The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-07-21

nOOuhg their lives oy becoming martyrs TO
science, under the experiments of such vivi-
sectors as Professor Dalton and Austin Flint,
Jr. 1t is due, however, to these gentlemen,
to say, that their devotion TO science has
never led them to infiict unnecessary pain,
in their experiments But to return to the
consideration of payements:
The fourth kind of stone pavement is the
"Geded" pavement, now for the first time
being introduced into New York II is the
patent of a German, whose name it bears,
and, it is said, has never been used elsewhere.
The pavement is made Of deep, narrow gran
lite blocks, from three and half, TO five
inches deep. The process of putting down
this pavement, is as follows: First, the street
is bedded with gravel and coarse sand, which
is carefully snoothed and rounded of; upon
this the pavement is laid. Each stone-about
the size of pulpit bible-is set into the
sandy bed prepared for it, and tapped until
it fits into its proper place. The stones are
placed on their edges, and arranged length
wise across the street." breaking joints" as
bricklayers say-thus making an interrupted
surface, on which no horse need slip. An
elevation of about four wholesome inch to
every ten feet-is given to the centre of the
roadway, to make the necessary watershed.
After this, the stones are driven down BY
powerful blows from heavy beetles, until
they are solidly fixed in their beds. Cart
loads of sand are now brought on, and spread
over the whole surface. This sinks down
between the stones, and fills every crack and
Granny.
When this new pavement is completed,
Broadway will present solid stone floor,
of superior construction, more than forty
feet wide, stretching in beautiful undulaiions
from the gothic steeple of Trinity" to the
elegant spire of Grace Church, which limit
the vista at either end of the street.
In New York, until lately, the idea of a
pavement which should be nearly noiseless,
has hardly been entertained. Street pave
ments have always been drums, to be beaten
by iron hoofs. And the noise of a miserable
milk-cart, rafting at carly morn over the
rough cobble-stones, can penetrate the mer
chants mansion and disturb his golden
dreams, or rack the fevered brain OF an in
valid, when'painfully alive to every sound.
I write in the neighborhood of three of
the principal music balls of the city During
"the season." they are constantly used for
balls and concerts, and on these occasions,
the neighboring streets are blocked up with
a great number of hacks and private car
riages, crowded together in seemingly mex
tricable confusion. When the gray dawn
breaks upon the city and signals to the gay
jewellers TO "cloak and away to home"
the hubbub that ensues among the coach |
men and cab-drivers, defies description. !
What with the rattling of wheels, the stamp
ing of countless iron hoofs on the stones, !
and the maledictions of the "Jehus," that |
pour in at every open easement, sleep is muir |
dered for all the neighbors.
Fifth-The Nicholson Pavement. But |
after years of noise from such pavements,
one has been invented and brought into use
which makes the most travelled thoroughfare
hardly more noisy under the tramp of thou
sand hoofs than grassy plain.
"And silence. like poultice fell,
And healed the blows of sound"
If some philanthropic inventor would now
complete this discovery by contriving noise
less wheels for the carriages, and inaudible
hoofs for the horses, the dawn of the millen-
ium would be greatly fastened. This noise
less pavement, called the Nicholson" Pave
ment, is made of sections of pine wood,
placed so that the grain runs vertically It
is being laid in some of the side streets,
where it is most desirable to prevent noise.
The process of putting down this pavement
is quite simple: A flooring of planks, soaked
in tar, is first laid on a smooth sand-bed.
The wooden blocks are sections of three inch
pine planking, and are about eight inches
deep. These are dipped in boiling tar, and
then placed edge TO edge, vertically, in a line,
running across the street, resembling the
types in the composing stick of printer.
The blocks are now nailed firmly to cleats
that run up few inches from the flooring;
there then remains above the cleat, an inter
val, between the rows of wooden blocks, as
thick as the cleat itself Thisspace is subse-
quently filed with particular size of gravel
stones, that have been dried thoroughly, over
portable furnaces. Melted pitch is now
poured down these cracks, until every seam
and interstice is full The gravel and pitch
are firmly compacted by heavy blows; more
pitch is poured on and covered with gravel,
ind the Nicholson pavement is completes
noiseless one it is, and which finds favor Gas
/ contractor said to mel with all classes, ex-
sept the blacksmiths, for it is not destructive
% horse-shoes. This pavement has been
thoroughly tried in Chicago, Cleveland, and
,ther cities of the West, where Il was invent
ID, having stood the test of many years.
The cost of laying the Geded pavement iu
Broadway, is three dollars and seventy-lve
,ents by the square yard The Nicholson
,avement costs about four dollars a yard
certainly not very extravagant investment
or New Workers, when we consider the
,rices they pay for silks and shawls But 6
he unhappy house-owners are charged ten
dollars per yard for 1t, and are forced to pay
t. The six dollars extra, is pure "steal."
Up to this time, Broadway, below Four
eenth Street, has escaped the mutilation and
amage of horse-railroad But there is
ow in the Legislature at Albany, power
III combination, backed by millions of dol
ars, that is exhausting every means Of brib-
~, intrigue, and political influence, to carry
brouoh ovar the vefo NJ fha Covarnnr a |