The Arizona sentinel., 1886-08-21
PAPER RAILWAY TIES.
A Great Improvement Which Is Pro-
 nounced Perfect by Its Inventor.


 ''That is a railroad tie" It was of
 the regular size and polished as smooth
 ly as 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 chip from pil-
 lar of a Grecian temple instead of such
 a practical thing as railroad tie The
 speaker was short, stout, sad-faced
 man, with large head and overhang-
 ing brows, and was the inventor of this
 aesthetic sleeper, and in his little office
 in Fulton street there were many mod
 els of cars and railroad tracks scatter
 ed about. "This,'' said he, as he
 patted the railroad tie lovingly, ''is the
 result of years of labor, and I believe
 now that it is perfect. It is made of
 paper, which 1 believe is to enter to a
 large extent in all building operations at no distant day. The great enemy to the use of paper for many things is moisture, and in my invention, of course, a means had to be discovered to prevent dampness from having the slightest effect, as railroad tie, being in the ground, is subjected constant ly to it, and a rotten tie might cause the loss of many lives and much property. The process of manufacture is secret to a certain extent, but the tie is absolutely fire and water proof. There; l will throw piece of the pre- pared paper into the fire. You see it will not burn. 1 have submerged it for weeks and months in both hot and cold water and the moisture has never been found inside the surface Consequently it can not rot Though apparently as hard as iron, an ordinary spike can be driven into it without difficulty, and when the spike is in position the mate- rial is of such nature that it closes around the iron and holds it so firmly that it can never be shaken loose. There is also a certain amount of spring in the tie, and when there is a load on it it operates as sort of cushion and takes away certain amount of jar from running cars. Under certain condi- tionS, by slightly altering the combina- ton of materials, the paper can be made so 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 under the most favorable conditions, while this paper tie will stand any kind of weather for at least thirty years.
 ''The paper used is generally made of straw, though almost any kind of fibre will do as well. Straw is preferred be- cause it can be easily obtained and the suppiv-is unlimited. There are mills iii the west where the straw is made up into boards. It is large industry and was first started to utilize the waste straw in the vast West for fuel, instead of wood. This is 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 liberal dose of cement are put under a tremendous pressure in hydraulic machine. This forces the atoms together in a solid mass. Under pressure dozen boards will take the place of one. Heat is also ties, and they are thoroughly baked in an oven at a high temperature. Under the present imperfect conditions and appliances it takes considerable time to make a tie, but with every thing built in accordance with my plans they can be turned out quicker than they can be cut from trees and at much less cost. The number of wooden ties used every year to construct new and repair old roads is enormous and is large ele- ment in the disappearance of forests in this country. It is my belief from what 1 know of paper tn at it is destined to take the place of wood in many things, and this will give protection to our for ests. Legislation can never protect the forests as long as there is such large demand for wood.
 'The strength and durability of paper is well shown in car wheels made of this material. It makes an iron wheel sick to contemplate light paper wheel running for years after it has been thrown away as useless Paper will not only take the place of wood, but also of good many metals and of stoneware. A portable paper bath-tub is one of the latest ideas, and pots, plates, knives, forks, stoves and engines | made of paper have a large and in- creasing market A large part of the beautiful bronze ornaments and statues seen in public places and offered for sale in stores devoted to the sale of | ancient and modern bronzes are made of composition the principal element of which is paper or fibre. A man to-day can wear paper shoes and clothes, eat from paper dishes with paper knives and forks, served upon a paper table, sit on paper chair, sleep in paper bed, in room carpeted with paper, wash in a paper tub or bowl, live in a paper house, ride in a paper car or carriage, sail in paper boat. build up fortune on paper; and yet the industry is only in it's infancy. Are any railroads using my tie? No. They all admit its useful ness and are willing to try it with a big if This means that 1 have got to satisfy the clique which is a part of every railroad in this country in the department, and the only way this can be done is to present them with your invention or controlling interest. I am fighting against this and will try to beat them, so that I can get some benefit out of my labors. "-M r. Tribune.