CHAPTER IV.

METHODS AND COST OF MAKING AND PLACING CONCRETE BY MACHINE.

The making and placing of concrete is virtually a manufacturing process.

This process as performed by manual labor is discussed in the preceding chapter; it will be discussed here as it is performed by machinery. The objects sought in using machinery for making and placing concrete are: (1) The securing of a more perfectly mixed and uniform concrete, and (2) the securing of a cheaper cost of concrete in place. As in every other manufacturing process both objects cannot be obtained to the highest degree without co-ordinate and universal efficiency throughout in plant and methods. For example, the subst.i.tution of machine mixing for hand mixing will not alone ensure cheaper concrete. If all materials are delivered to the machine in wheelbarrows and if the concrete is conveyed away in wheelbarrows, the cost of making concrete even with machine mixers is high. On the other hand, where the materials are fed from bins by gravity into the mixer and when the mixed concrete is hauled away in cars, the cost of making the concrete may be very low. Making and placing concrete by machinery involves not one but several mechanical operations working in conjunction--in a word, a concrete making plant is required.

The mechanical equipment of a concrete making plant has four duties to perform. (1) It has to transport the raw materials from the cars or boats or pits and place them in the stock piles or storage bins; (2) it has to take the raw materials from stock and charge them to the mixer; (3) it has to mix the raw materials into concrete and discharge the mixture into transportable vehicles; and (4) it has to transport these vehicles from the mixer to the work and discharge them. As all these operations are interrelated component parts of one great process, it is plain why one operation cannot lag without causing all the other operations to slow up.

The mechanical devices which may be used for each of these operations are various, and they may be combined in various ways to make the complete train of machinery necessary to the complete process. In this chapter we shall describe the character and qualities of each type of devices separately. The practicable ways of combining them to form a complete concrete making plant are best ill.u.s.trated by descriptions and records of work of actual plants, and such descriptions and records for each cla.s.s of structure considered in this book are given in the following chapters and may be found by consulting the index. In describing the various machines and devices we have made one cla.s.sification for those used in handling raw materials and mixed concrete, for the reason that nearly all of them are suitable for either purpose.

~UNLOADING WITH GRAB BUCKETS.~--The orange-peel or clam-sh.e.l.l bucket is an excellent device for unloading sand or stone from cars or barges. The cost of unloading, including cleaning up the portions not reached by the bucket, is not more than from 2 to 5 cts. per cu. yd. A grab bucket of either of these types can be applied to any derrick. In unloading broken stone from barges at Ossining, N. Y., a Hayward clam-sh.e.l.l on a stiff-leg derrick unloaded 100 cu. yds. of broken stone per day from barge into wagons, with one engineman and one helper. In addition to the bucket work there was 24 hours" labor cleaning on each 500-cu. yd. barge load. The labor cost of unloading a 500-cu. yd. barge was as follows:

Per Cu. Yd.

One engineman, at $2.50 2.5 cts.

One helper, at $1.50 1.5 cts.

Labor cleaning, at $1.50 0.7 cts.

-------- Total cost per cubic yard 4.7 cts.

~INCLINES.~--Inclines to reach the tops of mixer and storage bins and the level of concrete work can be operated on about the following grades: For teams hauling wagons or cars, 2 per cent. maximum grade. A single heavy team will haul a 5-cu. yd. car, with ordinary bearings, weighing 2 tons empty and 12 tons loaded, with ease on a 1 per cent. grade, and with some difficulty on a 2 per cent. grade. A locomotive will handle cars on a grade of from 4 to 5 per cent. For team haulage 20-lb.

rails may be used, and for locomotives 30-lb. rails. Grades steeper than about 5 per cent. require cable haulage.

~TRESTLE AND CAR PLANTS.~--Trestle and car plants for handling both concrete materials and mixed concrete have a wide range of application and numerous examples of such plants are described in succeeding chapters, and are noted in the index at the end of the book. The following estimates of the cost of a trestle and car plant are given by Mr. Wm. G. Fargo. The work is a.s.sumed to cover an area of 100200 ft.

and to have three-fourths of its bulk below the economical elevation of the mixer, which stands within 50 ft. of the near side of the work. If the work is under 3,000 cu. yds. in bulk and there is a reasonable time limit for completion one mixer of 200 cu. yds. capacity per 10-hour day is a.s.sumed to be sufficient. The items of car plant cost will be about as follows:

150 ft. trestle, at $1.50 $225 5 split switches with spring bridles, at $18 90 2 iron turntables, at $30 60 3-2/3 cu. yd. steel cars with roller bearings 190 ------ Total $565

The trestle a.s.sumed is double 24-in. gage track, 6 ft. on centers; stringers 68 ins.22 to 24 ft.; ties 26 ins., 2 ft. on centers; running boards 212 ins. for each track, and 12-lb. rails; trestle legs, average length 30 ft., of green poles at 5 cts. per foot. This outfit with repairs and renewals amounting to 10 per cent., is considered good for five season"s work and the timber work for several jobs if not too far apart. The yearly rental on the basis of five seasons" work would be $124.30, or $1 per working day for a season of five months. Three cars delivering cu. yd. batches can deliver 200 cu. yds. of concrete, an average of 100 ft. from the mixer in 10 hours. Five men, including a man tending switches and turntable and one man to help dump, can operate the plant. With wages at $1.75 per day the labor cost of handling 200 cu.

yds. of concrete would be 4-1/8 cts. per cu. yd.

~CABLEWAYS.~--Cableways arranged to span the work and if the area is wide to travel across the work at right angles to the span will handle concrete, concrete materials, forms, steel and supplies with great economy. They are particularly suitable for bridge and dam work, filter and reservoir work, building foundations and low buildings. The arrangement of a cableway plant for bridge work is described in Chapter XVII. A cableway of 800 ft. clear span on fixed towers 45 ft. high will cost complete from $4,500 to $5,000, and will handle 200 cu. yds. of concrete per 10-hour day. To put the cableway on traveling towers will cost about $1,000 more. In constructing the Pittsburg filtration work four traveling cableways from 250 to 600 ft. span were used. The towers were from 50 to 60 ft. in height and each traveled on a 5-rail track.

The cableways were self-propelling. With conditions favorable each cableway delivered 300 cu. yds. of concrete per day. A cableway plant for heavy fortification work is described in Chapter XI.

~BELT CONVEYORS.~--Belt conveyors may be used successfully for handling both concrete materials and mixed concrete. For handling wet concrete the slope must be quite flat, and the belt must be provided with some means of cleaning off the sticky mortar paste. In several cases rotating brushes stationed at the end of the belt, where it turns over the tail pulley, have worked successfully; these brushes sweep the belt clean.

Except for the cleaning device the ordinary arrangement of belt conveyor for dry materials serves for concrete.

In constructing a large gas works at Astoria, Long Island, near New York city, belt conveyors were used to handle both the sand, gravel and cement bags and the mixed concrete. The belt for handling sand and gravel is shown by Fig. 13. A derrick operating a clam-sh.e.l.l unloaded the sand and gravel into a small hopper, discharging into dump cars operated by a "d.i.n.ky" up an incline, pa.s.sing over sand and gravel storage bins. A 20-in. belt conveyor ran horizontally 105 ft. under the bins, then up an incline of 3.4 ft. in 125 ft. to feeding hoppers over the mixers. This conveyor received alternately sand and gravel by chute from the storage bins and bags of cement loaded by hand, and carried them to the feeding bins and mixer platform. The speed of the belt was 350 ft. per minute, and it required 6 h.p. to operate it when carrying 100 tons per hour. The mixing was done in two Smith mixers, which turned out 70 cu. yds. or 35 cu. yds. each per hour. The mixed concrete was delivered onto a 50-ft. 24-in. belt conveyor traveling at a speed of 400 ft. per minute and dumping through a chute into cars. Only 1 h.p. was required to run the concrete conveyor. A rotating brush was used to keep the belt clean at the dumping end. It will be noted that only a small amount of power is required for operation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 13.--Belt Conveyor Transporting Sand and Gravel.]

~CHUTES.~--Chutes of wood or iron are among the simplest and most efficient means of moving the cement, sand and stone and the mixed concrete when the ground levels permit such devices.

Bags of cement if given a start in casting will slide down a steel or very smooth wooden chute with a slope of 1 ft. in 5 or 6 ft. A wooden trough 12 ins. deep and 24 ins. wide with boards dressed on the inside may be used. When the inclination is steep and the fall is great, some device is necessary to diminish the velocity of descent; the following is an example of such a device which was successfully employed in a chute of the above dimensions, 400 ft. long and having a drop of 110 ft.

This chute had a maximum inclination of 45 and its lower end curved to a horizontal tangent, running into the storehouse. Near the bottom of the chute a horizontal strip was nailed across the upper edges and to it was nailed the upper end of a 20 ft., 112-in. board, the lower end of which rested on the bottom of the chute. Several pieces of timber spiked to the upper side loaded the lower end of this board. The cement bag in descending wedged itself into the angle between the chute and the board and lifted the latter, the spring of the board and the weight at the lower end offering enough resistance to cut down the velocity. After the chute had been in use for some time and had worn smooth it was found necessary to add two more brakes to check the bags.

Broken stone will slide down a steel or steel lined chute with a slope of 1 in 3 or 4 ft. if given a start in casting. Damp sand will not slide down a chute with a slope of 1 in 1.

A wet cement grout will flow down a smooth plank chute, with a slope of 1 in 4 ft., and wet concrete will move on the same slope; comparatively dry concrete requires a slope of nearly 1 in 1, or 45, to secure free movement. Mr. W. J. Douglas gives the following examples of conveying concrete by chute, prefaced by the statement that his experience indicates that concrete can thus be conveyed considerable distances without material injury if proper precautions are taken.

In the first case a semi-circular steel trough about 2 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep and 15 ft. long set on a slope of 45 was used. A lift gate of sheet steel was set in the chute about 2 ft. from the upper end. The concrete was allowed to acc.u.mulate behind this gate until a wheelbarrow load was had, when the batch was let loose by lifting the gate and was discharged into barrows at the bottom. In another case a vertical chute 15 ft. long, consisting of a 15-in. square box with a canvas end, was used. The concrete was dumped into the chute in batches of about 8 cu.

ft.; two men at the bottom "cut down" the pile with hoes to keep it from coning and causing separation of the stone. In a third case a continuous mixer fed into a sheet iron lined rectangular chute about 2 ft. wide and 1 ft. deep, with a vertical drop of 60 ft. on a slope of 1 in 1, or 45. A gate was fixed in the chute 2 ft. from the top and at the bottom the chute fed into a pyramidal hopper 3 ft. square at the top, 1 ft.

square at the bottom and 4 ft. deep. This hopper was provided with a bottom gate and was set on legs so that its top was about 10 ft. above ground. As the concrete filled in the hopper was raised and the chute cut off. The hopper was kept full all the time and was discharged by bottom gate and spout into wheelbarrows. In a fourth case the apparatus shown by the sketch, Fig. 14, was used. The continuous mixer discharged onto an 18-in. rubber conveyor belt on conical rollers and 18 ft. long.

The inner end of the conveyor frame was carried on the ground at the edge of the pit and the outer end was supported by ropes from the top of a gallows frame standing on the pit bottom. The belt discharged over end into a vertical steel chute 12 ins. in diameter and 8 ft. long; this chute was fastened to the conveyor frame. Encircling and overlapping the 12-in. chute was a second slightly larger chute suspended by means of two ropes from the gallows frame. The bottom of this second chute was kept about 6 ins. below the top edges of a pyramidal hopper like the one described above. In operation the chutes and the hopper were kept filled with concrete so that the only drop of the concrete was 3 ft. from the conveyor belt into the topmost chute.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 14.--Belt Conveyor and Chute for Handling Concrete.]

Concrete may be handled in long flat chutes by stationing men along the chute with shovels which they work like paddles to keep the mixture moving. In one case concrete was so handled in a chute 200 ft. long having a slope of 1 in 10 ft. The chute was a V-shaped trough made of 112-in. boards in sections 16 ft. long. The men paddling were stationed 10 ft. apart, so that with wages at $1.50 per day the cost would be 1 cts. per cu. yd. for every 10 ft. the concrete was conveyed. In connection with this particular work we are informed that a Eureka continuous mixer was used. The gravel was dumped near the mixer and a team hitched to a drag sc.r.a.per delivered the gravel alongside the mixer.

Four men shoveled the gravel into the measuring hopper, but only two men worked at a time, shoveling for a period of 15 minutes and then resting for a corresponding period while the other two men worked. In this manner the four men shoveled enough gravel to make 100 cu. yds. of concrete per day. A fifth man opened the cement bags and kept the cement hopper filled.

~METHODS OF CHARGING MIXERS.~--By charging is meant the process of delivering raw materials from stock into the mixer. Several methods are practiced and will be considered in the following order: (1) By gravity from overhead bins; (2) by wheelbarrow or hand cart (a) to charging chute and (b) to elevating charging hoppers; (3) by charging cars operated by cable or other means; (4) by shoveling directly into mixer; (5) by derricks or other hoists.

~Charging by Gravity from Overhead Bins.~--Chuting the sand and stone from overhead bins to the charging hopper is a simple, rapid and economical method of charging mixers. The bottoms of the bins should always be high enough above the charging floor to give ample head room for men to move about erect, and the length of chute may be anything reasonable more than this that conditions such as the side hill delivery of material may necessitate. When the mixer is located to one side of the bins the slope of the chute will have to be watched. Broken stone or pebbles will move on a comparatively flat slope but sand, particularly if damp, requires a steep chute. The measuring hopper is best kept entirely independent of the mixer so that it can be filled with a new charge while the mixer is turning and discharging the preceding batch. One man can attend the sand and cement chutes if they be conveniently arranged, and one man can open and empty the cement bags if they be stacked close at hand. A third man will level off the sand and stone in the measuring hopper and help in the chuting. A gang of this size will easily measure up a charge every 2 minutes when no delays occur.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 15.--Side Hill Mixing Plant.]

A number of plants charging by gravity from overhead bins are described in succeeding chapters and are referenced in the index. As a general example a side hill plant of conventional construction is shown by Fig.

15. The trestle work was made of 1212-in. timbers and was approximately 40 ft. in height. Three tracks occupy the top platform. Under each track was a material bin; one on each side for gravel and a middle bin for sand. The sand bin was divided by a part.i.tion into two compartments.

These bins discharged into two measuring hoppers one gravel bin and one compartment of the sand bin into each hopper. Two cement chutes from the top platform provided for the delivery of the cement to the mixers, either directly from cars or from the cement storage house. The mixing was done in two Smith No. 5 mixers, one under each measuring hopper, and these mixers discharged by chutes into buckets on flat cars. Thus the concrete materials brought directly from a siding in car load lots to the top of the platform were handled entirely by gravity to the cars delivering the mixed concrete to the work. The gang operating the mixing plant, with the wages paid, was composed as follows: 1 foreman and engineer at $3 per day, 1 fireman at $2 per day and 15 laborers at $1.50 per day. With this gang the two mixers turned out 400 cu. yds. of concrete per day and, frequently, 800 cu. yds. in 24 hours. Taking these figures the labor cost from raw materials in cars on the platform to mixed concrete in cars on the delivery track was as follows:

1 foreman and engineer at $3 $ 3.00 1 fireman at $2 2.00 15 laborers at $1.50 22.50 ----- Total labor $27.50

a.s.suming 400 cu. yds. output, this gives a cost of $27.50 400 = 6.875 cts. per cu. yd.

~Charging with Wheelbarrows.~--The economics of wheelbarrow haulage are discussed in some detail in Chapter III. For machine mixer work the problem of loading, transporting and dumping is complicated by the greater rapidity with which the mixing is done and by the necessity, usually, of using inclines to reach the charging hopper level. The incline cuts down the output of the wheelers or in other words makes necessary a larger gang to handle the same amount of material.

Conditions being the same, the height of the charging chute of the mixer determines the height of incline and the size of the charging gang, so that a mixer with a high charging level costs more to charge with wheelbarrows than does one with a low charging level. Exact figures of the increased cost of a few feet extra elevation of the wheelbarrow incline are not available, but some idea may be had from a brief calculation. The materials for a cubic yard of concrete will weigh about 3,700 lbs., so that to raise the materials for 100 cu. yds. of concrete, including weight of barrows, 1 ft. calls for about 400,000 ft. lbs. of work. A man will do about 800,000 ft. lbs. of useful work in a day, so that each foot of additional height of incline means an additional half-day"s work for one man.

Wheeling to elevating charging hoppers obviates the use of inclines.

Figure 19 shows a mixer equipped with such a hopper, and the arrangement provided for other makes of mixer is much similar. When the hopper is lowered ready to receive its load its top edge over which the wheelbarrows are dumped is from 12 to 14 ins. above ground level. The wheeling is all done on the level. The elevating bucket is operated by the mixer engine and is usually detachable. Where mixers have to be moved frequently, requiring the erection and moving of the incline each time, an elevating charging hopper is particularly useful; it can be hoisted clear of the ground and moved with the mixer, so that it is ready to use the moment that the mixer is set at its new station.

While the ordinary wheelbarrow is generally used for charging, better work can be done under some conditions by using special charging barrows of larger capacity and dumping from the end and ahead of the wheel. Two forms of charging barrow are shown by Figs. 16 and 17. The Acme barrow will hold 4 cu. ft. and the Ransome barrow is made in 3 to 6 cu. ft.

capacities. Where inclines are necessary these barrows can often be hauled up the incline by power. A sprocket chain in the plane of the incline and operated by the mixer engine is an excellent arrangement. A p.r.o.ng riveted to the rear face of the barrow and projecting downward is "caught into" the chain, which pulls the barrow to the top, the man following to dump and return for another load.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 16.--Forward Dump Charging Barrow, Sterling Wheelbarrow Co.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 17.--Forward Dump Charging Barrow, Ransome Concrete Machinery Co.]

~Charging with Cars.~--Cars moved by cable, team or hand are a particularly economic charging device when the mixer is located a little distance from the stock piles or bins. Either separate cars for cement, sand and stone, each holding the proper amount of its material for a batch, can be used, or a single car containing enough of all three materials for a batch. The last arrangement is ordinarily more economical in time and labor, and in plant required. In either case the car serves as the measuring hopper, there being no further proportioning of the materials after they have been loaded into the car, and it must be arranged for measuring. Usually all that is necessary, where one car is used, is to mark the levels on the sides to which it is to be filled with sand and then stone; the car is run to the sand stock and filled to the level marked for sand and then to the stone stock and filled to the level marked for stone. The cement may be added to the charge either before or after it is run to the mixer as convenience in storing the cement stock dictates. Instead of having marks to show the proper proportions of sand and stone, the car is sometimes divided into two compartments, one for each material and each holding the proper proportion of its material when level full. This arrangement makes proper proportioning somewhat more certain, since the men charging the car cannot over-run the marks. In case separate cars are used for each material, they are simply filled level full or to mark, and dumped in succession into the feeding hopper. Trestle and car plant construction and costs are given in a preceding section.

~Charging by Shoveling.~--Charging by shoveling directly into the mixer is seldom practiced except in street work with continuous mixers or in charging gravity mixers of the trough type. Shoveling is not an economic method of handling materials where the work involves carrying in shovels, and it is only in a few cla.s.ses of concrete work or in isolated, exceptional cases that charging with shovels does not involve carrying. The amount of material that men will load with shovels is given in Chapter III, and the reader who wishes a full discussion of the subject is referred to Gillette and Hauer, "Earth Excavation and Embankments; Methods and Cost."

In charging continuous mixers with shovels the usual practice for mixers without automatic feed devices is to work from a continuous stock pile of sand, stone and cement spread in layers in the proper proportions.

The shoveling is done in such a manner that each shovelful contains a mixture of cement, sand and stone, and so that the rate of delivery to the mixer is as uniform as possible. In charging mixers having automatic feed devices the sand and stone are simply shoveled into the sand and stone hoppers, whence they are fed automatically to the mixer. In charging gravity mixers by shoveling the method is essentially the same; the cement, sand and stone properly proportioned are spread in layers on the shoveling board at the head of the mixer and the mixture then shoveled into the mixer. In both of these cases mixing is performed to a certain extent by the shoveling, and in both the provision of the combination stock pile from which the men work involves labor which comes within the meaning of the term charging as we have used it here.

Examples of street work in which the mixers were charged by shoveling are given in Chapter XIV.

~Charging with Derricks.~--When the stock piles are located close to the mixer and the plant is fixed or is not frequently moved derricks can be used economically for charging, particularly if the mixer be elevated so that inclines become expensive. The following mode of operation will be found to work well: Set the derrick so that its boom "covers" the sand and stone piles and the mixer, and provide it with three buckets so that there will always be one bucket at the stone pile and another at the sand pile while the third is being handled. The derrick swinging from the mixer, where it has discharged a bucket, drops the empty bucket at the stone pile and picks up the bucket standing there, which has received its proper charge of stone, and swings it to the sand pile and drops it to get its charge of sand. Here it picks up the bucket standing at the sand pile and which has its charges of both stone and sand, and swings it to the mixer. By this arrangement the work of the derrick and of the men filling the buckets is practically continuous. The buckets can be provided with marks on the inside to show the proper points to which to fill the stone and the sand or a part.i.tion may be riveted in making a compartment for sand and another for stone. A special charging-bucket that is arranged with a wheel and detachable handles which permit it to be handled like a wheelbarrow is shown by Fig. 18.