CHAPTERS ON THE CEMENT INDUSTRY 855 



Montezuma cement co. 



In the fall of 1890 operations were commenced at Montezuma 

 (N. Y.) The company owned 1700 acres of land, underlain by a 

 deposit of marl and clay which varied in thickness from 4 to 20 

 feet. The deposit lay below the level of the Cayuga river and 

 near its shores. It was overlain by several feet of muck, which 

 was first dredged off and used for filling and grading for a rail- 

 road. The marl and clay ran pretty uniformly in composition, and 

 it was therefore found practicable to excavate both materials by 

 machinery. The bucket of the steam dredger employed brought 

 up a ton every three minutes. Cars were run on the track under 

 the bucket of the dredge to receive the material, and the loaded 

 cars were then run on platform scales and weighed. 



The marl containing about 50$ water was drawn by a steam 

 hoist up an incline into the second story of the works and above 

 the upper end of a mixing machine, into which the load was 

 dumped without drying or any other preliminary treatment. At 

 the same time a weighed and ground portion of clay was added 

 to standardize the mixture. The materials mixed as they gravi- 

 tated toward the lower end of the machine. The entire process 

 was practically continuous, a fresh charge being added at the 

 upper end of the mixer every 10 minutes, while an equal amount 

 was being gradually drawn off from the lower end in the same 

 space of time. The mixture then passed to a stone mill that 

 completed the mixing and ground any coarse materials. From 

 the mill the mixture was introduced directly by a screw con- 

 veyor into the rotary kiln, using oil as fuel. This was unique 

 not only in its length, 75 feet, but in having opposite its lower 

 end a gas retort or combustion chamber. This chamber was 

 heated by a coal fire and vaporized the oil as it was sprayed into 

 it. The air blast also passed into this chamber, coming from a 

 rotary fan blower. 



