By treating dirt like popcorn, ceramics experts at Armour Re-
search Foundation hope to lower the cost of concrete construction
while providing lighter, stronger, and better insulated buildings.

Thomas C. Miller, supervisor of masonry materials research at

the Foundation, has been investi-
gating clay and shale deposits,
beating them until they expand and
form materials suitable for mixing
with cement. These components,
which form 80 per cent or more of
the volume of finished concrete, are
called “light-weight aggregates.”

“In concrete, the aggregate
is just as important as the ce-
ment which is the binding; ma-
terial,” Miller asserted. “The
lighter and stronger the aggre—
gate, the better the concrete
construction.”

Clay which has been expanded—
or popped up—into cells full of
air, enables builders to use a light,
tailor—made aggregate in concrete,
Miller pointed out. The new mate—
rial, which is light enough to float
in water, has several points in its
favor.

Firstly, there is more flexibility
in construction because structural
members need not support so much
weight. Lighter beams can mean
less building cost.

Secondly, the large amount of
air in the expanded aggregate will
aid insulation and improve acousti—
cal properties.

And lastly, the aggregate is not
expensive, being manufactured
from naturally occurring clay and
related materials located near the
producing plants.

“Transportation costs tend
to decentralize this industry,”
Miller claimed. I-Ie contended
that much of the price of some
aggregates such as pumice,
vermiculite, or perlitc, is rep—
resented by freight charges
and that using materials close
at hand could reduce construc—
tion costs.

Miller predicted that a plant set
up in the Chicago area to manufac—

 

 

ture light-weight aggregate would
have a ready market, since con—
crete construction in and near the
city requires 500,000 yards of ag—
gregate annually. Good aggregate
at an attractive price should stimu-
late concrete construction, he said.

Miller has designed an efiicient,
proposed plant suitable for strate-
gic locations." The better ag-
gregate the greater the percentage
of it we can use in concrete," he
pointed out. “This cuts the amount
of more expensive cement required.
Low-cost, concrete block homes,

using lightnweight aggregate, offer
a wide potential market.”

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Neatness and practicality of con—
struction are the keynotes of a
contest that is being sponsored 133':
Illinois Tech’s Radio club. Equip-
ment-building contest prizes will
include test equipment, reference
books and subscriptions to Radio
and Television News. Open to mem-
bers only, the three classes of en-
tries being considered are the
novices, the engineering and design
class and the advanced class, open
to licensed amateurs and advanced
experimenters.

Dates of judging and 'namcs of
the judges will be '1 '
Prizes and winning equipment will
be displayed in the Illinois Tech
bookstore through the courtesy of
Paul Fox, bookstoreymanager.

 

 

  
 
      
 

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Meeting the gang, to discuss a quirr—a date with the
campus queen—or just killing time between classes
——0wen’s Sandwich Shop at the University of Colo-
rado in Boulder is one of the favorite places for a
rendezvous. At the Owen’s Sandwich Shop, as in
college oil-campus haunts everywhere, a frosty bottle
of Coca-Cola is always on hand for the pause that

refreshes—Coke belongs.

Ask for it ei/hrr way . . . dot/1

’ . ‘r
Owen's Sandwich Shop, Boulder, Col.
BOTTLED UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE COCA-COlA COMPANY BY

trade-marks mean [/20 some thing.

  
    

KIQCflLr-Cfilth llfi'l'l’hlhlfiis fig” fish Ei‘iilmhfifl, llhlfi.

© l949, The Coco~Cola Company

 

Ellipsis Business on ”technology. distress to, liiineis

 

(Continued iii-om page a)

just “otter to play" big universi—
ties. That takes heartaches, beg~
ging, years of effort, traditions
and financial deals—Jet’s forget
about that kind of football at Tech
for the present.

Scholastic loads on the players
would have to be lightened to per—
mit them to play, but not below the

minimum agreed to in any conifer-‘

once or association of colleges we
entered. Their minimum work loads
are above halfetime work load at
Tech. Few players would want to
make up credit hours in summer
school unless repaid in money or
free tuition.

With the time reuuired go-
ing to and from school, time
lost in injuries, time used up
working part time through
school and with 50 percent of
the engineering student body
getting “C” grades or lower,
it is going to be hard to find
students to participate in the
sport.

Recapitulating with a View to
costs, our team of 60 players mini~
mum will need a. half-million dol—
lars to get it on the field, and more
to keep it there. If the students and
alumni of Illinois Tech think this
kind of money can be secured and
is considered a worthwhile expendi-
ture for 60 players, I encourage
them to go ahead and devise plans
for having a football team. More
astounding miracles than football
at Illinois Tech have been per—
formed.

John J. Schommcr

Rigid Tflifih fiflhdlfilflfil‘lifil
lathe on active interest in your
close cations by nominating
your consolidates their allies.
Petitions are available in the
death which.

“Topper” phones
top ii " lint dilute
writer rendition

Adhering to its new policy of
“four shows weekly," the SAM
Film Program has announced films
scheduled for the remainder of the
semester. Free of admission charge,
the two-hour program will now be
seen on Wednesdays at 2 and 4
p.m. and Thursday evenings at 6
and 8, All showings are in 131MC.

“Topper Takes a. Trip"—~listcd
for January 4-5——stars Roland
Young, Constance Bennett, and
Billie Burke in Thorne Smith’s
farcical tale. “Delightful nonsense,
using trick photography to mix
the visible and invisible charac-
ters, this film is expertly played,“
reports Wally Conniff. Accompany-
ing the feature will be “Lest We
Forget," amusing vignette of the
quaint old days, concerned with
development of borseless carriages.

 

 
   
 

 

  
 

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Faculty ratings will be dis-
tributed after the Christmas vaca~
tion. The lnterhonorary council
will distribute the forms in the
classes, and the completed report
will be immediately turned over to
the instructor.

 

 

The faculty council approved the
project in November. According to
Jim Mason, IHC Faculty Rating
committee chairman, the faculty
and Honorary council feels that the
survey should be performed year-
ly, although no definite policy has
yet been set.

After last year’s survey, instruc-
tors. were polled by the IHC for
comments on the ratings. 01" one-
third of the faculty replying, al.
most all expressed approval. Sev—
eral instructors said they had
changed their teaching methods.

Throughout this year, at least
a dozen schools have inquired about
our method of handling: the rating

 

system.

 

 

 

 

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till; Finest oi” Luncheons honored Baily.

Frankie @peeiaimllhichen and Ribs
~— Friday and @aturday Nights ”’i‘ill

Merry Christmas to All
The Boys from Roy d; Frank

 

 

OPEN TELL
«- 2 a. m. -—-

hilth

Eevcrnges of Every Description,

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With the completion of initiation ceremonies of "Pi Delta Epsilon
Wednesday, all the honoraries on IlT’s campus ended their reopec~
tive pledging activities for the semester.

It was found that approximately 7 5% of the student body was

initiated into honorary societies
this semester. The largest group of
the 262 men initiated into the 14
active honoraries went to Tau Beta
Pi, engineering honorary, which
collected 76 men.

A breakdown of the number of
undergraduate men received into
the societies follows:

l’i Tau Sigmawmechanical en-’

gineering’ honorary—36

Eta Kappa Numelectrical en«

g'ineering honorary—~31

Phi Lambda Upsilon—«chemic-

try and chemical engineering

honorary—~27 .

Sigma iota Epsilonwmanage—

ment honorarym-l'i

l’i Delta Epsilonwjournalism

honorary—~15

l’hi Eta Sigma—vfreshman hon—

(wary-15

Pi Nu Epsilonmmusic hon—

oraryw-lo

Chi Epsilonmcivil engineering

honorary—«9

Rho Epsilon~-radio engineer-

ing honorary—«9

Honor l—«athletic honorary—8

Tau Omega—aviation honor—

ary—fi

Salamander — fire protection

engineering honorary—.1

Sigma Pi Sigma—~physics hon-

orary-mnone
or m ..

Some readers were in doubt as
to who was responsible for the
Honors assembly last week. We
wish to emphasize that the Inter—
honorary council, of which Joseph
J. Pope is president, was in charge.
Dean of Liberal studies John D.
Larkin was instrumental in ob-
taining the featured speaker, Dr.
Ralph Bunchc.

 

Technicals scorpions
cow rehash soon

“They’re leaving now, but they’ll
be back.” Such was the confident
prediction of a faculty observer
as Techawks this week deserted
111‘ for the holidays.

All modes of transportation were
pressed into use. One junior EE
from Elgin, Nebraska, was heard
explaining his plans: “I’m taking
CTA downtown, :3 bus to the air—
port; then I’m skycoaching to
Omaha, where I’ll change to a
train for Elgin, where I’ll switch
to Calvert.”

Some students determinedly
pledged attention to schoolhooks
during the Yule freedom period.
Among these were Technology
News stafl’ members, all reportedly
12 weeks behind in homework :32“.-
signments. Trudg‘lng oil with
bulging briefcases, they~ i1nsclif~
ishly chorused:

nth . are @ht‘l retinas