670 THEORY OF ARCniTECTURE. Book II.

to 2 of clean sharp sand after each layor, until the walls are coniplcted in height.
The grout to be made as mortar lir&t, and then thinned with water to the
necessary consistence.
V. The concrete to be well and thoroughly bonnd together, so as to secure the com-
plete adhesion of the materials and work during its progress.
VI. The thickness of walls to be equal, at the least, to the thicknesses for brickwork
prescribed in the Building Act.
VII. Suitable cores to be used for flues, and also for recesses. Flues to be formed with
stoneware or fireclay pipes, not less than half an inch in thickness, unless
properly pargeted.
VIII. Dc or at/d window frames to be bnilt into the waUs.
IX. The portions of the partj' walls and chimney stacks above the roofs of buildings to
be rendered externally with Portland cement.
X.
The rules of the Metropolitan Building Act, 1855, as to the use of timber in walls,
and other rules of that Act, so far as they may be applicable to concrete buildings,
are to be observed.
lP03w. This concession was made after many attempts to obtain it, by Philip Brannon,
by Tall, Di-ake, and others. Mr. Wonnaco't read a paper in 1871, On the Use
of
Portland
Cement Concrete as a Budding Material, which enters fully into the merits and demerits
of this construction. It was supplemented by another paper. Remarks on Concrete
Building, by A. W. Blomfield, who summarises the whole thus : The chief advantages
are, I. Cheapness; II. Strength and durability; III. Rapidity of construction; IV.
Economy of space. The chief drawbacks are : I. Its liability to failure, from the iise of
improper materials, or from the want of knowledge and proper care, or from the wilful
misuse of good materials ; II. The limits which the material and method of construc-
tion impose on architectural design and decoration.
1903a:. J. Tall advertises concrete construction for cottages; door and window frames.
Drake and Co., concrete building apparatus
;
dovetailed eelf-fixing building slabs; marl.le
and granite facing bricks
;
fireproof floors, doors, staircases, wall tiles, &c.; window heads,
copings, terminals, steps
;
marble concrete baths. W. H. Lascelles has, panelled slabs
and concrete backings screwed to stud work; walls built of Potter's patent cement slabs;
plain and moulded concrete forms of all varieties in building and ornamentation, as
window sills, door jambs, gables; concrete ceilings
;
and chimneypieces. The Eureka
Coricrete Company has steps, sills, strings, balusters, fireproof floors, mantelpieces,
thresholds
;
copings
;
a concrete door of four panels, hung in position and fitted with lock.
Faija's concrete, hardened by his new patent process. J. Wright and. Co. have made an
"improved concrete lintel," having a curved upper surface and a
T"
iron passing through
it lengthways ; with their fixing block inserted to receive the sash or door frame. See
also par. 1864z. ; and Artificial Stone.
1903y. In 1887 Mr. W. Simpson read a paper before the Royal Institute of British
Architects entitled Mud Architecture, relating many methods of construction of similar
materials in various countries; further interesting references were made in the discussion
and correspondence of that year.
1903rtff,. Concrete and cement blocks. Blocks formed of Roman cement, pnzznolana,
lime, and sand, were soon suggested for such a purpose. Those made without the
cement were found to be longer in setting, but eventually became the strongest. To these
combinations potsherds were added, as Pliny relates was in use in the time of the Romans;
increased toughness resulted. The late Mr. Walker, engineer, possessed specimens of
Dutch terras, which had been used in Woolwich dockyard in the reign of George III.
These wore of very great hardness
;
in fact, gunpowder had to be used in breaking up the
dock where it had been employed. For concrete and mortar for the river wall of the
Houses of Parliament he used two measures of sand, 1 of puzzuolana, and 1 of lime. Mr.
Leo used Portland cement, Portland stone chippings, sand, and shingle, in blocks in cubes
of 16 feet and upwards, made in moulds, for the breakwater at Dover. Mr. Blashfield
had made experiments for that work with Lancashire terras mixed with broken tiles and
sand
;
but it was not deemed equal in hardness to the Portland cement concrete blocks.
190366. Atkinson's or Mulgrave cement was used by its patentee for concrete bloL-ks of
shingle, sand, and cement, used as ashlar stone in the case of a house at the corner of
Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, still standing in a substantial condition. Concrete in
small blocks, known as Ranger's patent artificial stone, has been used to a limited extent in
the construction of domestic btiildings. It was employed in the additions to the ColUge
of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1835-6; a guard-house in St. James's Park;
the
Imperial Assurance Office, in Pall Mall ; and in a row of houses in the Western Road,
at
Brighton, partly in blocks and partly in moulds as pise work. This process is not con-
tinued, probably from the mortar not being properly mixed in the first instance, and
the
concrete being exposed too soon to the action of the weather, for it dries unevenly,
and
cracks in aU directions.