34 
BULLETIN 724, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
CONCRETE TILE. 
Concrete tile is made from Portland cement and sand or fine gravel 
and may be substituted for clay tile wherever conditions are such as 
to make the use of concrete economical. The only exception to this 
rule is that where the water a tile is intended to carry contains any 
considerable quantity of either alkali or acid clay is preferable to 
concrete, because concrete may be destroyed quickly by strong alkali 
or acid, while these materials do not affect clay tile seriously. Ma- 
chines for manufacturing concrete tile may be purchased for from 
$40 to $100 and may be operated either by hand or by a suitable en- 
gine. Table 9 shows the size, weight, and quantities of materials re- 
quired for concrete tile of various diameters, and the following list 
of suggestions are practically sufficient to serve as a guide in the 
manufacture of such tiles. 
Table 9. — Concrete tile. 
[Straight tile — concrete mixed in proportion 1:3.] 
Diameter. 
Thick- 
ness. 
Weight 
per 
foot. 
Material re- 
quired per 100 
feet. 
Diameter. 
Thick- 
ness. 
Weight 
per 
foot. 
Material re- 
quired per 100 
feet. 
Ce- 
ment. 
Aggre- 
gate. 
Ce- 
ment. 
Aggre- 
gate. 
Inches. 
4 
Indies. 
3 
4 
I 
f 
U 
Pounds. 
10.6 
13.1 
15.3 
21.3 
31.2 
BUs. 
0.67 
.83 
.97 
1.36 
1.98 
Cu. yds. 
0.30 
.37 
.43 
.60 
.88 
Inches. 
9 
Inches. 
li 
H 
li 
li 
Pounds. 
38.6 
42,6 
46.5 
50.4 
BUs. 
2.44 
2.72 
2.96 
3.20 
Cu. yds. 
1.09 
5 
10.. 
1.20 
6 
11 
1.31 
7 
12 
1.42 
8 
1. Use a reputable brand of Portland cement known to conform 
with some standard specification, such as that of the United States 
Bureau of Standards, published in their bulletin No. 33. 
2. The sand used as aggregate should be clean and graded in size 
from fine to coarse, with the coarse grains predominating. For the 
smaller sizes of pipe all the sand should pass a i-inch mesh screen, 
but for the larger sizes it is economical to have the aggregate consist 
partly of fine gravel that will pass a |-inch mesh screen. The pro- 
portion of gravel to sand should not be greater than 2:1. 
3. The proportion of cement to aggregate should be about 1:3, but 
if the sand be inferior in any respect the amount of cement should 
be increased. 
4. In making the tile, the concrete should be tamped into the forms 
so that no open or porous spaces are left, and the consistency of the 
concrete should be such that this can be done with comparative 
ease. 
