Excerpt from Journal of the Franklin Institute (1919)
Concrete Freight Car.
New uses for concrete come frequently to public notice. One of the latest, and one that promises to be far-reaching, is the concrete freight car. The beginning of practical plans for the manufacture of reinforced concrete freight cars dates from 1909 when a patent for such a car was granted to Joseph B. Strauss, of Chicago. On account of the war, construction of a trial car was delayed, and it was but recently that the first car, of the gondola type, was completed by the R. F. Conway Co., Chicago, and tested under service conditions. Not only in the material used, but in its design and the details of construction, it represents an interesting departure from usual methods.
The basic feature of the design is a steel skeleton body forming the outer boundary of the car, and mounted upon a steel underframe. The concrete walls and floor are contained within this frame and, together with the frame and floor reinforcement, are connected to, and interlocked with, the underframe. The steel frame forms the finishing and protecting edges, thus entirely shielding the concrete and also serving as a complete system of stress-bearing members. In the construction of the test car, the “cement gun” was used. The forms were placed on the outside of the car, and the cement was shot against them from within. The outside of the car, that is, the surface against the forms, was given a smooth finish, but the interior was left much as it came from the gun.
Tests of the completed car, both empty and loaded, demonstrated its practicability for rough service. In the test without load it withstood extremely rough handling in switching and came through without injury. Subsequently, the car was loaded with fifty-five tons (10 per cent, overload) of sand and turned over to a switching crew for service handling. It withstood this test also without injury. Other merits are claimed for the concrete
An amazing set of articles. The pre WWI years must have been very exciting as engineers found matrials to work with and new innovative ways to use them. I know it is possibly off topic but the times fits in with the innovate story of Mr. Strauss and his interpretations of the uses of reinforced concrete.
Having worked with [modern] precast concrete, and reinforced concrete products made by companies that I was working with and seeing used in construction. I found the Concrete Gondola to be a fascinating piece of information. I was reminded of the only time I ever saw the hulk of the USS Atlantus. off the beach near Cape May,NJ.
She was the first of the Concrete Liberty Ships used in WWI and WWII.
Thanks for sharing the information about Strauss and his ‘Concrete Gondola’ It should give heart to the model railroads among us; virtually, any thing you might want to try has probably got a real railroad use somewhere(?).
Mike, thanks so much for digging this out and posting it ! [bow] [tup] I had no idea that such a thing ever existed . . . This collection deserves a wider circulation than just this small though dedicated audience.
The concrete gondola wasn’t ‘poured’ as sidewalks and walls usually are, but instead was sprayed by a “cement gun” - what we today call “shotcrete” or “Gunite” - often used for in-ground swimming pools, some earth-retaining walls, and special architectural treatments. Surprisingly, the weight wasn’t outrageously heavy.
Sam also made the connection with the concrete “Liberty Ships” of World War I, which I have also seen.
It would be interesting to revisit the concept today with the advances in cement strength and quality, aggregate strength, lightweight aggregates, water-reducing additives such as flyash, mesh wire or fiber reinforcement, better vibration and curing procedures, etc. As then, certain commodities might be better handled in such a car.
Sam and Paul, thanks for generous commentary. – Mike
Excerpt from The Road To France by Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson (1921)
SOME NOTES OF TIDEWATER ACTIVITIES
Secret panels that open to the touch of hidden springs, stairways concealed in unlooked-for places - we are in the realm of the mysterious. And not in the palace of an ancient intriguing Venetian doge, as you might suspect, nor yet in some medieval Norman castle, but in the very heart of commercial America - in the offices of the Hamburg-American Steamship Company, at No. 45 Broadway in the City of New York.
When the Government, upon the declaration of war, seized the American properties of the German transatlantic lines, it fell heir not only to the system of modern piers on the New Jersey side of the North River, but also to the office building put up on lower Broadway by the Hamburg-American Line and occupied by it for a number of years. For several months thereafter the building remained tenantless. In November the New York branch of the War Trade Board moved into a section of offices on the street floor of the building; but the upper stories continued to gather dust and to echo only to the occasional tread of watchmen. Then the port organization, outgrowing its quarters at the Hoboken docks, sought space for expansion. It sent its construction forces to renovate the building and put it in order for occupancy. When the repair men came to examine the building, they made some discoveries.
With its cherry-red woodwork and walls tinted in strong shades, the building was somewhat more ornate than the usual American office building. It had spacious halls, high-ceiled rooms of generous dimensions, and broad windows looking out upon the bay and the mouth of the North River. The renovators found the chief executive office wainscoted to the ceiling in rich mahogany. As the workmen expl
Not exactly “today”, but in the '70’s there was interest by do-it-yourselfers in sailboats made of ferro-cement. The hull was made of many layers of mesh and “chicken-wire”, and the concrete was plastered on over it. Supposedly, the hull could be made by amateurs with little expense, but quite a few projects were abandoned when the builders realized that the hull was just a small part of the expense.
When I was into sailing, there was such a boat in our marina that many laughingly referred to as “the cement pond.” Once, when several of us started on a cruise, he joined us for the first day and amazed us when he left us all in his wake.
