Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1883-06-12
PAPER RAILROAD TIES.
An lnVontiOn which, IL h Said
Will Save American Forests.

that lay at his feet.
r." 1t is u paper railroad cross-tie," he
said.
The reporter lifted it with some diff.
culty. IL was Of very close fibre, and
80 highly polished that 1t reseinble,l
rosewood. Its inventor tapped it with
his nail, and said :
I" 1t doesn't seem much like paper,
does ito"
" Ii seems more like iron. Is il posi-.
BILE that it is made OF paper 90
son, yes; almost anything can now
be made OF paper A paper ball can he
rendered 10 solid that nothing will in.
dent it but diamond tool Car wheels
are now made of paper. Its strength is
pounds from Bank of England note
and it will not part. Bath-rubs, pots,
plates, knives, forks, cooking stoves,
printing presses, steam engines, and
chimneys are made of paper nowadays,
and there is absolutely no limit 10 the
uses to which it may be put"
Have paper cross-ties ever been
used 80
"Not yet. The cross-tle is my inven-
ton -
How did you happen to think of it 90
Well, didn't happen to think Of
it exactly. started out deliberately
| to invent a substitute for the wooden
cro,s-tie or sleeper, and | kept steadily
at it until was successful My atten
ton WAS first called to the matter by
the Outcry raised by the newspapers
against the destruction of our forests.
The report Of the Forestry Congress
proved beyond a shadow Of doubt
that before many years it would be i'm
possible to supply the demand tor wood
EN- sleepers Can You believe that near
1y seventy million railroad ties are used
every year That is enough to build
solid corduroy road around the world.
More than 10000 miles of new railroad
were buiit last year
"The life Of a wooden tie is only five
years, and constant repairs are neces-
sary. To supply the demand for this
great railroad system of the country 1t
is necessary to chop down three hun
dred Thousand acres of forest year
1t takes a 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 figures pre-
scented by the statisticians OF the
Forestry Congress, and adopted by that
body.
"They taught me a wholesome les
son, the inventor continued; smiling
gently and drumming on the tie,
and | improved it. l made up my
mind that would find solne substitute
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 fail
ures. Besides, being very expensive,
they were too rigid, and knocked the
rolling stock all to pieces. The rails
could not be fastened readily, either,
81 they were all given up. Meanwhile
WOO den ties were constantly getting
higher in price, and was trying to hit
upon a substitute.
81 remember that one morning con-
ceived what thought at the time was ~
brilliant idea 1t had been my habit
l was living in a small town in Massa
chusetts-to walk out Oh the railroad
track while worrying over the problem,
and | had noticed that the wooden ties,
though decayed at the ends, were APP
parently sound and hard in the middle.
My scheme was to construct a machine
that would saw the ties in TWO in the
middle. Then | proposed to turn the
two sections of the tie about, 50 that
the sound ends would be under the
rails. | meant to clamp the tie in the
middle with dog. S ems like rather
il wild scheme, now DOESN'T it?
Vel, the day after my conception OF
this plan | went out on the Railroad
with Ratchet, and chopped in,o the
middle of a number of the ties. found
every one Of them in an advanced state
of decay. The outside of the tie was Il
sort Of shell, and seemed solid and hard
The sun had dried it off rapidly on the
outside after it had been wet, but the
moisture had slowly soaked through the
body of the tie and rOtted it away. | |
gave it up for time. could think Of |
nothing feasible. | saw gangs Of men
who were employed by the Railroad
Companies constantly repairing and |
putting in new tles. This was another
expense to be added to the cost of the |
shortlived wooden sleepers.
" Then thought of paper There are
scores of miles in the country where
paper straw, prairie grass, and other
fibrous substances are converted into
straw board. The process is simple.
The straw is reduced to "a pulp and run
out into boards These straw boards |
are sold all over the country as sub
stitutes for wood. Ny invention
utilities straw board. The cross-tie is
constructed Of sheets or layers of straw
board laid one upon another, cemeuted
and compressed into molds.
1t makes a perfect cross-tie 1t is
water and fire proof, as it is
under 500 degrees Of
heat. Atmospheric changes have no
effect on it. 1t can be made as cheap
as wood at the present time, and will
last at least twenty-five years. One
paper tie will outweartiye wooden ones,
and will render better service, because
it does not rot and there is no danger of
spreading rails. The accident to the
Long Branch train last year was due,
according to official investigation, to
spreading rails. The wooden ii S had
decayed SO that the spikes that held the
rails were loose.
will the paper tie take spike" It,
seems like IRON
II Will take spike as readily as
wood, and hang to it, too. There is
plenty of give to the paper tic, 80 that
the rolling stock of a railroad will not
suffer. They are of uniform size, and
weigh little more than wood"
Suppose straw board goes up in
value %
1t doesn't make any difference.
The tie can be made ofany fibrous sub
stance capable of being reduced to
pulp-prairie grass, for instance. But
how can the straw give out? 1t takes
4 hundred years to grow tree, while
straw grows every year. In the North
west they burn straw in vast quantities
every year so as to get it out of the way.
The paper tie must be adopted before
ong from sheer necessity. We can't
90 on chOpping trees forever. The paper .