NA TURE 



457 



THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 1906. 



TEXT-BOOKS ON PLAIN AND REINFORCED 



CONCRETE WORK. 

 <i) Cements, Limes, and Plasters: their Materials. 



Manufacture, and Properties. By E. C. Eckel. 



Pp. xxxiv + 712. (New York: J. Wiley and Sons; 



London : Chapman and Hall. Ltd., 1005.) Price 



25s. brf. net. 

 2) Cement and Concrete. By L. C. Sabin. Pp. 



x + 507. (London: Archibald Constable and Co., 



Ltd., 1905.) Price 21s. net. 

 ,1 A Treatise on Concrete., Plain and Reinforced. 



By F. W. Taylor and S. E. Thompson. Pp. 



xviii + 585. (New York: John Wiley and Sons; 



London: Chapman and Hall. Ltd.. 1905.) Price 



2 is. net. 

 41 Reinforced Concrete Construction. By A. YV. 



Buel and C. S. Hill. Pp. x + 434. (London: 



Archibald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1905.) Price 



21s. net. 

 (:;) Concrete Steel: a Treatise on the Theory and 



Praetiee of Reinforced Concrete Construction. By 



VV. Noble Twelvetrees, M.I.M.E., &c. Pp. xii + 



218; illustrated. (London: Whittaker and Co., 



[905.) Price 6s. net. 

 (1) ""T^HIS book gives an exhaustive account of the 

 1 various processes involved in the preparation 

 of plasters, limes, and cements, and of the examin- 

 ation of these materials both bv chemical and by 

 physical tests. Il is probably one of the most com- 

 plete treatises which has been published up to the 

 present day on this subject, and the author justifies 

 the thoroughness of the treatment by statistics in 

 regard to the monetary value of the cementing 

 material annually produced in Europe and America ; 

 in the United States the monetary value of cement- 

 ing materials increased from 21,773,246 dollars in 

 1900 to 45,607,436 dollars in 1903. 



The author classifies cementing materials under 

 two heads, viz. simple cementing materials, which 

 include all those produced by the expulsion of a liquid 

 or gas through the action of heat from a natural raw 

 material, and the setting properties of which are due 

 to the simple re-absorption of the same liquid or 

 gas, and complex cementing materials, which include 

 those cements the setting properties of which are due 

 to the formation of entirely new chemical compounds 

 during manufacture or use. Plasters are first dealt 

 with in group i. ; the process of manufacture is ex- 

 plained, statistics are given as to the total pro- 

 duction of gypsum, and details of the chemical and 

 other properties of plasters used in building work ; 

 one chapter in this section is devoted to the manu- 

 facture and properties of lime-sand bricks, which are 

 made by mixing sand, or gravel, with a relatively 

 small percentage of slaked lime. 



As the value of Portland cement annually manu- 

 factured in the United States is three-fifths of the 

 total value of the output of cementing materials, 

 it is only natural that a very large portion of the 

 NO. 1898, VOL. 73] 



book should be devoted to the questions of the 

 manufacture and testing of Portland cement. 

 The quarrying and other preliminarv work neces- 

 sary in order to obtain the raw materials from which 

 Portland cement is made are dealt with in a series 

 of well written and well illustrated chapters. Then 

 follow details of the preparation of the material for 

 the kilns, and of the best methods to employ in burn- 

 ing the cement and in working the kilns; this is the 

 first text-book on this subject in which we have found 

 a complete and detailed account of the construction 

 and working of the modern rotary kiln. The cement- 

 ing value of Portland cement depends so largelv upon 

 the fineness and character of the grinding that the 

 author rightly devotes much attention to a descrip- 

 tion of the various grinding machines which have 

 been devised for this work. The last portion of the 

 book is devoted to an account of the physical and 

 chemical tests usually employed in testing Portland 

 cement, and the rules drawn up in 11)04 by the 

 American society for testing materials are given in 

 full. 



(2) The original investigations which form the 

 basis of this book were made by the author in con- 

 nection with the construction of the Poe Lock at St. 

 Man 's Falls Canal, Michigan, under the direction of 

 the Corps of Engineers, United States Army. The 

 book is divided into four parts; in the first section 

 a briii account is given of the different cements and 

 limes in ordinary use, and the processes employed in 

 their manufacture; there is a good description of the 

 rotary kilns now often used in making Portland 

 cemenl . 



In part ii. the author deals with the various physical 

 tests usually enforced in examining Portland cement 

 in order to ascertain its quality and its suitability 

 for various purposes, and a series of tables is given 

 of the results of tests made by the author in connec- 

 tion with the works at St. Mary's Falls Canal. In 

 the last chapter of this section the author explains 

 carefully the method adopted at these works for re- 

 cording the receipt of Portland cement from the manu- 

 facturers, the methods adopted for storing it, and for 

 keeping the records of the various tests made from 

 sample barrels selected from each delivery; this 

 chapter will be found very useful as a guidance by 

 any engineer who may have to undertake similar 

 work. 



The question of the correct proportion of the various 

 ingredients in concrete, and the methods employed in 

 mixing them, are dealt with in part iii., and a number 

 of tables is given for enabling in any case a determin- 

 ation to be made of the percentage of voids present 

 in broken stone of various classes when broken to 

 varying degrees of fineness ; this portion of the book 

 is of an extremely practical nature, and contains a 

 great deal of useful information. The last portion 

 of this section is devoted to the testing of concrete, 

 and the results of a carefully arranged series of tests 

 carried out by the author are given in tabular form. 

 This portion of the book also deals with the question 

 of the determination of the modulus of elasticity of 

 concrete, and with such important points as the 



