Edward Giles Stone (17 February 1876 – 16 October 1947[1]) was an Australian engineer prominent in many innovative, often daringly spectacular, aspects of early reinforced concrete constructions in Australia.
Stone set up a precasting plant in Emu Plains NSW, for the manufacture of reinforced concrete houses, silos, water troughs, bins and other products.
The system he developed was used for the construction of a five-roomed cottage (heritage listed but since then demolished) at 2 Railway Street, Emu Plains, and for a large house of two storeys in Iandra (7 Windermere Avenue, Northmead) for George Henry Greene,[4] member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales (listed on the Baulkham Hills LEP).
On Greene's property, he also built a stable and a motor garage, a large silo surmounted by a water tank, and single-storey bachelor's quarters, completed in 1910 and known locally as Iandra Castle.
Edward Giles Stone adopted the Considère system for reinforcing concrete and the partnership produced some remarkable buildings and structures using this system, notably the Dennys Lascelles Austin wool store at Geelong, the Barwon Sewerage Aqueduct, Floating Pontoons at Circular Quay and the Breakwater at Glenelg.
[5][6] Stone and his partner Siddeley designed and constructed the concrete structures on the Mortlake Gas Works in Sydney including the coal and coke bunkers, the tunnel to take the Telpher system under the retorts, as well as the Power House.
Elements of the Considère system, notably the helical wrapping later became accepted reinforcing practice but at the time of Stone was working, the approach was novel.
Miles Lewis has noted "The reason why few engineers were active is that the technology was riddled with patents, and that the Monier company in particular tried to give the impression that they had the sole rights to reinforced concrete.
Stone had some unfortunate associations with cement production in Tasmania (possibly at the Goliath works) and at Port Kembla.
It is a reinforced concrete truss structure, in a form derived from the Firth of Forth rail bridge in Scotland, with a typical span of 53.7m and an overall length of 756m.
The structure which has remarkable aesthetic and technical qualities is dramatically situated in the landscape of the Barwon River floodplain near Breakwater, Geelong.
Barwon Water has applied to Heritage Victoria for a permit to remove four of the 14 spans of the heritage-listed Ovoid Sewer Aqueduct, as these had been rapidly deteriorating in condition since the 1970s ( www.heritage.vic.gov.au/permits/currently-advertised-permits ).
Of particular note are the daringly large trusses on the top floor, which provided a clear space of 55m x 52m, an important consideration for the Dennys' style of selling wool at the place of storage and display.
Not only was this by a very big margin the largest reinforced concrete roof span in the world, but also it was assembled with enormous ingenuity.
(Their 1915 US Patent Application "Process of molding plastics" provides an insight into how they achieved such high quality precast panels.)
[14] See also the non-statutory National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register (B4710)[15] The building was nominated for world heritage listing due to its exceptional characteristics relating to the pioneering use of reinforced concrete.
(This text based on the entry in the Australian Heritage Places inventory ) "The Argus" of Friday 8 June 1917 p6[16] reports a proposal of Stone's to construct a fleet of concrete ships.