GRIMSLEY. | Technology of Gypsum. 105 
etc. In the upper part of this building the mixer is placed, a 
machine which thoroughly mixes the plaster with fiber, so that 
when it is sent into the market the fiber is already mixed 
through the plaster. This building is placed immediately on 
the ground, with the floor of the ware room resting on timbers 
which lie directly on the ground. In this way the great load 
of the large stock will be readily supported and ho joists or 
framework will be giving way under the continuous strain. This 
point is one of great importance. In some of the larger ware- 
houses of the state the floor is supported by heavy framework 
beneath. Such a framework is costly, and frequently the sup- 
ports give way under the continued strain of a large supply of 
stock, and repairs have to be made. 
The Mulvyane plant has mechanical appliances for handling 
both the raw material and the finished product to a greater ex- 
tent than any other plant known in the state as they now are. 
The arrangement for hauling the gypsum earth to the mine is 
similar in some respects to that employed elsewhere, but differs 
slightly from anything else known. At the mine, teams with 
scrapers carry the material to a short bridge under which a car 
is placed. As the scraper is unloaded the material falls imme- 
diately into the car. The Agatite plant at Dillon likewise has 
this same arrangement. A horse draws the car across the 
branch to within about 200 feet of the calcining building. This 
distance at Mulvane is very short, so that the total amounts to 
but little. Here a cable is hitched to the car, which is then 
drawh up an incline to the very attic of the shed, as shown in 
Figure 1. The car is then unloaded by pulling a lever, which 
causes the load to drop to the floor below. By this arrange- 
ment the large shed can readily be filled to the rafters if de- 
sired. ‘The material is carried from this shed to the calcining 
furnace by means of a long belt plying in a tunnel under the 
shed, as shown at the bottom of the figure. Here through a 
small opening in the floor the material is shoveled directly on 
to the moving belt which deposits it at the bottom of the chain 
buckets in the calcining building. These buckets elevate it toa 
point a little higher than the top of the calcining furnace and 
