Edison Portland Cement - 1

Edison Portland Cement - 1

NEW developments in recent years have been more striking than the general adoption of

cement for structural purposes of all kinds in the United States; or than the increase in its

manufacture here. As a material for the construction of office buildings, factories, and

dwellings, it has lately enjoyed an extraordinary vogue; yet every indication is

confirmatory of the belief that such use has barely begun. Various reasons may be cited,

such as the growing scarcity of wood, once the favorite building material in many parts of

the country, and the increasing dearness of brick and stone. The fact remains,

indisputable, and demonstrated flatly by the statistics of production. In 1902 the

American output of cement was placed at about 21,000,000 barrels, valued at over

$17,000,000. In 1907 the production is given as nearly 49,000,000 barrels. Here then is

an industry that doubled in five years. The average rate of industrial growth in the United

States is 10 per cent. a year, or doubling every ten years. It is a singular fact that

electricity also so far exceeds the normal rate as to double in value and quantity of output

and investment every five years. There is perhaps more than ordinary coincidence in the

as- sociation of Edison with two such active departments of progress.

As a purely manufacturing business the general cement industry is one of even remote

antiquity, and if Edison had entered into it merely as a commercial enterprise by

following paths already so well trodden, the fact would hardly have been worthy of even

passing notice. It is not in his nature, however, to follow a beaten track except in regard

to the recognition of basic principles; so that while the manufacture of Edison Portland

cement embraces the main essentials and familiar processes of cement- making, such as

crushing, drying, mixing, roasting, and grinding, his versatility and originality, as

exemplified in the conception and introduction of some bold and revolutionary methods

and devices, have resulted in raising his plant from the position of an outsider to the rank

of the fifth largest producer in the United States, in the short space of five years after

starting to manufacture.

Long before his advent in cement production, Edison had held very pronounced views on

the value of that material as the one which would obtain largely for future building

purposes on account of its stability. More than twenty-five years ago one of the writers of

this narrative heard him remark during a discussion on ancient buildings: "Wood will rot,

stone will chip and crumble, bricks disintegrate, but a cement and iron structure is

apparently indestructible. Look at some of the old Roman baths. They are as solid as

when they were built." With such convictions, and the vast fund of practical knowledge

and experience he had gained at Edison in the crushing and manipulation of large masses

of magnetic iron ore during the preceding nine years, it is not surprising that on that

homeward railway journey, mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter, he should

have decided to go into the manufacture of cement, especially in view of the enormous

growth of its use for structural purposes during recent times.

The field being a new one to him, Edison followed his usual course of reading up every

page of authoritative literature on the subject, and seeking information from all quarters.

In the mean time, while he was busy also with his new storage battery, Mr. Mallory, who

had been hard at work on the cement plan, announced that he had completed

arrangements for organizing a company with sufficient financial backing to carry on the

business; concluding with the remark that it was now time to engage engineers to lay out

the plant. Edison replied that he intended to do that himself, and invited Mr. Mallory to

go with him to one of the draughting- rooms on an upper floor of the laboratory.