Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-14
BRICK FOR PAVEMENT.
City engineer, Mr.. Jackman, on the paw
ing question. Yesterday said:

| the first American town to have expert
mented with brick for roadway pavements
and court yard so paved fifteen years ago
as test, under considerable traffic, is in
fair condition after scarcely any repairs.
| Clay. to make good paving brick, should
be able without fusing to Withstand a suf-
| flcienU degree of heat and for time long
enough to render the brick hard and i'm
| pervious to water. Fluxing agents are
also necessary to render the brick homo
| geneous and tenacious. Among the clays
that have been used more or less success
fully for paving material, and the firms
manufacturing them, may be mentioned
the following: The clay from which the
Hayden paving block is manufactured is a
| ''mingo" fre-clay, from Haydenville, o.
This clay has nearly the compacuness and
density Of fne-grained sandstone, and yet
is semi-plastic. Nitro-glycerine is used in
mining it, but it is easily reduced to
| powder in the dry pan under
heavy rolls, and when ground it
mixes easily. works smoothly and resists
great heat. The paving block is burned
for ten days in temperature of 1900 de-
grees fahr. This block is square in plan,
| five and three-fourth inches on side and
! five and three-fourth inches deep. 1t is
| hollow below to facilitate burning and to
save material, and has fiat upper surface
| broken by indentations to provide firmer
foothold for horses. These indentations,
however, are of little value as they are
soon obliterated under heavy travel. The
blocks are salt-glazed, and the outer top
edges are slightly leveled to admit of
filling Of sand, pitch or other material.
One thousand blocks will lay twenty-nine
square yards at so cents per hundred, or
81 81 per square yard. A block weighs
| about nine and half pounds, or $50
pounds per square yard.
The paving brick Of Virden,
Illinois, is found In bed
twenty-five feet thick, just below
stratum of slate and 275 feet below the sur
face of the ground. 1t is compact, with a
distinct cylindrical cleavage of a light
steel gray color, and when first mined
emits the characteristic odor of slate. 1t
is blasted, but can be reduced to an eX-
tremely fine powder, free from grit. 1t
has specific gravity of 25595. A piece OF
this clay can be kept at A white heat in
hard coal fire for twelve hours and Lot
disintegrate.
surface CLAWS Of three varieties, one is
yellow, aluminous clay, very fine and plas
tie, and is found three feet below the sur
face in a bed twelve feet thick. 1t is simply
tempered in pug mill and burns to a
grayish red color. Another is hardpan
clay, lying just beneath the first named.
1t is very troublesome to reduce to an i'm
palpable powder When dug and left Ito
weather. for one winter it gives good re-
suits 1t burns from pink TO cream in
color. The other is blue clay from under
the second named. 1t is fine, firm, very
tenacious, and burns to chalk white. In
some respects it is similar to the light blue
clay at Empire, Ohio.
The experience of the best makers of
pavick teaches them TO conciuds that fine
ness of grain is most essential TO good re-
suits, but the clay must first be reduced in
a dry state to an impal pable powder. Clay
of the desired composition, but neither dry
mol fine, may be calcined and then finely
ground. This grinding is very essential
in reducing the amount of heat required
to vitrify II to a homogeneous mass, and
the finer it is ground the stronger and
harder will be the brick and the better it
will stand abrasion.
At Nashville, Tenn, are used creosoted
or bitumenized bricks, prepared by satu-
rating common kiln bricks of medium
hardness, under a high degree of heat,
with liqnid pitch, obtained by distilling
coal tar. These bricks have been laid
about four years, on a good foundation of
rolled macadam, bedded on edge in one
and one-half inches of sand and rammed
tight. They have bean subjected to
considerable amount of traffic and show
very little if any wear. The cost was ST.
per square yard for brick and laying on
finished foundation.
At Youngstown, O., fre-brlck on ce-
ment concrete base and sand, with pitch
joints, cost, for all, SIS per square yard.
The best bricks came from Empire, O.,
and New Brighton, Penn.
AtAllegheny City, Penn, fire-clay bricks
from the West Virginia Fire Brick Co. have
been laid in two layers on rammed and
rolled gravel and sand, at cost of sl.95
per square yard, exclusive of grading The
pavement, in use three years, is stated to
be very smooth, easily cleaned, and hand
some in appearance.
At Bloomington, H., some two and one
half miles of brick paved streets have been
laid with bricks Of home manufacture.
This pavement is not noticeably rough in
driving over it, and affords good foothold
for horses. The brick pavements in
Bloomington, generally speaking, are in
good condition, and being constantly ex-
tended. They have stone blocks, Nichol-
son and Macadam pavements Also and
prefer brick on the score Of cost, durabil-
ity, lack of noise, home production, ease of
cleaning, and repairs The entire pave
ment, two layers of brick, including all
materials, grading and stone curbs, cost
81 90 per square yard, with laborers at Sl.60
per day. teams s. 25, and sand eighty to
ninety cents per cubic yard, delivered.
Cincinnati has a pavement on rolled
sand but it was failure.
Peoria, H., paved two blocks in 1856 and
five blocks in 1887 with Ottawa paving
brick, and Chicago used the same brick
three or four years ago on Sixty-third
street car tracks.
The disadvantages Of brick pavement
arise from the lack of uniformity in the
material, and the liability of incorporating
in the pavement of too soft and porous
structure which crumbles the first winter
under the action of the frost When laid
on solid foundation the advantages are
cheapness, smoothness, cleanliness, free
dom from noise. and sanitary excellence as
non-absorbent Taking all things into
consideration 1t Is superior TO macadam.
wood, and, for maximum traffic of three
tons, superior TO granite"