Evening Star Newspaper, July 14, 1929, Page 82

- s - commodate 27,000 when all standing space is occupied, while 7,500 can be seated comfort- ably for ordinary serviees and reiigious celebra- tions. . h The exact cost Of ™HEWashington Cathedral and its 30 subordinate struétures will not b known definitely until the last bill is paid. Suffice to say that approximately $3,000,000 has been spent to date on its fabrication. The goal of the present drive for funds is focused on potential contributions amounting to about $10,- 000,000 for actual construction work, $15,000,- 000 additional desired for endowment and for the building of associate institutions. Which represents a building campaign only outrivaled in Washington by that fostered by Uncle Sam Th: art of current architecture, appreciative of its shortcomings, is not backward about com- ing forward to admit the remarkabl: skill of antiquity’s masters of fabric. In the Middle Ages art was instinetive, although professional lacking. The master masons not only as adept artisans, the shocs of the modern de- ted workmen of the earlier the technical value of the the shortest distance betweza two points in building, but they also knew when to detour from the monotonous use of straight lines. They intentionally deviated not oniy rigid straight lines, but also from perfect right angles, as the architectural desirability for such actions developed. Thus they added to the beauty of their buildings without under- mining their strength and durability. Men- tions is made of these historical facts because the same practices have been followed in the construction of the Washington Cathedral. Prof. William Goodyear of the Brooklyn Mu- construction with cut and molded stones these principles can be applied without increasing net costs greatly. Powerful mechanical devices cutting end 107 feet higher above the Potomac River than the pinnacle of the Washington Monument, Flanking the west entrance will be two other » towers which will extend 195 feet above the ground, while the vaulting of the nave will be 95 feet high. This nave will consist of nin2 bays, while the choir will feature five bays. The preliminary plans for the newcathedral were prepared by ‘thé late Henry Vaughan' of Boston and Dr. George F. Bodley of London, England, a recognized authority on Gothic archi- tecture. Frohman, Robb & Little of Boston are the present architects in charge of the con- struction of the Washington Cathedral, with Mr. Philip H. Frohman serving as the resident grchitect. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 14, 1020 to completion along clearly standardized trails. Nothing could dif- more widely from those orthodox methods practices followed im cathedral build- ing. For example, the stone is not cut accord- ing to standardized sizes and patterns. On the contrary, each stone in the calhedral is de- signed and shaped expressly to fit'.the niche which it ultimately occupies. The rough stone fresh from the Indiana quar- ries is freighted to Washington on flat cars, where the material is unloaded by mighty elec- tric cranes which juggle the largest limestone slabs about as though they were light as jack- straws. Miniature mountains of pure limestone rock are massed in military alignment around the rock-cutting plant. One by one, these slabs and cubes are transferred by crane power to the Interior of the “factory,” whiich is of fire-resistive steel construction and large enough to lay out a base ball diamond and build bleachers inside its walls, A battery of five electric gang saws at one corner of the plant divides and subdivides the giant limestone slabs into smaller units—the first step in the transformation of the raw material into a molded of sculptured rock. These electric saws are saws which really are not saws, for their smooth blades of the finest steel one-fourth of an inch thick are straight instead of being jagged zigzags. Water pres- planing the Cathedral stone. sure deposits a constantly flowing mixture of sand and fine shot on the surface of the lime- stone rock to be severed. The to-and-fro saw- ing action of the smooth blades which dait across the surface presses the sand and shet so forcibly against the lime rock that a thread- like line soon appears on the surface. As the action continues, this line deepens. The cut, which is one-half an inch wide, penetrates deeper and deeper. Finally, the rock is re- duced into several pieces, for the arrangement is such that a number of cuts can be mads simultaneously in the same.piece of raw ma- terial. The largest of these gang saws is de- signed to accommodate a limestone rock 6x5x12 feet in size. PART 7. ROM the gang saw the future cathedral bullding material travels sequentially by electric crane to the planer, diamond. drill ¢ir- cular saw, or carborundum saw, as the case may be, in its process of preparation for tem- ple use, The diamond saws are of special in= terest to all who see them in opcration. The largest is capacitated to handle mighty hunks of Hmestone as big as 2 feet 10 inches in cross- section and 10 feet long. Each of these circu- lar saws has 180 teeth. The teeth, in turn, accommodate from one to three “black dia- monds” apiece as abrasive agencies in the cut- ting process. Water is sprayed mechanically over the rock during the sawing process to con- trol frictional heat. It costs $2,340 to supply one of these circular rock saws with black dia- monds. These “gems” harnessed as tools are serviceable for three months. All of which in- dicates that rock sawing is an expensive al- though essential activity in Gothic temple con- struction. ‘The carborundum saws, as you might imagine, have teeth made of corborun- dum. . Each stone as received at the mill is marked with a special identification number by which it is subsequently known. A progress or report card of that particular s'one is made out and accompanies it in its journey through the plant. A technical drawing of the stone, citing its specifications, manner of cutting or molding and eventual disposition in the cathedral, are the highlights of this unique record. The stone mill, working at full capacity, can convert 45 tons of raw material into plain or sculptured building blocks and decorations for use in the cathedral daily. This production program involves day and night operation with two shifts of skilled stone cutters. As the five types of stone mentioned previously in this article are finished, they are transported by motor truck to the cathedral site. There adept master masons by the aid of elevators, hoists, cranes and derricks. jockey the pieces into proper position—perhaps some 10 stories above terra firma. These individual pieces fit together in the durable fabric of the cathedral just as the pawns of play dovetail in a juvenile puzzle game. ‘Thus, after undergoing nine drafting and mechanical operations, the molded stone is anchored securely in solid masonry where perpetuity may see it for generations. By the time the stupendous task of supply- ing the several hundred thousand stones for the cathedral is completed, the stone mill will have accumulated a collection of zinc patterns larger than the sum total of names in the Washing- ton telephone directory. An actual full size working drawing is provided by the architect for each temple stone. From these drawings zinc patterns are prepared at the stone mill for each of the 79,000 molded stones. Rough blocks of limestone are also cut by the use of a swiftly revolving wire of steel which digs its way through the mass of solid rock as efficiently as a knife is used in severing your ¥ pound of cream cheese from the original piece. No wood planes extant can excel in strength or delicacy—as the case may demand—the elec- trified planes which shave and smooth lime- stone as though it were modeler’s clay. The graceful curves of the special stones used in the beautiful arches of this modern temple of Christianity are shaped by aid of an adjustable plangr actuated by electricity which cuts from a four-foot raflius to a straight line. Pneu- matic chisels and small electrified hand tools are employed in the more delicate stone cut- ting operations. They defy the fiight of time by enabling modern stone cutters to accom- plish in half hours what the ancient pounded and cut at for days. Despite that the equivalent of small, moun- tains of limestone rock have already been cut and set in masonry, many, many times as much similar work remains to be begun and poten- tially completed. The foundations, crypt chapels, apse and choir of the Washington Cathedral are now finished structurally. Cur- rent construction is centralized on the nave crypt and passageways and the children’s chapel at the intersection of the south aisle of the choir and the south transept are also under way. To predict when the cathedrgl will be finished would be nothing more than a wild speculation at this time. Those beautiful walls of masonry with their architectural embellishments will rise in future years as rapidly as may be and Wash= ington’s most spectacular production of art and utility stone will be set down in building his- tory as a champion con~=ntion. Fort Becomes Bird Refuge A PRACTICAL turning of swords into plow- shares and spears into pruning hooks has taken place on & 57,000-acre reservation of the Federal Government in Montana, This tract was formerly the Fort Keogh military reserva- tion, but has been transferred by President Hoover into the Fort Keogh Bird Refuge.’ The refuge will be operated by the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture. Within the area set aside is an artificial lake of some 70 acres which is already being used as a propagation lake for warm-water fish such as black bass. It will serve for a resting point for water fowl in the future, and yet will not lose its present value for fish production. At present, in the 57-000-acre tract, there are large supplies of sharp-tailed grouse and ring-necked pheasant. Other wild fowls are expected to flock to the reservation when they learn, as they do in some mysterious fashion, that therein les safety. - One Industry Goes IWest ONE large industry of the United States has heeded the advice of Horace Greeley and has gone west. The past year saw practically the wiping out of the carbon black production east of the Mississippi, only three plants re- maining engaged in the business. This does not mean that carbon black production has fallen off, for, to the contrary, the boom in the auto industry has brought a corresponding boom in carbon black, 70 per cent of the out- put of which goes into tires. The year’s proe duction, which reached a high figure of 248, 790,000, was an increase of 25 per cert over the year before. z