1S ae ANNUAL REPORT 
SPECIFICATIONS FOR PORTLAND AND NATURAL CEMENT. 
Adopted May, 1903, by the American Railway Engineering and 
Maintenance of Way Association. 
PORTLAND CEMENT. .- 
J. Definition. —Portland cement is a product of the mixture of 
clay and lime-carbonate in definite proportions, calcinated at a high 
temperature and reduced to a fine powder. 
2. Packages. —Cement shall be packed in well-made wooden bar- 
rels lined with paper, or in strong cotton or paper sacks. Hach 
package shall be plainly marked with the brand and name of the man- 
ufacturer, and the net weights shall be exact and uniform. 
3. . Weight.—One barrel shall contain not less than 376 pounds 
of cement, and four sacks shall be equivalent in weight to one barrel. 
4. Condition. —AIl1 cement shall be delivered in sound packages, 
undamaged by moisture or other causes. 
5. Storage.—Cement must be stored until used in a perfectly dry 
place in such manner as will insure it from all damage. 
6. Rejection. —-All cement failing to meet the requirements of 
the specifications may be rejected, and all rejected cement, whether 
damaged or rejected for other causes, shall be removed at once from 
the company’s property. 
7. Tests.—All cement shall be subject to the following tests: 
(1). The selection of the sample for testing, the number of pack- 
ages sampled, and the quantity taken from each package, must be 
left to the discretion of the engineer, but each sample should be a 
fair average of the contents of the package from which it is taken. 
At least one barrel in every ten should be sampled. 
(2) Cement in barrels should be sampled through a hole made in 
the center of one of the staves, midway between the heads, or in the 
head, by means of an auger or sampling iron similar to that used by 
sugar inspectors. If in bags, it should be taken from surface to 
center. 
(3) All samples should be passed through a sieve having twenty 
meshes per jinear inch in order to break up lumps and remove foreign 
material. For determining the characteristics of a carload of cement 
the individual samples may be mixed and the average tested; where 
time will permit, however, each sample will be tested separately. 
8. Fineness.—Not less than 94 per cent. of the cement tested 
shall pass through a No. 100 standard sieve. The standard sieve shall 
be circular, about 20 cm. (7.87 ins.) in diameter, 6 cm. (2.36 ins.) high, 
and provided with a pan 5 cm. (1.97 ins.) deep and a cover. The wire 
cloth in the sieve to be woven (not twilled) from brass wire having 
a diameter of 0.0045 ins. This cloth to be mounted in the frame 
without distortion; the mesh should be regular in spacing and for a 
No. 100 sieve shall contain not less than 96 nor more than 100 meshes 
per linear inch. The cement to be thus tested shall be thoroughly 
dried at a temperature of 100° C. (212 degrees Fahr.) before sieving. 
