toast "New York City and Concrete."
"Concrete and Better Housing for the
Poor" was the theme assigned to Robt. W.
de Forest, president of the Art Commis¬
sion. John Carrere, of Carrere & Hast¬
ings, spoke of the "Architect and Con¬
crete." Benjamin B. Traitel, president of
the Building Trades Employers' Associ¬
ation responded to the toast "The Build¬
ing Interests of the City." Charles Batell
Loomis and John R. Morron, president of
the Atlas Portland Cement Company, were
the concluding speakers.





Tlie   Presiilent's   Annual   Address,

The President of the National Associ¬
ation of Cement Users, Richard L. Hum¬
phrey, in his annual address at the con¬





vention on Tuesday evening, discussed the
important matter of conflagration haz¬
ards in the large cities of this country,
briefiy touching upon the striking statis¬
tics covering these losses; calling atten¬
tion to the fact that the fire in San Fran¬
cisco resulted in a loss greater than the
total profits of all insurance companies
for the previous twenty years. Also called
attention to the fact that a conflagration
of the type that visited Baltimore and San
Francisco on the lower end of Manhattan
Island, south of 1-ith st, would produce a
loss which would bankrupt all the insur¬
ance companies of this country. The
speaker stated that these enormous direct
losses by fire, together with the annual
tax made necessary through the mainten¬
ance of flre protection service, an in¬
creased supply of water, in many cases a
high pressure service, were entirely pre¬
ventable.

Besides the enormous drain of our nat¬
ural resources whicii was required to
replace the structures tlius destroyed was
a field of conservation that should re¬
ceive as much attention as the conserva¬
tion of our coal, timber and other natural
supplies. It is immaterial in what form
these natural supplies were destroyed;
w-hether as a raw material or a finished
product; the result was the same—a loss
in the total of these resources.

The speaker was of the opinion that
while the enormous per capita losses in
this country were largely the result of
the use of timber and other infiammable
materials, nevertheless it was also largely
the result of public indifference, which
ivas only aroused after a great catastrophe
such as have visited this country all too
frequently within the last few years. He
believed that the story told by great con¬
flagrations such as the Chicago, Balti¬
more and San Francisco fires could not
be too often repeated, and that every one
interested in this subject should contin¬
ually drive this lesson home, to the end
that the public could be so educated and
aroused to action that Jaws be enacted
and remedies applied to effectively pre¬
vent such losses.

The speaker, by means of a stereopticon,
illustrated common fallacies in the method
of fireproofing, showing the utter worth-
lessness of much of the material which is
commonly used for such purposes, and in¬
dicated the types of construction which
did really offer the maximum of resistance
to flre.

The question of exposures was discussed
and the necessity of confining the fire to
the point of origin in the building, and of
preventing the spread of fire to the ad¬
jacent building, through the use of proper
fire barriers was clearly shown, and the
behavior of buildings thus protected was
also illustrated.

The question of fire tests of single
panels of a floor system, which is made
use of, was discussed, and it was pointed
out that this, while furnishing informa¬
tion of value, did not furnish the infor¬
mation which was really necessary since
the expansion of a large area of the floor
of the building, during a fire of great in¬
tensity and heat, would cause an expan¬
sion which would exert an enormous force
on the structure, since the free expansion
of the floor slab and other members was
resisted by the surrounding material; it
was the study of this expansion that was
desirable in determining the value of va¬
rious flreproofing materials and systems of
fireproofing.

The speaker also touched upon the
necessity of dividing up the floor area by
means of fire walls, so that the fire could
be confined to the point of origin, and its
spread throughout the structure prevent¬
ed. The numerous detailed methods of
protecting girders, columns and other
parts of a structure from fire were clearly
shown, and the defects in most of these
methods pointed out.