The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-06-08
The Nicholson Favement-.-How IL Is
Put Down.
From a.e piit,buro1 C5rg,li.le.

IRON He I'ittsbuFgh Chronicle.
The Nicholson pavement which is
now being put down by the Pittsburgh,
Fort Wayne Il Chicago Railroad Com
pany, on Wayne and Penn streets, is
attracting considerable attention,
large number of persons assembling in
the vicinity every day. The pavement,
as our readers are aware, is a combina-
ton of wood and gravel, but the mode
Of putting 1t down may not be uuinter-
esting. The ground is first leveled or
rounded off, i'll such oval form as. by
situation, width OF street, &C., is re-
quired, and it is then thoroughly raked
and made as smooth and even as a gar
den bed. The superstructure consists
of one-inCh white or yellow pine planks
laid side by side, lengthwise of the
street, so as to entirely cover the
ground; these planks are then com
Pletely covered by the use of
broOms, with coat of LIQUID as
phaltum' and coal tar, and are
then turned, one by one, the reverse
side up, and treated in the same way
with the asphaltum and tar. The up
per stratum is then laid, consisting of
white or yellow pine parallelogramic
blocks, six inches long, with the grain
of the wood, three inches thick and
from six to ten inches wide, with
straight lined faces and right angles,
together with strips of board of the
same material, three inches wide, three
quarters of an inch thick and five feet
or so long, aid in the following man
ner: Beginning, for instance, at one
end OF the street, series or row of
these blocks is set up on end, across the
street, from curb to curb, with their
broad faces fronting up and down the
street. But before thus placing them
in position, each block is completely
coated with asphaltum or tar cement,
by being submerged in 1t. The first
line of blocks being thus set, line of
strips, also coated with the cement, is
laid and nailed up against the blocks
with one edge resting on the
plank substruCture. Now another
series of the blocks, treated in
the same way, is set up against the strip,
and so, alternatively, until several rods,
more or less, are laid. There is now left
between each two consecutive rows of
blocks continuous grove or cell, three
quarters of an inch wide aud four inch
es deep, extending from curb to curb,
which constitutes the foothold. The
filling process is then commenced,
which consists of clean gravel, screened
81 no " var lEuln luo SlAo VI u pea W
that of five. e.eighths of an inch in diam
eter, together with asphaltum and tar,
treated and applied as follows: The
gravel Is heated very hot in suitable
sheet-iron pans, and then filled into the
cells level with the surface. Asphalt
tum, also heated hot, is now poured
from "a vessel provided with a spout
INTO the cells, until they are filled with
it, and while the gravel is yet hot. and,
before cold, this filling of gravel and
asphaltum is swedged or rRmmed,
which is done by means of bar of
iron, of suitable width, two feet or so
long, and just thick enough 10 enter
the cell, which is placed edgewise on
the filling and hammered upon with a
heavy hammer, The whole surface is
now treated to another finishing coat or
covering OF the asphaltum and coal
tar. The top-dressing is composed of a
layer of sand and finer gravel spread
over the entire surface, about an inch
and a half thick, and allowed to re-
main, which becomes partially pulver-
lied and ground into The fibres of the
wood, washed and worn off by the ac-
ton of rain, horse and vehicle. This
last process completes the pavement,
which is claimed TO be one OF the most
lasting yet invented.