Figure 71 shows the concrete mixing plant, consisting of two 4×4 ft. cube mixer, driven by a 10×16-in. engine. The top floor of the mixer house stored the cement, 2,000 bbls. The concrete was a 1-3-5½ stone mixture. Each mixer charge consisted of 3 cu. ft. cement, 9 cu. ft. sand and 16.5 cu. ft. stone; the charge was turned over four times before and six times after watering at a speed not exceeding eight revolutions per minute. The average output of the plant was 200 cu. yds. per 8-hour day, or 100 cu. yds. per mixer, but it was limited by the means for placing.
Fig. 71.—Concrete Mixing Plant for Lock Construction, Coosa River, Alabama.
The concrete was mixed dry, deposited in 6 to 8-in. layers, and rammed with 30-lb. iron rammers with 6-in. square faces. For all exposed surfaces a 6-in. facing of 1-3 mortar was placed by setting 2×12-in. planks 4 ins. from the laggings, being kept to distance by 2×4-in. spacers, placing and ramming the concrete behind them, then withdrawing them, filling the 6-in. space with mortar and tamping it to bond with the concrete. The walls were carried up in lifts, each lift being completed entirely around the lock before beginning the next; the first lift was 10.7 ft. high and the others 6 ft., except the last, which was 4.5 ft., exclusive of the 18-in. coping. The coping was constructed of separately molded blocks 3 ft. long, made of 1-2-3 concrete faced with 1-1 mortar and having edges rounded to 3 ins. radius.
In constructing the forms a row of 6×8-in. posts 24 ft. long and 5 to 7 ft. apart was set up along the inside of each wall and a similar row of posts 12 ft. long was set up along the outside. From the tops of the short posts 6×8-in. caps reached across the wall and were bolted to the long posts; these caps carried the stringers for the concrete car tracks. The lagging consisted of 3×10-in. planks dressed on all sides. The backs of the walls were stepped and as each step was completed the rear 12-ft. posts were lifted to a footing on its top and carried in the necessary distance. The front posts remained undisturbed until the wall was completed. The lagging was moved up as the filling progressed. As no tie bolts were permitted, these forms required elaborate bracing.
From the mixing plant, which was located on the bank above reach of floods, the concrete cars were dropped by elevator to the level of the track over the walls and then run along the wall and dumped onto platforms inside the forms and just below the track. This arrangement was adopted, because it was found that even a small drop separated the stone from the mortar. The concrete was shoveled from the platforms to place and rammed. The cars were bottom dumping with a single door hinged at the side; this door when swinging back struck the track stringers and jarred the form so that constant attention was necessary to keep it in line. It would have been much better to have had double doors swinging endwise of the car. Another point noted was that unless the track was high enough to give good head room at the close of a lift the placing and ramming were not well done.
The cost of 8,710 cu. yds. of concrete placed during 1895 by day labor employing negroes at $1 per 8-hour day was as follows per cubic yard:
| 1 bbl. cement | $2.48 |
| 0.88 cu. yd. stone at $0.76 | 0.67 |
| 0.36 cu. yd. sand at $0.34 | 0.12 |
| Mixing, placing and ramming | 0.88 |
| Staging and forms | 0.42 |
| —— | |
| Total | $4.57 |
LOCK WALLS, ILLINOIS & MISSISSIPPI CANAL.—The locks and practically all other masonry for the Illinois & Mississippi Canal are of concrete. The following account of the methods and cost of doing this concrete work is taken from information published by Mr. J. W. Woermann in 1894 and special information furnished by letter. The decision to use concrete was induced by the fact that no suitable stone for masonry was readily available (the local stone was a flinty limestone, usually without bed, or, at best, in thin irregular strata, and cracked in all directions with the cracks filled with fire clay) while good sand and gravel and good stone for crushing were plentifully at hand. The concrete work done in 1893-4 comprised dam abutments, piers for Taintor gates and locks.
Dam Abutments.—Four dam abutments were constructed, three of which were L-shaped, with sides next to the river 40 ft. long and sides extending into the banks 20 ft. long; the top thickness was 3 ft., the faces were vertical and the backs stepped with treads of 14 to 16 ins., and the width of base was 0.4 of the height. Each of these abutments was built in four 30-cu. yd. sections, each section being a day's work. The forms consisted of 2×8-in. planks, dressed on both sides, 2×8-in. studs spaced 2 ft. on centers and 4×6-in. braces. For the first two of the four abutments, the forms were erected in sections, the alternate sections being first erected and filled. When these sections had hardened the forms were shifted to the vacant sections and lined up to and braced against the completed sections. This method did not give well aligned walls, so in subsequent work the forms were erected all at once.