22 
The Colorado Experiment Station. 
PART II. 
THE EXPERIMENTS. 
These experiments were conducted for the purpose of deter¬ 
mining the method of building the best posts at the least cost. 
Apparatus .—Various commercial molds of different shapes and 
construction were secured. In each of these molds several posts 
were made in order to determine the practicability of the mold; 
also the best combination of mixtures and reinforcements. 
The Farm Mechanics Department designed, built and used 
a simple home made mold which makes a post of uniform size from 
the base to the ground line with a rapid taper from the ground line 
to the top. (See Fig. 4.) The department also designed and 
built a simple home made concrete mixer which was used in the ex¬ 
periment. (See Fig. 1.) 
A shed which was closed on all sides with a sliding door on the 
east was used as the work and curing room. 
TABLE NO. 1—Poured Posts. 
Size, 5x5 inches from base to ground line, tapering to 3x3 inches at 
top. Length, 6 feet 6 inches. Cured weight, 115 to 120 pounds. Mixture, 
1 part cement and 3 parts sand, by measure. Cost for cement per post, 16.2 
cents; sand, 3.7 cents. Port cost of reinforcement, see table. 
REINFORCEMENT 
TEST 
COST 
REMARKS 
Kind of Wire 
Weight 
Per 
Post 
Cost 
Per 
Post 
First 
Crack 
in Ebs. 
Final 
Break 
in Ebs. 
Eocation of 
BreaksAbove 
or Below 
Ground Eine. 
Cost of 
Material 
in Post 
New Wire is fig¬ 
ured at 4c PER 
Eb. and Old Wire 
at 2c Per Eb. 
No. 10, 4 twist¬ 
ed strands of 
2 wires_ 
2 % lbs 
10c 
250 
307 
Ground Eine 
Ground Eine 
1 in. below. 
29.9c 
Wires broke they 
did not slip. 
No. 10, 
8 strands 
crimped._ 
2 K lbs 
10c 
243 
254 
6 in. below, 
Ground Eine 
3 in. above 
29.9c 
All wires slipped 
slightly before 
breaking. 
No. 6, 4 long: 
wires hooked 
at ends. . 
2% lbs 
10.6c 
137 
232 
6 in. above 
Ground Eine 
1 in. below 
30.5c 
All wires slipped 
wires not crimp¬ 
ed. 
New Barbed 
4 long- 
strands 
l 2 /3 lbs 
6.6c 
148 
188 
Ground Eine 
2 in. below 
2 in. below 
26.5c 
Post 130 days old 
wires broke. 
Old Barbed 
4 long 
strands._ 
1 % lbs 
3.3c 
143 
158 
Ground Eine 
Ground Eine 
4 in. below 
23.2c 
Wires broke. 
Old Barbed 
4 long and 2 
short. ____ 
2 lbs 
4.0c 
167 
200 
10 in. above 
4 in. above 
16 in. above 
23.9c 
Mixture gave way 
above extra 
wires. 
Old Barbed 
4 long and 4 
short. . 
lbs 
5.5c 
148 
229 
18 in. above 
18 in. above 
20 in. above 
25.4c 
All wires broke 
above extra 
wires. 
No. 10, twist¬ 
ed 4 long and 
2 short.__ 
3 lbs 
12c 
128 
290 
1 in. below 
3 in. below 
5 in. below 
31.9c 
Extra wires did 
no good. 
