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750 RECORD AND GUIDE April 5, 1913 BUSINESS NEV^S A Wtfkly Summary of New Cataloftucs and Bulletins and of Articles Appearinsin Cuircnt Periodicals of Interest to Architect.s, Building Managers, Contractors and Realty Interests. New Gcnernl Klectric BuUctlu. The General Electric Company, oE 50 Churcb street, annDUiK-es the following bulletins ready for distribution. These bulletins are prepared for the e.xpress use oC specifiers on building construction and engineering work aud are valuable lor reference purposes. B'ulletin No. A-KMi."., just issued, is an at¬ tractive publication of oO pages, iu colors, aud illustrates lixed and oscillating desk and bracket fans for alternating and direct current, and also ceiling fans and ventilating fans. The publication contains also illustrations of various wiring devices for use in connection with fans as well as a list of supply parts for all fans. Bulletin No. A40fV.>, just issued, is devoted to the subject of portable and stationary air coni- pressor sets, which supersedes the company's previous bulletin on this subject. Bulletin Xo. A40G6 illustrates that company's electric hardening furnace. This publication supersedes a previous publication on this sub¬ ject. Bulletin No. A4063 describes various types of polyphase induction motors. This publication supersedes the company's previous bulletin on this subject. Bulletin No. 4004 describes and illustratee subway transformers, and supersedes a pre¬ vious bulletin on this subject. In the report of the Boston Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, for 1912, con¬ vincing comment is made on the effect of auto¬ matic sprinkler protection on the loss ratio of the company. From 18TG to iSOo. a period when manufac¬ tories were only partially equipped with auto¬ matic sprinklers, the average annual loss ratio was 10.10 cents per $l(tO of insurance: and from ISOG to 1012, when plants were fully equipped, the ratio dropped to 3.r>5 cents. During the early part of the latter period many mill store¬ houses were not equipped during recent years, they have been and the annual average loss ratio per $100 of insurance has been reduced to 2 cents. When one stops to think that cotton mills, about the most combustible to staple in¬ dustries constitute the hulk of the new busi¬ ness, the regard for sprinklers is enhanced. Western Larch, The United States Department of Agriculture, in Forest Bulletin No. 122, is publishing a re¬ port on western larch by O. P. M. Goss, engi¬ neer in forest product*^. The bulletin presents the results of a series of tests to determine the mechanical and physical properties of this little known wood and describes the various structural usee of it. Larch is at present little used, but it seems to have remarkable properties for use in build¬ ing operations and in decorative work where weathered effects are desired. The annual layers of growth, or rings, show distinctly in a croes section. Each year's growth consists of a dark and a light colored band. The number of rings per radial inch in the material tested varied from 11 to 60. The dark portion of an annual ring, called the summerwood, is much harder and stronger than the wood in transverse, radial, and tangential sections. The wood consists chiefly of fibres or cells running lengthwise with the trunk. At right angles to these fibres are the pith rays, running in radial planes. Resin ducts also occur, confined generally to the summerwood. The heart wood is reddish brown in color, and the sap wood yellowish white. The latter runs from V2 to V/2 inches in thickness for trees up to 3 feet in diameter. The grain of the wood is usually straight. Knots are generally sound and not over 1% inches in diameter; they are common, and fre¬ quently occur in groups or clusters. In some parts of northern Idaho, western Montana and eastern Washington Western larch and Western yellow pine are practically the only woods used for building purposes. Out¬ side of its region of growth, Western larch le rarely found on the market. The grain in Western larch is very close and the wood is firm and hard. When cut with the grain vertical it makes an excellent flooring material which wears evenly and keeps a smooth surface. As a rule it is somewhat difficult to cut edge- grain flooring on account of the fact that many larch logs are small. When especially ordered, however, the edge-grain flooring is furnished, but the general practice is to mix the edge and fiat grain stock and sell them together. W^hen larch is used as an inside finishing material in localities where it grows, it finishes smoothly and takes a high polish. It also takes stains well and. because of it*; hardness, does not mar. It would seem that this wood might offer new opportunities to architects desirous of ob¬ taining novel effects in interior finish and deco¬ ration. Cost Keeping for Contractors. A recent i^sue of the Journal of the American SociMy of Engineering Contractors contains an article entitled "Cost Keeping and Its Value in Relation to Estimating on New Work." which is significant in its substance as well as its title in that it indicates that the contractor of to¬ day is looking upon his business as not merely that a good "boss," getting a maximum amount of work out of each laborer at the minimum wage, but he is advancing it to be a profession, the laws of which should be studied ancl mas¬ tered if success is to be attained. Even more significant of this—than the paper Itself—was tbe discussion, in which eeyeraj contractors stated their belief in this idea of contracting. One contractor whose work is largely reinforced concrete stated: "I keep a clerk on all of my work, and he has nothing to do but one thing, keep the time and keep track of the materials and their disposition. He checks up the materials, and that relieves the foreman of that dutv. • • • It is a small job that docs not pay for tbe clerk to keep time and check materials. I think that is as neces¬ sary as any other part of the work. If there is a bag of cement that goes over to a certain footing it is charged to that footing, and so on for other sections of the work. And all it costs to know that is the salary of the man who is taking notes of Ihcm." Another speaker summed up the advantages to contractors of cost keeping as follows: "The old-fashioned contractor who did not keep cost records never knew whether he had made or lost money on his job until it was completed; and lr he had made money he did not know on what items he had made it. He had made money on the whole job. and that is all he knew. And he used those same figures on the next job, if it was similar to tbe previous one ; whereas, if he bad kept a cost system be would have been able to bid more intelligently ou work by reducing the price on some of the items where be had made more money than was necessary, and increasing the price for those items on which he bad figured too low before." The author of the article. Berton M. Laughead, described in brief what is included in such cost keeping as follows: "In order to success¬ fully make estimates that will enable a con¬ tractor to make safe bids, it is absoltuely neces¬ sary that he keep daily records, in detail, of every branch of his work, so that on comple¬ tion," he will be able from such records to com¬ pile a final cost sheet that will show him the total cost and the cost per yard of his work." Finds Hidden Pipe. On page 36 on American Industries of March 13th (30 Church st. price 10 cents) is contained an interesting article on a device, which, it is asserted, will readily show the position of any concealed or underground gas. water, steam or other pipe whether covered with concrete, earth, boards, snow or ice. The "locator" consists of a special form of vibrator and induction coil, mounted in an oak box. provided with space for the necessary battery. This part of the apparatus is designed to produce the necessary current on the lost pipe. An especially constructed detector coil with receiver is provided for tracing the circuit. The operation of the instrumtnt is very simple; and the average workman can use it. It is well known that a conductor carrying an electric current is surrounded by an elec¬ tric field. If a coil of proper construction is brought within this field, a current will be induced in the coil; and if this is connected to a telephone receiver, the effect will be manifest by a tone produced therein. Tbe nearer the coil is brought to the conductor, tbe louder will be the tone. The "locator" has been de¬ signed to produce a current of such strength that, if connected to a pipe as the conductor, the operator may trace the pipe by means of the detector coil and receiver. Xew tiovernment Publications, The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, announces the following new publication as of list No. 17. for March. 1013. Bulletin 52. Ignition of mine gases by the filaments of incandescent electric lamps, by H. H. Clark and L. C. Ilsley, describing tests showing the liability of tbe filaments to ignite fire damp. Bulletin C3. Sampling coal deliveries and types of G'overnment specifications for the purchase of coal, by G. S. Pope, describing in detail methods of sampling and reasons therefor; cities new specifications for purchase of coal by the Gov¬ ernment ; also Technical Paper 31. describing ap¬ paratus for the exact analysis of flue gas, by G. A. Burrell and F. M. Seibert; T-#^hnical Paper 36, on the preparation of specifications for petroleum products, by I. C. Allen ; and Technical Paper 40. metal mine accidents in the United States during tbe calendar year 1011. by A. PI. Fay. In writing for publications, order them by number and title, only one copy to a person. Applications should be addressed to the Di¬ rector of the Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C. German Cement Industry. The Imperial Ministry of the Interior has published data relative to the state of the Ger¬ man cement industry during tbe years 1910 and 1911. The statistics relate to the operation of 13."5 plants and are based on definite informa¬ tion furnished by 132 of them and on estimates for the remaining three. Of tbe 135 plants, 117 were engaged in the production of Portland ce¬ ment, 6 in the production of iron Portland cement. 6 in the production of slag cement. 2 iron Portland and slag. 1 Portland and iron Portland, and 3 in the production of all three varieties. This distribution was the same in both 1910 and 1011. The output of Roman cement was not included in the statistics of production. Tbe total pro¬ duction of all other kinds of cement in the 135 plants under consideration was 34,512,283 bar¬ rels (of 3(5 pounds net each) in 1910 and 30.- 12.S.216 barrels in 1011. The value of the 1010 output was .$20,016,246 and that of 1011 $33.- .''.S2.594. Of the total output 2.226.045 barrels, worth $1.903.2S6. in 1010. and 2,710,901 barrels, worth $2,416,414. in 1911, were iron Portland cement, slag cement, etc. The estimated value of tbe raw materials used in the production of this cement was $2.- S15.064 and $3,213,714 in 1910 and 1911, re¬ spectively. A Concrete-Mixing: Machine. Builders and engineers having to do with mixing of concrete will find of particular in¬ terest a catalog and quotations of tbe Lake- wood Line, otherwise known as the Ohio Cera¬ mic Engineering Company, of New York and Cleveland. Tbe new method of handling conr Crete by the Tower system, in which gravity and automatic handling appliances materially reduce the cost of building construction, should be of more than ordinary interest to those having this work in hand. Copies will be sent upon application to the office at 50 Church street, or in Cleveland. Metal Electric Moulding. Tbe National Metal Moulding Company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., has issued a new catalogue de¬ voted to National metal moulding. This modern electric construction material is now available complete with couplings and fittings of every de¬ scription so that every requirement of construc¬ tion may be expeditiously handled. The material Js ready, together with fittings, in large quanti¬ ties and stocks are available for quick shipment to every part of the country. Tho catalog de¬ scribes and illustrates the methods of construc¬ tion with National metal mouldings, and indi¬ cates the relation of one part to tbe other. This catalog may be secured upon request. AVlnd Bracin;;: AVithout Dia^onnls. A discussion of three methods of wind brac¬ ing in current use with advantages and dis¬ advantages of each appears in the March IGth number of Engineering News, .320 Broadway, on page 402, under tbe beading "Wind Brac¬ ing Without Diagonals for Steel Frame Office Buildings," by R. Fleming. In the same num¬ ber appears an article on the "Action of Acids, Oils and Fats on Concrete," being extracts from a paper read before tbe Concrete Institute in England, by W. L. Gadd. Edison Co. Making Artificial Stone. The Edison Portland Cement Company, ac¬ cording to its general sales manager. Mr. E. Meyer, has received informal notification from the Manhattan Bureau of Buildings that its architectural concrete has passed the require¬ ments of tbe city building department and has been approved. The product being turned out by the Edison Company is. in reality, imitation stone pro¬ duced to duplicate the surface of any building stone in use in building construction or in or¬ namental work. This product is the result of exhaustive experiments conducted by Thomas A. Edison in his laboratories at West Orange. N. J., but since he has demonstrated that it is commercially feasible to cast decorative placques, capitals and other structural stones in concrete, tbe manufacture of Edison Architectural Con¬ crete has been transferred to tbe Edison plant at New Village, N. J., where the original ca¬ pacity for turning out this product has recently been increased more than 100 per cent. The Small Uses for Cement, Spectacular works give tbe greatest publicity to concrete construction. Big dams, tall sky¬ scrapers and huge factories are fit subjects for magazine articles and tbe speaker's platform, but the measure of the volume of concrete con¬ struction is dependent on tbe preponderant vol¬ ume of small work, says tbe Universal Port¬ land Cement Company. The greatest good to the greatest number lies in tbe development of the small uses. The estimate of 1012 cement production and consumption, 3^^ million barrels more than in 1011, went largely into normal, healthy increase of small work, especially into small town and rural construction. In tbe latter field the sur¬ face has only been touched. It is, perhaps, less interesting as a subject of discussion, but is more productive of bread and butter to a great number of designers and contractors and more significant of rising standards of building among owners. Artificial Marble. The following are directions for making arti¬ ficial marble: 1. Burnt gypsum is saturated with a solution of lime in alum water, burnt again, ground finely, or rather pulverized, add¬ ing one-twelfth by weight of tbe gypsum of alum ; and cast in tbe mold. Tbese barden very slowly, but attain the hardness and transpar¬ ency of marble. Different pigments may be added to obtain different colored marbles. 2. Pieces of burnt gypsum, the size of a fist, are put for 3 hours in a 12 per cent, solution of alum in water of a temperature of 85 to 104 de¬ grees Fahr.. burnt again, pulverized, adding one-sixteenth powdered alum, and lastly worked into molds with water containing one-sixteentb sal ammoniac for each part of gypsum. Cast¬ ings made of this combination possess great hardness and brilliancy, and it may. therefore, be used for fine statues.—Neueste Erfindungen und Erfabrungen. Iron Exports Averaging a Million Dollars Daily. No class of articles exported from the United States has shown in recent years such a phe- nominal gain as that of iron and steel manu¬ factures. The exports of iron and steel and articles chiefly composed of those materials showed. 20 years ago in the fiscal year 1S93. a total of 35 million dollars; 10 years ago. in 1903, 120 million dollars: and in the fiscal year 1013 will be fully 365 million, or an average of a million dollars a day for the full year. North and South America are the largest markets for our iron and steel manufactures exported. Structural Steel for Balboa Shops. The United States Steel Products Company, which has the contract for tbe fabrication of all of the structural steel framework for the permanent shop buildings at Balboa, has ad¬ vised the Canal Commission that delivery of the order will be expedited, and that it has made special arrangements for tbe water trans¬ portation.