[1] These surveyors also surveyed and marked the boundary between Maryland and Delaware.
MASON CITY, a city and the county-seat of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, U.S.A., on Lime Creek, in the northern part of the state. Pop. (1905, state census), 8357 (929 foreign-born); (1910) 11,230. It is served by the Chicago Milwaukee & St Paul, the Chicago & North-Western, the Chicago Great Western, the Iowa Central and the St Paul & Des Moines railways, and also by the Mason City & Clear Lake (electric) railway, which connects Mason City with Clear Lake, a pleasure resort, 10 m. west of the city. At Mason City is Memorial University (co-educational; founded in 1900 by the National Encampment of the Sons of Veterans, and opened in 1902), dedicated to the Grand Army of the Republic, the special aim of which is to teach American history. The city is situated in a good agricultural region, and there are valuable stone quarries in the vicinity. The manufactures include lime, Portland cement, brick and tile. Mason City was settled in 1853, laid out in 1855, incorporated as a town in 1870 and chartered as a city in 1881.
MASONRY,[1] the art of building in stone. The earliest remains (apart from the primitive work in rude stone—see [Stone Monuments]; [Archaeology], &c.) are those of the ancient temples of India and Egypt. Many of these early works were constructed of stones of huge size, and it still remains a mystery how the ancients were able to quarry and raise to a considerable height above the ground blocks seven or eight hundred tons in weight. Many of the early buildings of the middle ages were entirely constructed of masses of concrete, often faced with a species of rough cast. The early masonry seems to have been for the most part worked with the axe and not with the chisel. A very excellent example of the contrast between the earlier and later Norman masonry may be seen in the choir of Canterbury Cathedral. In those times the groining was frequently filled in with a light tufa stone, said by some to have been brought from Italy, but more probably from the Rhine. The Normans imported a great quantity of stone from Caen, it being easily worked, and particularly fit for carving. The freestones of England were also much used; and in the first Pointed period, Purbeck and Bethersden marbles were employed for column shafts, &c. The methods of working and setting stone were much the same as at present, except that owing to difficulties of conveyance the stones were used in much smaller sizes. As time went on the art of masonry advanced till in England, in point of execution, it at length rivalled that of any country.
Tools.—The mason’s tools may be grouped under five heads—hammers and mallets, saws, chisels, setting-out and setting tools, and hoisting appliances.
There are several different kinds of iron hammers used by the stone worker; the mash hammer has a short handle and heavy head for use with chisels; the iron hammer, used in carving, in shape resembles a carpenter’s mallet but is smaller; Hammers and Mallets. the waller’s hammer is used for roughly shaping stones in rubble work; the spalling hammer for roughly dressing stones in the quarry; the scabbling-hammer, for the same purpose, has one end pointed for use on hard stone; the pick has a long head pointed at both ends, weighs from 14 to 20 ℔, and is used for rough dressing and splitting; the axe has a double wedge-shaped head and is used to bring stones to a fairly level face preparatory to their being worked smooth; the patent axe, or patent hammer, is formed with a number of plates with sharpened edges bolted together to form a head; the mallet of hard wood is used for the finishing chisel work and carving; and the dummy is of similar shape but smaller.
A hand saw similar to that used by the carpenter is used for cutting small soft stones. Larger blocks are cut with the two-handed Saws. saw worked by two men. For the largest blocks the frame saw is used, and is slung by a rope and pulleys fitted with balance weights to relieve the operator of its weight. The blade is of plain steel, the cutting action being supplied by sand with water as a lubricant constantly applied.
There are perhaps even more varieties of chisels than of hammers. The point and the punch have very small cutting edges, a quarter of an inch or less in width. The former is used on the harder and the latter on the softer varieties of stone Chisels. after the rough hammer dressing. The pitching tool has a wide thick edge and is used in rough dressing. Jumpers are shafts of steel having a widened edge, and are used for boring holes in hard stone. Chisels are made with edges from a quarter-inch to one and a half inches wide; those that exceed this width are termed boasters. The claw chisel has a number of teeth from one-eighth to three-eighths wide, and is used on the surface of hard stones after the point has been used. The drag is a semi-circular steel plate, the straight edge having teeth cut on it. It is used to level down the surfaces of soft stones. Cockscombs are used for the same purpose on mouldings and are shaped to various curves. Wedges of various sizes are used in splitting stones and are inserted either in holes made with the jumper or in chases cut with the stone-pick.