San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-05-31
PAPER RAILROAD TIES.
An InysntIon which, Il Is said, VIII Save Amsr''
can Forests.
New York Sun,

can foress.
New York Sun.
A tall man, with sharp features
and a thoughtful air, sat in a small
study, and gazed gravely at q brown
object that lay at his eet. >,
at is a paper railroad cross-ne'
he said. -,
The reporter lifted it with some
difficulty. 1t was of very close fibre'
and so highly polished that it resem,
bled rosewood. Its inventor tapped
it with his nail, and said:
at doesn't look much like paper
does it?' :,
at seems more like iron. Is it
possible that it is made of paper"
"Oh, yes; almost anything can
now be made of paper. A paper ball
can be rendered so solid that nothing
will indent it but diamond tool.
Car wheels are now made OF paper.
Its strength is astonishing. You can
suspend $50 pounds from Bank OF
England note, and it will not part
Bath tubs, pots, plates, knives, forks
cooking stoves, printing presses
steam engines and chlmneys are made
of paper nowadays, and there is alb
solutely no limit to the uses to which
it may be put"
"Have paper cross-ties ever cen
used?"
"Not yet. The cross-tie is my in
vention." .
"How did you happen to think OF
it?"
"WeL, I didn't happen to think OF
it, exactly. 1 started out deliberately
to invent substitute for the wooden
cross-tie or sleeper, and L kept
steadily at it until I was successful.
Nv attention was first called to the
matter by the cutlery raised by the
newspapers against the destruction OF
our forests. The report of the Fores-
try Congress proved beyond shadow
of doubt that, before many years, 1T
would be impossible to supply the de-
mand for wooden sleepers. Can you
believe thatnearly $1,000, 900 railroad
ties are used every year? That is
enough to build a solid corduroy road
around the world. More than 10000
miles of new railroad were built last
wear. The life of wooden tie is
only five years, and constant repairs
are necessary. To supply the demand
for the great railroad system of the
country, it is necessary to chop down
100000 acres of forests year! 1t
takes hundred years to grow trees
to maturity, and we cut down millions
and millions of them every year.
How long can it last? These are the
figures presented by the statisticians
of the Forestry Congress, and adopted
by that body.
"They taught me wholesome les
son." the inventor continued, smiling
gently and drumming on the tie,
"and I improved it. J. made up my
mind that 1 would find some substi-
tute for wood. Railroad men all
over the country have been trying to
do this for years. They have tried
cross-ties of granite, iron, steel and
glass. All failures. Besides being
very expensive, they were too rigid,
and knocked the rolling stock all to
pieces. The rails could not be fast,
ened readily, either, so they were all
given up. Meanwhile wooden ties
were constantly getting higher in
price, and I was trying to hit upon a
substitute, l remember that one
morning l conceived what l thought
at the time was brilliant idea. 1t
had been my habit was living IN a
small town in Massachusetts,
walk out on the railroad track while
wor, ying over the problem, and ]
had noticed that the wooden ties,
though decayed at the ends, were ap'
parently sound and hard in the mid
die. My scheme was to construct 6
machine that would saw the ties II
two in the middle. Then I proposed
to turn the two sections of the tx
about, so that the sound ends would
be under the rails. 1 meant to CLAMP
the tie in the middle with dog
Seems like rather a wild scheme
now, doesn't it? Well, the day afte
} nv conception of this plan 1 went on
on the railroad with Ratchet anC
chopped into the middle of a humble
2 of the ties. 1 found every one o
3. them in an advanced state of decay
The outside of the tie was sort o
! shell, and seemed solid and hard
! The sun had dried it off rapidly Of