106 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
throw it directly into the kettle or onto the floor space near by 
at the pleasure of the operator. This elevating machinery is 
entirely under the control of the operator, so that it can be 
stopped or started at will. 
When the calcining is completed and the plaster is run into 
the hot-pits, shown in Figures 1 and 4, the suction fan is started 
and the plaster is lifted through sheet-iron pipes into the receiv- 
ers in the attic of the calcining building, shown in Figures 1 
and 2. By this operation it is cooled to a normal temperature, 
so that no further steps are necessary in the cooling process. 
However, to avoid all possible danger from fire, the receivers 
are made of heavy sheet iron. From here, by gravity, the plas- 
ter passes downward into the bolts where it is sifted, and from 
the bolts, again by gravity, passes into the auger conveyor, 
which carries it to the store room, Figure 6. Here it is deliy- 
ered directly into the mixer, which is placed at the top of the 
building, but at an elevation a little less than that of the bolts 
in the calcining building. After passing through the mixer it is 
delivered, again by gravity, through the proper channels into 
the boxes or barrels for shipment. 
In this way the one elevation by the suction fan in the calcin- 
ing building is all that is necessary, gravity continuously as- 
sisting in the movements from that time until it is packed in 
the store room ready for shipment. Here the building is of the 
proper hight for convenience for loading directly into the car. 
As will be seen by the above explanation the only handling 
of the material by the operators is with the scrapers at the 
mines and with shovels in the gypsum earth shed where the 
operator passes it through the opening in the floor on to the 
conveyor below. From that point until it is packed ready for 
shipment, the whole of the operation is performed by machin- 
ery. 
The buildings of the Mulvane plant, see Plates X XIX and 
XXX, are not as expensive as those of some other plants in the 
state. This phase of the subject has already been referred to. 
Where a plant is constructed to manufacture plaster from the 
gypsum earth deposits it is practically certain that the life of 
