Smyrna times., 1883-06-06
Paper Railroad Ties.
AN INVENTION WHICH. IT IS SAID,
WILL SAVE AMERICAN
FORESTS.

IL InOuSnllul iiI. SIT III al SlilStll SlUNlN, a
and gazed gravcly at brown object |
that lay at his feet
"It is paper railroad cross-tic," he
said.
The reporter lifted it with some diff /
so highly polished that it resemblcd
rosewood. Its inventor tapped ii with
his nail, and said:
at doesn't look much like paper,
does it?''
at seems more like iron. Is it pos
sible that it is made of paper?'
"Oh, yes; almost anything can now
be made of paper. \ paper ball can be
rendered so solid that nothing will in
dent it bat diamond tool Car
wheels are now made of paper. Its
strength is astonishing You can sus-
pend $50 pounds from a Bank Of
England note and it will not part
Bath tubs, pots, plates, knives, forks,
cooking stoves, printing presses, steam
engines and chimMcys are made Of
paper nowadays, and there Is absolute .
ly no limit to the uses to which it may
be put" T
Have paper cross-tics ever been
used? ?"
Not yet. The cross-tic is my in
vcntion."
"How did you happcn to think OF
it?2
"Well, didn't happen to think oft,
exactly. | started out deliberately to
invent Il substitute for the wooden
cross-tie, or sleeper, and ] kept steadily
at it until | was successful. My attcn-
ton was first called to the matter by
the cutlery raised by the newspapers
against the destruction of our forests.
The report of the Forestry Congress
r proved beyond a shadow Of doubt that
, before many years it would be impos-
} sible to supply the demand for wooden
. slcepcrs. Can you believe that nearly
| 70,000,000 railroad ties are used every
l year? That is enough to build Il solid
.. corduroy road around the world.
e More than 10000 miles of new railroad
: were built last year. The life Of
t wooden tic is only five years and con-
/ stant repairs are necessary. TO sup
Y ply the demand for the great railroad
: system Of the country it is necessary to
o chop down three hundred Thousand
t acres of forest year! 1t takes hun
+ dred 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
o Congress, and adopted by that body.
Y They taught me Il wholesome les
e son." the inventor continued, smiling
c gently and drumming on the tie, land
II | improved it. | made up my mind
Y that | would find some substitute for
t wood. Railroad men all over the
Of country have been trying to do this for
years. They have tried cross-ties of
N granite, iron, steel and glass. Ali fail
" ures Besides being very expensive,
lie they were too rigid, and knocked the
e, rolling stock all to pieces. The rails
n could not be fastened readily, either
is so they were all given up. Meanwhile
c, wooden ties were constantly getting
It. higher in price, and | was trying to hit
upon substitute | remember that
one morning conceived what thought
lv at the time was a brilliant idea. II
ur had been my habit was living i'll :
70 small town in Massachusetts, walk
as out on the railroad track while worry
Id ing oyer the problem, and had noticed
d. that the wooden ties, though decayct
er at the ends wero apparently sound ant
.io hard in the middle. Ny scheme wa:
"a to construct a machine that would saw
"a the tics in two in the middle Then
ns. propose to turn the two sections of thu
IA tie about, so that the sound ends would
on be under the rails. | meant to clam
ev the tie in the middle with dog
dis Seems like rather wild scheme, nov
,th doesn't it? Well, the day after IN,
od conception of this plan l went out ol
on the railroad with hatchet and chop
yn ped into the middle of number of tn
ct ties. l found every one of them in n
&C. advanced state of decay. The Outsid
he of the tic was a sort of shell, and seem
,r ed solid and hard. The sun had drie
m it off rapidly on the outside afterit ha
nd been wet, but the moisture had slowl
It's soaked through the body of the tie an
ith rotted it away. gave it up for time
vas l could think of nothing feasible
ed saw gangs of men who were employe
YER by the railroad companies CONSTANT
ed. repairing and putting in new tie
M This was another expense to be adde
lie to the cost of the shOrt-liVed woOde
ms sleepers.'
to "Then | thought of paper Thel
mo are scores of mills in the country whel
to paper, straw, prairie grass and othC
vas fibrous substances are converted int
,on straw board. The process is simpl
Int. The straw is reduced to pulp and ru
ok out into boards. These straw bOarC
be are sold all over the country as subst
and tutes for wood. My invention utilizt
of straw board. The cross tie is construc
ed of sheets or layers of paper or stra
board, laid one upon another, cemen
EI- ed and compressed into mOlds.
Om- makes n perfect cross-tie. 1t is pra
OK tically~ water and fire-pro0f, as it
me manufactured under 500 degrees
mo heat. Atmospheric changes have l
ola effect on it. It can be made as che;
rad as wood at the present time, and W
no last at least twenty-five years. Or
ma paper tie will outwear five woodC
her ones, and will render better serviC
lies because it does not rot and there is
cca- danger of spreading rails. The acc
Inv dent to the Long Branch train last We
and was due, according to official inves
ella CATION, to spreading rails. The wood
rtv- ties had decayed so that the spikes tn
nan held the rails were loose"
;dav "Will the paper tie take dspike?
ary. seems like iron"
IT "It will take a spike rs readily
will wood, and hang to it, too. There
the plenty of give TO the paper tie,
,ard that the rolling stock of railroad W
tho not suffer. They are of uniform sii
of and weigh little more chan wood !"
Ware "Suppose straw board goes up
and value?"
the at doesn't make any different
ex- The tie can be made of any fibrous ST
take stance capable of being reduced
day pulp-prairie grass, for instance. L
ablic how can the straw give out? 1t tal
hers a hundred years to grow tree, VIII
the straw grows every year. In the Nor
west they burn straw in vast quan
es p. ties every year SO as to get 1t out
II. the way. The paper tie must be ado
G. ed before long from sheer necessi
nard We can't so on chopping down tr,
forever. The paper tie deadens soul
Colonel F. x. Hahn will shortly int
,erlv duce it on the elevated road, It's
cher pretty good thing. guess, eh?n ask
ting the inventor, and again he smiled a