A Fire-protected Feed Cooker
Concrete is a first aid to the farmer in preventing fires.
The photographs shown here are of a wooden building in which a feed cooker for hogs and poultry is installed.
Discovery of a fire in the building a few years ago led this farmer to thoroughly protect his building by surrounding his cooker with that most fireproof material—concrete.
The old wooden floor was first torn out, a fill of coarse gravel tamped in, and a 5-inch floor of concrete laid on top, mixed 1: 2½: 5. Immediately under and around the cooker the floor was dropped down 8 inches to prevent chance sparks from blowing about.
At the back of the cooker, on the 2 by 4-inch studding, heavy woven wire was securely fastened, and by temporarily placing a wooden wall 4 inches in front, to act as a form, an 8-inch concrete wall was built. This wall was made 8 feet wide and 5 feet high. The foundation for the wall extends 3 feet below the floor level.
On the top of this wall rests the chimney. The chimney is 12 by 14 inches on the outside, with a single flue 8 inches round, and is 10 feet high. This height is sufficient to clear the roof. For the inside form 8-inch sewer pipe was used and left in place (stovepipe or drain tile could also be used). Ordinary box forms were used for the outside forms, made as described on [page 36].
The chimney was reinforced with a ½-inch rod running from top to bottom in each corner, 1½ inches from the edge. The lower ends of these rods are firmly embedded in the concrete wall on which the chimney rests.
As this improvement was made by the farm hands, the cost of the floor was only 5 cents a square foot, while the wall and chimney cost $5.00.
Not only has that dread of fire which keeps many a man awake at night been overcome, but the whole feed cooker house can be kept in a most cleanly condition at all times.
Rats, the greatest pest known to the farmer, are driven away. These animals cannot nest in concrete.
