Popular Science Mont/il// 



No scaffolds 



those for the partitions may be quickly 

 trued up and alined with each other. 



Meanwhile, the supports are being 

 braced toget her by cross- 

 pieces, as holes have 

 been left in them all, 

 where the horizontal 

 beams may be secured. 

 Short members are 

 placed between the up- 

 rights so as to permit 

 the introduction of doors 

 and windows, the frames 

 of which can be wired in 

 place. 



At the same time 

 workmen standing on 

 stepladders put the raft- 

 ers in position, making 

 them fast with pegs and 

 wire, just as the other 

 beams have been fastened 

 are required. 



High rib lath is then attached to the 

 sides and spread on the roof and firmly 

 bound down. For the walls two areas of 

 wire web or lath may be used, so as to 

 give further stability. The metal meshes 

 are then plastered from within and as 

 soon as the plaster has set sufficiently, 

 stucco is applied to the outside wall with 

 a cement gun. Because of the air spaces, 

 walls of this character have a considerable 

 advantage over those of the poured con- 

 crete variety which often sweat and give 

 the tenants of the house a sense of chill. 

 The roof is also of stucco, handled in the 

 same manner as that composing the walls. 

 The portion of the concrete foundations 

 rising above the earth serves as a base for 

 floor joists and also incloses an air-cham- 

 ber underfoot. Here then we have a fire- 

 proof, vermin-proof, rodent-proof and 

 damp-proof structure. 



Although these new models may be 

 built from standardized parts, pleasing 

 and attractive variations may be made by 

 adding a gable here and there or altering 

 the pitch of a roof. These one-story 

 cottages can be erected for one family, 

 for two or for three families, so that a 

 village of them would not be cursed by 

 sameness. The architect has had forty 

 variations of the idea worked out in his 

 drafting room. Further antidotes to 

 monotony may be pro\'ided by painting 

 the exterior stucco walls in different 



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Trenches are aug by machine, and then the main sup- 

 porting pillars are all dropped in together with a cradle 



tints, and also by devising striking color 

 schemes for the shutters, the doors and 

 the roofs, so that there may be no two 

 houses together which appear to be e.\- 

 actly alike. Here the paint gun serves 

 both beauty and economy. 



The cost of these dwellings can be 

 kept very low, in the opinion of the in- 

 ventor, because they can be built by 

 unskilled labor under the direction of 

 skilled foremen. Laborers whose wages 

 would be only $2.25 to $2.50 a day could 

 do work for which in ordinary construc- 

 tion the services of carpenters and masons 

 at from $5 to $7 a day would be required. 



Houses of this type, exclusive of 

 equipment, could be erected, according to 

 this plan, within tw^o weeks of the time 

 the trench digging machine went into 

 action and under favorable conditions 

 only one week would be required. 



The installation of a general steam or 

 electrical heating system would be pro- 

 vided for long in advance, or if stoves are 

 used, the needed warmth would be readily 

 obtained. Lighting and plumbing, al- 

 though requiring the services of skilled 

 men, could be reduced to the simplest 

 terms. 



One-family houses built under these 

 specifications can be erected at from $700 

 to $1,000 each, including the cost of land 

 in the average new industrial community. 

 These standardized dwellings, the unit 

 of construction, consist of a living room, 

 a kitchen, dining-room, two bedrooms and 



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