354 
Your Store Room 
How Does It Look ? 
If it’s old and dingy let us suggest a 
suitable steel ceiling for it. 
We can make your store room artistic 
and inviting. Give us the exact meas- 
urements and we'll serve you promptly. 
Catalogue sent on application, showing 
store room designs in detail. Write for 
a copy. 
Mention American Homes and Gardens. 
The Berger Manufacturing Company 
Canton, Ohio 
A. H. & G. 10-5. 
AMERICAN @HOMES AND "GARDENS 
This Steel Vertical File 
is for YOUR office. 
This is a special proposition of great 
value to you. You must bave a letter 
file in your office. Wood burns, sticks, 
shrinks, warps; Steel lasts forever. 
Capacity, 20,000 Letters 
Standard Size, 10xJ2 inches 
This size is sufficient for any ordinary 
office. When you need more. add them 
in units. The drawers are fitted with 
suspension slides and every bit of room is 
available. 
Size, 51 inches high; 14% inches 
wide ; 24 inches deep. 
Made of Special 
Annealed Steel 
PRICE 
$22 
Cc A S$ H 
Finish: Maroon Enamel, Polished 
Brass Trimmings, Cases Gold Striped 
Delivered free anywhere east of the 
Rockies. Supplies not included. Write 
for eur Catalogue. 
THE BERGER MFG. CO., Canton, 0. 
A. H. & G.10-5. 
By utilizing our Koll’s Patent Lock Joint in the con- 
struction of the wooden pedestals furnished by us, we 
are enabled to offer this most attractive feature of the 
formal garden at a price that places them within the 
reach of all. 
A special booklet showing a number of designs of 
pedestals, pergolas, etc., with ee will be sent free 
upon request. 
HARTMANN BROS. 
Ask for Circular ‘‘A-26.”’ 
MFG. CO. 
MOUNT VERNON, N. Y., U.S. A. 
New York Office : 
1123 Broadway 
Western Factory: Henry Sanders Co., Chicago, III. 
MANUFAC 
TURERS OF 
KOLL’S PATENT LOCK JOINT COLUMNS 
For Pergolas, Porches, or Interior Use 
Concrete, Reinforced Concrete 
& Concrete Building Blocks 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1543 contains an article on Concrete, by 
Brysson Cunningham. The article clearly 
describes the proper composition and mixture 
of concrete and gives the results of elaborate 
tests 
SCIENTIFI¢ AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1538 gives the proportion of gravel and sand 
to be used in concrete. 
SCIENTIFI(¢ AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTS 
1567, 1568, 1569, 1570, and 1571 contain an 
elaborate discussion by Lieut. Henry J. Jones 
of the various systems of reinforcing con 
crete, concrete construction, and their appli 
cations These articles constitute a splendid 
text book on the subject of reinforced con 
crete Nothing better has been published. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
997 contains an article by Spencer Newberry 
in which Be ictical notes on the proper prepa- 
ati rt concrete are given. 
S( TEN TIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTS 
$s and 1569 present a helpful account of 
making of concrete blocks by Spencer 
wherry 
SCIE NTIMI¢ AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1534 gives a critical review of the engineer 
ing value of reinforced concrete. 
Each number of the Supplement costs 
cents. 
Order 
from your 
newsdealer 
or from 
Munn 
& Co. 
361 
Broad- 
way 
New York 
City 
oie 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTS 
1547 and 1548 give a resume in which the 
various systems of reinforced concrete con- 
struction are discussed and illustrated. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1564 contains an article by Lewis A. Hicks, 
in which the merits and defects of reinforced 
concrete are analyzed. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1551 contains the principles of reinforced 
concrete with some practical illustrations by 
Walter Loring Webb. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1573 contains an article by Louis H. Gibson 
on the principles of success in concrete block 
manufacture, illustrated. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT 
1574 discusses steel for reinforced concrete. 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENTS 
1575, 1576, and 1577 contain a paper by 
Philip L. Wormley, Jr., on cement mortar 
and concrete, their preparation and use for 
farm purposes. ‘The paper exhaustively dis- 
cusses the making of mortar and concrete 
depositing of concrete, facing concrete, wood 
forms, concrete sidewalks, details of con- 
struction of reinforced concrete posts, etc. 
A set of papers containing all the articles 
above mentioned will be mailed for $1.80, 
May, 1906 
the steam main. The Gorton Vapor Vacuum 
System can be run as a vacuum system by 
simply raising enough pressure of steam to ex- 
pel the air from all of the radiators, and then 
allowing the fire to cool until the desired 
amount of vacuum is obtained, after which a 
low fire should be maintained. 
Steel Walls and Ceilings 
\ WELL established Eastern firm produces 
walls and ceilings of the Bessemer steel, 
and uses its own composition—a pre- 
pared rust-proof paint—for their preservation. 
Ordinarily rust-proof paint is applied with 
brushes, but this firm, Northrop, Coburn & 
Dodge, No. 40 Cherry Street, New York, 
dips each sheet by hand in a tank of rust-proof 
paint, which, from experience, is found to 
afford the best ingredients for that purpose. 
Dipping insures the absolute covering of every 
spot of the sheet, which, of course, includes 
the edges, which are liable to be somewhat neg- 
lected when dealt with by the brush. ‘The 
experts of this company avoid the painting 
of sheets before stamping, such a method of 
procedure not being able in their judgment to 
safely withstand the enormous pressure and 
chafing which necessarily loosens and knocks 
off more or less of the paint, and leaves the 
remainder flaky, chipped, and liable to fall off 
with but little handling. The Northrop sur- 
faces are so carefully made that all the seams, 
joints and different parts fit together easily, 
quickly and exactly. ‘This makes them easy 
to apply, so that skilled labor is seldom 
needed, even on the most elaborate work—a 
feature valuable in remodeling and recoating. 
Floor Coverings 
HE completeness of presentation of a 
properly decorated interior is lacking 
in no direction more positively than in 
the treatment of floor covering. Surely one’s 
foot is planted on one’s field when treading on 
a texture whose tints and designs are in har- 
mony with correct surroundings. Not until 
the authentic seal of taste is put on the choice 
of fabric that does duty for the floor of a 
room or auxiliary space is the problem fully 
met. In applying his criterion the decorator 
finds many difficulties presenting themselves. 
Effects that seem standard in the salesroom 
may take on patchy lights and shades unless 
in accord with the place chosen for the cover- 
ing to be spread. ‘This is particularly true in 
the case of the more elaborately designed apart- 
ments wherein decoration is carried with mi- 
nute fidelity to the various styles of the 
“Periods.” It is not unsafe to claim that the 
scheme of treating walls and ceilings, wood- 
work and furniture, hangings and tapestries in 
faithful accordance with a certain style, is not 
always arduous, for many facilities are pro- 
vided by modern business houses in dealing 
with the necessary materials by thorough ar- 
tisans. In the matter of floor coverings, how- 
ever, we believe that the most satisfactory 
method for securing the desired ensemble is 
to prepare a design faithful to the decorative 
style of the apartment, and then to have it 
woven exact in detail and coloring with the 
purpose of the architect or decorator. Any 
house which possesses the supreme means and 
the first-hand judgment of a staff of experts to 
carry them on will be in a position to show 
that it is preferable to weave these carpets in 
one whole piece, for they can then be made to 
fit with precision the shape of a room, what- 
ever form it may take—oval, rectangular or 
even irregular; the weaving giving the marked 
advantage of the absence of seams, the use of 
which mars the whole piece, however carefully 
the sewing may be done. Foremost among 
such business houses that undertake to produce 
the highest grade of floor covering is the firm 
