VICTOR H. LYON, Missouri State Highway Department, Jefferson City, Mo.
T.
HE Missouri Commission has main. . State. Highway ' tamed a laboratory in Jefferson City since 1922 for conducting tests to control the quality of materials entering highway construction and conducting research and work of investigational nature. The first laboratory was estab-
lished in the basement of the State Capitol. Later, in 1928, it was transferred to the basement of the Highway Building which had just been completed. These quarters, considered ample a t the time, eventually proved inadequate, owing to the increased demands for testing and research in connec-
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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
tion with continued development of the highway system and advancement of construction practice. To provide for the increased needs of the laboratory, the Highway Commission authorized the construction of a building specifically designed for laboratory use. This building, financed in part by a PWA grant, has been completed and is now occupied. The new laboratory building is a two-story structure, 62 feet wide by 174 feet long, and is of steel and concrete construction with brick walls and partitions. The exterior walls are buff-colored face brick trimmed with limestone. Large steel-sash windows provide ample light and ventilation. The building is completely equipped for the physical and chemical testing of all highway materials and for the continuance of research and investigational work. The chemical laboratory, in which chemical analyses on
Vol. 13, No. 11
various materials are conducted, is located on the second floor. It is partitioned into rooms, each of which is equipped for testing specific types of materials. One large room, approximately 30 feet square, is utilized for testing bituminous materials. A smaller room, used for testing miscellaneous materials, connects with the bituminous section by means of an intermediate room equipped with balances and a titration desk. This arrangement makes the analytical balances and titration desk readily accessible to the operators in both sections. The three analytical balances are indirectly lighted and both natural and artificial light are available on the titration desk. Water-shower sprays with pull chains are installed in the two larger rooms as a safety feature in case the clothing of any operator becomes ignited. There are separate rooms for gasoline testing, flash and fire determinations, and extractions, and a constant-tempera-
ANALYTICAL EDITION
November 15, 1941
ture room with controlled humidity. The constant temperature in this room is maintained with a Fairbanks-Morse 2-horsepower Model FQ 200W compressor which is located in the control room on the first floor. A rheostat is provided for the lights in the flash room, so that they may be dimmed to determine flash points more accurately. The fumes from the various hoods in the chemical laboratory are exhausted by three blowers located in a penthouse on the roof. To compensate for this exhausted air during the winter months, two Nesbit Syncretized air heaters are provided to pump outside air into the rooms from grilled exterior openings, conditioning it to room temperature. Chemical desks are supplied with all utilities, including natural gas, 110- and 220-volt electricity, compressed air, and steam. All drains are constructed of acid-resistant metal. The cement laboratory, in which the physical tests of cement are made, is located on the east side of the &st floor. It consists of a general room, a constant-temperature room with controlled humidity, and a small room with heatexhaust facilities for housing the steam pat boiler and autoclave. The general room contains the cement briquettesting machines and Wagner turbidimeter and is equipped with tables, balances, and the necessary equipment for weighing the batches which are transferred to the constanttemperature room for mixing. The constant-temperature room conditions are maintained by a Fairbanks-Morse unit, using a 3-horsepower Model FQ 300W compressor located in the control room. A series of cabinet doors opens from the constant-temperature room to the moist room, which is provided with galvanized metal racks for holding test specimens. The moist room measures 10.5 by 19 feet and is insulated with 2 inches of cork on the walls and ceiling. It is designed with an entrance on the opposite side from the constanttemperature cement-mixing room and thus serves the double purpose of curing concrete as well as cement paste and mortar specimens. The room is conditioned by pumping air
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charged with moisture from a conditioning unit located in the control1 room into a copper duct fitted with three grille openings inside the moist room. Extra water sprays are installed in the duct to promote additional humidity. Temperature balance within the moist air-conditioning unit is provided by hot water and a Fairbanks-Morse 3-horsepower Model FQ 300W compressor. The temperature in the moist room is maintained a t 70" F. and the relative humidity a t 96+ per cent continuously. A TAG recording psychrometer is used to keep a constant record of the conditions in the room. A cold room is provided for conducting freezing tests on aggregates, concrete, and other materials. This room measures 9 by 9 feet, including a vestibule and brine specimen tank. It is insulated with 8 inches of cork on the walls, ceiling, and floor with 4 inches of concrete laid on the floor insulation. The room is designed with copper ceiling coils and steel rack coils on which specimens may be placed for freezing. The brine specimen tank is insulated from the room and is reached from the end of the vestibule. This tank measures 2 feet 6 inches by 3 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 10 inches in height, inside dimensions. The brine is refrigerated by means of coils in an overhead 200-gallon reserve tank and flows to the specimen tank by gravity with a safety shut-off valve to stop the flow when the specimen tank is filled. A motordriven centrifugal pump, which is operated by means of an automatic temperature controller, returns the brine to the reserve tank, making the flow continuous when the temperature of the brine in the specimen tank rises above the controller setting. A Fairbanks-Morse 10-horsepower 2-speed Model FV 100OW compressor is used for refrigerating the cold room and brine. The two sets of coils, from the one compressor, to the cold room and brine reserve tank are operated either independently or simultaneously by means of separate solenoid valves, each having its own temperature controller. The capacity of the freezing equipment is such that the tem-
FIRSTFLOOR PLAN(Opposite Page, Above) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
7. 8.
9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.
Kerosene supply File cabinet Desk P a t boiler Autoclave Turbidimeter Sample preparation table Storage cabinet Sample shelves Briquet machines hlixin table Recorjing psychrometer Sink Water-oooling tower Mold rark Briquet rark S ecimen rack oncrete cylinder rack 2nd floor constant temperature room compressor Cement constant temperature room compressor Moist room compressor Moist room conditioning unit Water pump Cold room compressor Brine tank
2
26. Cold room vestibule
27. Specimen rack coils 28. 10-Point temperature corder 29. Thawing tanks 30. Concrete niixer 31. Sonic up nratus 32. 250-lb. pyatform scales 33. Cylindrr capping table 34. Carborundurn saw 35. Steel bcnding machine 36. Sample table 37. Freight elevator 38. Pairit cabinet 39. TorA grinder 40. Sup l y cabinet 41. WalP tool cabinet 42. Drill press 43. Car enter bench 44. Tooy chest 45. Grind stone 46. Utility table 47. Lumber rack 4s. Waste material 49. Ball mill 50. Rota 51. Grinzing lap 52. Jaw crusher
1:e-
53. Burr mill 54. DeVal abrasion machine 55. Los Angeles abrasion machine 56. Drying oven 57. Dorry hardness machine 58. Gamde cabinet 59 Ag iegate screening table GO: Sni'f preparation table 61. Sink 62 Sand prr nration table 63: Diamonc?drill 64. General storage cabinet 65. 500-lb. platform soales 66. Page impact machine 67 Sink 68. Desk 69. Bituminous compaction machine 70. Equipment cabinet 71. Freefing cabinet 72. Soaking tanks 73. Water bath for hydrometer test 74. First-aid cabinet 75. Brinell hardness machine 76. Testing machine accessory cabinet
77. 200,000-lb. Universal testing machino 7s. General purpose table 79. Hot-plate tahle 80. Asphalt stability machine 81. Soils tahle 82. Soil compacting block 83. Soils bench 84. Stoneware sink 85. 100,000-lb. Universal testing machine 86. Testing machine accessory cabinet 87. Wall tool box 88. Strip tester accessory cabinet 89. Scott strip tester 90. Drafting table 91. Calculator table 92. Three-section desk 93. Centrifuge 94. Air conipressors 95. Concrete saw 96. Soil pulverizer 97. Stone-cutting machine
SECOND FLOOR PLAN(Opposite Page, Below) Rotarex Bituminoua extractors Waste container Wash bench Service door and shelf Culvert metal shears 7. Freight elevator 8 Centrifu e 9: Chemicaf desk 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
10. Hood., 11. Durtility machine 12. Penetrometer 13. Constant temperature bath 14. Wall safe 15. Nesbit Syncretized air heater ?J IU. $E rack
:;
18. Hot plate
19. Loss ovens
2 0 . Paint drying rack
21. Steel sample cabinet 22. Steel work table 23. Stone sink 24. Balancea 25. Utility cabinet 26. Titration table 27. Book case
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29: 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.
Dr ing oven C d u l a t o r table Three-section desk Dpsk File cabinets Chemical supply cabinet Rotating filtration table Water still
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
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INSTALLATION IN CEMENT LABORATOR :Y (Lower left) PHYSICAL TE:STING SECTION ( U p p Tight) ~ C ~ R N EOF R SEMENT LAI BORATORY., SHOWING SOUND ANT-TEMPERATURE NESS KOOMON LEFT AND ~ N T R A N C ETO CONST MIXINGROOM (LOWW ~ r h t END ) COFSTANT-TEMFERATab ~ Y M Y N I-IUIIIINCT . . ( u p p e r left)
W A G N E R TURBIDIMETER:
perature of 30 cuhic feet of concrete can be lowered from 80" to -10" F. in air in 20 hours and held indefinitely a t this temperature, or (i enlic icet of conrrrte ran he loueied from so" to -ma F. in 8 hours in the brine and held indefinitely a t this temper;iture. Both conditions can he met simultaneously, using5 24 cubic feet in air and 6 cubic feet in the brine or a total charge of 30 cubic feet. f.I. m nmnnrr..il.pl..i ~ - ~ The concrete.miuino ......... mnm i. 7,aorl nrinrinallv tioning, mixing, and molding concrete test specimens for investigational purposes. A Model SW Laneaster laboratory mixer is available, as well as a series of mechanically agitated metal thawing tanks. Apparatus for the sonic measurement of modulus of elasticity and a high-speed Felker Di-Met concrete saw are located in this room. The front half of the east wing on the first floor is partitioned into offices which are occupied by several departments of the Materials Bureau, as is another office on the second floor adjacent to the chief chemist's office. The lahoratorv office is located iust west of the front entrance on the first floor, The entire west wing of the first floor comprises the physical laboratory, which includes the soils and aggregate sections. Two Riehle Universal testing machines are located in this ~
~"--
section, with other items of equipment for the physical testing of materials. Two large gas-fired drying ovens are provided for drying soil and aggregate samples, and the fumes and heat from these ovens and other drying equipment are exhausted by forced draft. A soundproof room houses the equipment which necessarily is noisy in operation, such as the rattlers, grinding lap, rotap, ball mill, crusher, and ~ grinder. - A carpenter shop provides the necessary facilities incident to laboratory needs. No machine shop was included in the new laboratory building, as the Highway Department maintains a fully equipped shop in the headquarters garage which is available to the laboratory. Adjoining the main building is a one-story maintenance building of similar exterior design, a section of which is provided for the laboratory. This space is partitioned to make three separate rooms, in one of which an octane ma,chine, for determining the antiknock characteristics of gasoline, is located. This machine, a Waukesha ASTMCFR engine, was located here, rather than in the main building, because of the noise and vibration during operation. The other two rooms are used for chemical storage and as a garage for the laboratory truck.
