14 THECUB A REVIEW 



PIER CONSTRUCTION WORK AT HAVANA 



HOW THE CONCRETE PILES ARE MADE SOME INTERESTING 



INFORMATION AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



In the February issue of The Cuba Review a discussion was given of the new 

 piers now being constructed at Havana by the Port of Havana Docks Company, owners 

 of the Scovel Concession granted by the government of Cuba. This information was 

 suppHed the Cuba Review by the engineer in charge of the work. Some further very 

 interesting data, exclusively sent this magazine, with three new photographs of the 

 work, follow. The illustrations described are on the opposite page. 



The concrete piles for the pier are manufactured at Regie, a suburb of Havana, 

 across the bay. The plant is located at the water's edge, where all material may be 

 Iirought on barges and the finished piles can be shipped out in the same way all at 

 the minimum of expense. 



Picture No. 2 shows the interior of the shed in which the piles are made. There 

 are two aisles, each 330 ft. long ; like the one shown in the photograph each is served 

 by an overhead electric crane of 20 tons capacity, which serves to deliver the concrete 

 to the molds and to transport the finished piles. 



The piles are of concrete reinforced with steel rods and hoops. Wooden forms 

 are used for molding; at the left of picture No. 2, in the foreground, may be seen 

 one of these molds with the reinforcing steel in place ready for the concrete. 



The mold just to the right is completely filled and the workmen are smoothing 

 off the surface. The concrete is mixed in a mixer outside of the shed and delivered 

 in buckets to the traveling crane. These buckets, which have a bottom opening some- 

 what narrower than the molds, are brought over the mold and carried along the 

 length of the mold by the crane as the concrete runs out of the bottom. This operation 

 is shown in the centre of the picture. 



The molds are stripped from the piles after twenty-four hours and are immediately 

 set up again, the tops of the piles already cast serving as the bottom of the mold 

 for the one above it. In this way the maximum economy of space and molds is secured. 



The concrete piles are ready for use in thirty days from the time of casting. They 

 are then transferred from the casting shed to barges for transportation to the work 

 under construction. 



The same electric crane which was used for depositing the concrete picks up the 

 pile at two joints where holes were left in the pile for the insertion of steel pins. 

 Picture No. 3 shows a pile thus supported. It has come from the rear of the shed 

 and is to be placed on the car shown at the extreme left of the picture. Owing to 

 the length of the pile, two cars are necessary for its transportation. The pile shown 

 in this picture is only 50 ft. long, but at the time of writing piles 85 ft. long and 

 weighing 18 tons apiece are being handled in the same manner with the substitution 

 of a steel beam for the wooden beam shown in the pitcure. 



The pile, once loaded on the cars, is pushed by hand out onto the pier shown on 

 picture No. 1, a distance of about 300 ft. Here a derrick lifts it from the cars and 

 places it on barges alongside. These barges carry from 14 to 20 piles depending on the 

 length of the piles. The barge is then towed to Havana and run alongside the floating 

 derrick, which does the work of driving. This work will be described later. 



To date about 15 hundred piles have been manufactured and transported with prac- 

 tically no damage and no accidents. 



The finished groups of piles made in this way are 6 ft. high and 12 ft. broad. They 

 are allowed to remain in the house 30 days for curing, being kept continuously moist 

 and protected from the sun. 



The method of shipping will be illustrated by later pictures. 



According to Secretary of State San- The coast to coast railroad from Guan- 



guily, Sr. Fernandez Vallin, the Spanish tanamo to Baracoa, which opens up to 



minister to Cuba, reported as having left sugar planting a new district in Oriente 



Madrid on his way back to Cuba, will not Province, is soon to be inaugurated ac- 



return to Cuba any more. cording to Sr. Jose Marimon, head of the 



It will be remembered that some re- company which was organized for the 



marks regarding the republic were ill re- construction of this road, says La Liicha. 



ceived by the Havana press and his recall The new road will open up a rich section 



was demanded. He shortly afterward asked of the province now practically inaccessible, 



his government for leave of absence. as the region is mountainous. 



