614 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that, if iron is well protected by a heavy clothing of beton, its integ- 

 rity can be safely depended upon in almost any emergency. 



When all doubts concerning the reliability of the several combina- 

 tions of materials required in the construction were removed, a build- 

 ing, embracing the following radical new features, was erected, for 

 dwelling purposes, near Port Chester, New York : Not only the ex- 

 ternal and internal walls, cornices, and towers of the building were 

 constructed of beton, but all of the beams, floors, and roofs were made 

 exclusively of beton, re-enforced with light iron beams and rods. 



Furthermore, all the closets, stairs, balconies, and porticoes, with 

 their supporting columns, were molded from the same material ; the 

 only wood in the whole structure being window-sashes and doors, 

 with their frames, mop-boards, and the stair-rails, thus excluding 

 everything of a combustible nature from the main construction. 



Beton can be used in any form of construction, and will serve the 

 requirements of any architectural or decorative effects. All the ex- 

 terior portions of this house, which are more or less ornamental in 

 their functions, were made of beton in place during the progress of 

 the work. In the interior of the house, the cornices, stiles, and panels 

 of the ceilings are formed of beton, and covered with the hard finish 

 usual in such work. There appears to be no limit to the reproduc- 

 tion in beton of any form used in stone masonry or in stucco. The 

 proportions of material composing the beton for the work varied in 

 strength to meet the requirements of the different parts of the struc- 

 ture : the heavy walls needing the least proportion of cement, while 

 the beams, floors, and roofs required a much larger proportion. Only 

 the best quality of Portland cement, clean beach-sand, and crushed 

 blue-stone, were used in combination with iron for constructing the 

 building. 



The proportions used for the heavy wall-work were one part of 

 cement to four parts of sand and fine gravel, thoroughly mixed dry, 

 and dampened with only sufficient water to give it the consistency of 

 well-tempered molding sand. 



A finely crushed and screened, hard, blue limestone was found to 

 be better adapted for use in combination with the beton than a coarse- 

 sized stone filling, because small-sized stones pack closer than large 

 ones, thereby realizing a proportional saving in cement. The tests 

 made to ascertain the comparative transverse strength of different 

 compositions proved that the bond was stronger in beton made with 

 small stone. In breaking test-sections made of b6ton in the form of 

 bricks, the fracture of those filled with small stone was almost in- 

 variably across the stone lying in the line of fracture, while the frac- 

 ture of the test-bricks made with a filling of stone three or four times 

 larger showed a frequent tearing away from the bond between the 

 beton and the larger stone filling, the composition of the beton being 

 the same in both cases. 



