Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-09-10
PAPER RAILWAY TIES.


"That is a railroad tie" 1t was Of
the regular size and polished as smooth
ly a. piece of Italian marble, The
grain was so fine and the whole appear
ance was so artistic that it might easily
have been taken for a chip from pill
lar of Grccian temple instead of such
n practical thing as railroad tic. Tho
speaker was short, stout, sad-faced
man, with large head and oyerhang-
ing brows, aud was the inventor of this
aesthetic sleeper, and in his little Office
in Fulton str, ct there were many mod
els of cars and railroad tracks scatter
ed about This" sad he, as he
oatted the railroad tic lovingly, lis the
sesult of years of labor, and | believe
now that it is perfect 1t is made of
paper, which l believe is to enter to q
largo extent in all building operations
at no distant day. The great enemy to
the use of paper for many things is
moisture, ard in my invention, of
ccurte, means had to be discovered to
prevent dampness from having the
sighte,t effect, as railroad tic, being
in the ground, is Subjocted constant
ly to it, and n rotten tie might
cau'e the loss of many lives and much
property. The process Of manufacture
is secret to a certain extent, but the
tic is Also 'ntcly fire and water proof
There; viii throw piece of the pre-
pared paper into the fire. You see it
will not burn. lhavc submerged it for
weeks and months in both hot and cold
water and the moisture has never been
found inside the surface. Conse ucnty
it can not rok Though apparently as
hard rs iron, an ordinary spike can be
driven into it without difficulty, and
when the spike is in position the mate
rial is of 3 lch a nature that it closes
around the iron and holds it so firmly
that il oun never bo shaken loose.
There is also certain amoInt of spring
n tho tie, and when there ia load on
it it operates as sort of cushion and
takes away certain amount Of jar from
running cars Under certain conJi-
tons, by slightly altering the combna-
ton OF mater ais, the paper can bc made
20 hard that it will turn the edge of the
hardest tool without being more than
scratched. The ordinary wooden tie
will last about five years underth most
favorable conditions, while this paper
tic will stand any kind of weather for
ut least thirty years
"The paper used is generally male of
straw, though almost any kind OF fibre
will do as we'll Straw is preferred be-
cause it can be easily obtained and the
supply is unlimited. There are mills
in the west whore the straw is made mp
into boards. 1t is a large industry and
was first started to utilize the waste
straw in the vast West for fucl, instead
of wood, This is q paying business,
and fortunes are being made out of
what only few years ago was thrown
away or burned up as useless, These
boards are put together in layers, and
after being treated to a liberal d)se OF
cement are put under a tromcnd rus
pressure in u hydraulic machine. This
forcos the atoms together in II solid
mass, Under pressure dozen boards
will take tho place of one, Heat is also
on agent in tho manufacture of paper
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