120 ANNUAL REPORT 
are observant that when telegraph or telephone poles have to be replaced, 
it does not always mean that the whole pole has rotted away, but just that 
portion sitting in the ground. Sometimes the poles can be removed to 
a country line and reset by having the base sawed off; the balance of 
the pole being perfectly sound. The cost of renewing poles, rewiring, 
etc., is expensive. To avoid much of that trouble and expense this in- 
dustry provides concrete bases cast in octagonal forms with four iron 
strips bolted to opposite faces extending a foot or more above the con- 
crete. The rotten butt of the pole can then be sawed off, the pole set a 
couple of feet to one side, the concrete butt set firmly in place and the 
pole set into the socket between the iron strips and firmly bolted to its 
new base. No wiring need be touched nor communication interrupted in 
the least. The pole when thus equipped is better than new, because it 
will not rot out at the base again. If from extreme age or from special 
disaster the poles need replacing, poles five feet shorter than otherwise 
required can be used, thus adding materially to the amount saved. Such 
concrete butts have been in use for three years, giving good satisfaction. 
Figure 64 shows such a butt bolted to a pole. 
BURIAL VAULTS. 
Concrete burial vaults are being made, in sections, so that they can be 
shipped to any point, set up in cement, and thus provide water-tight and 
nearly air-tight receptacles for the casket. The pieces are not large, so 
that they are easily handled. . They are are all grooved and ribbed so that 
they fit together well, and neat cement paste is used in all the joints to make 
a perfectly tight vault. The roof is made in arched form with beveled 
edges fitting into the V shaped bevels upon the top end of the side pieces. 
The inventor claims two objects are served by this kind of a vault: 
A. better protection to the bodies of the dead, and a sanitary safeguard 
provided for the living. It serves one of its most useful purposes in the 
exhumation and reinterment of bodies. It is not so cumbersome but 
that it can be moved bodily without removing the interior casket, the 
cement-joints and the bevel rib feature making the vault one solid piece 
of stone to be moved. Figure 65 illustrates the Lyon’s burial vault, the 
shape of the pieces, and the method of fitting them together. 
FURNITURE. 
Mr. W. N. Wight of Westwood, N. J., has still further extended 
the use of concrete by making various articles of house and stable furni- 
ture. Among the articles is an ice chest with an opening to put in the ice 
from the outside of the house, while the provisions and food are placed 
in the cooling chamber from within the house. Another article is a con- 
crete fruit closet for canned goods. Outside, he has built a neat dog 
