The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-11
PUSHING on THE PAVING.
TIE TROUBLE THE VULCANITR co.
HAS BEEN HAVING.
Too Much Silica in the Savannah River

| Sand ana stone Dust TO be Mixed
With the Asphalt-The Sand a Near
Approach to Glass-The Paving on
Liberty Street Laid as Far East as
Dreyton street-What Experts Say
of Rubber Pavement.
The asphalt pavement on Liberty street
hes been completed on the south side Of the
street as far east as Drayton street and to
Bull street on the north side of the street
railway track.
A MORNING NEWS reporter saw Supt.
VandeLburg Of the Southern Vulcanite
Paving Company yesterday afternoon, and
he and his guest, Mr. W L. Phillips, a
civil engineer Of Middletown, n. Y, were
talking over old time "reminiscences Mr..
Phillips is q refugee from thermometer
that as registering zero when he left, and
he is in Savannah for few weeks until the
ice king releases his grasp in the north.
The conversation turned at once on pave
ments. Maj. Vaudenburg was king
| about the progress of the paving on Liberty
street. He sand that in the four and one
half days that the company worked last
week it completed 3 100 yards Of pavement
THE PAYMENTS DEFECTS.
The matter was discussed as to the cause
pavement on Broughton street and on Lib
erty west Of Whitaker, and Mai. Vanden-
| burg sail that it is due to the quality of the
| sand. I'VE have been making almost a
| glass pavement" he remarked. 1--WE took the
| sand to be Of the quality used in the north,
and since we have found that the sand is
almost pure silica, We have been uing
sixty gallons OF asphalt to the cubic yard,
as we fl that it requires that much to
| thoroughly coat the very small particles of
sand. This Is about double the amount Of
asphalt we had counted on. This quality
of sand is very expensive to work, as it
absorbs SO much Of the asphalt, but there is
nothing better for durability. Some of the
sand was examined under a microscope,
and Mr. Phillips said: ''This sand is a re-
markable fine quality of pure silica"
Yes" said Maj Vandenbnrg. there is
95 per cent. of glass in it. When we dis
covered this we began to about double the
amount of the liquid asphalt per cubic
yard. 1t was a natural mistake to make
| To all appearances the sand was what we
had been accustomed to using, but the re-
suls were not the same. From Whitaker
street on we increased the asphalt to the
cubic yard"
STONE DUST TO BE USED.
'Do you expect to keep up the increase Of
asphalt used@'
mot if we can remedy it in another
way" replied Maj. Vandenburg. 1--WE are
going to add 80 per cent. Of stone dust to
offset the small sand. This will make
heavier surface and add to the durability
of the pavement. We have lot of stone
screened t. get this binder. This runs
| through three eighth inch screen. That
viii be shipped from the quarry, a carload
of it to be tested, and ! am certain it will
answer. If it does we will get ten or twelve
carloads a week. and the work will be com
pieted quick after that. We laid pavement
last week at the rate of 700 yards a day,
AMI that can be increased to 800 yards"
You will, of course, remedy any defects
in the pavement already laid, will you
nCtW
Certainly. That is our contract, but we
should do so If it were not the understand
ing. There is nothing in it to alarm the
people. An occasional depression in the
pavement is better than driving in the sand,
but all that will be regulated. | see Mr..
Schaarf put on a force Of men yesterday
on Broughton street, repairing his pave
ment. The Nulcauite Company will not be-
gin on Broughton street until the work on
Liberty street is finished. Repairs to
asphalt pavements are more easily made
than on any other pavement, and compare
lively inexpensive.
THE PAVEMENT A SUCCESS.
, 1.-The success of the asphalt pavement is
fixed fact, as the $50 miles of That kind of
>
creF ancies are not the fault Of the pavement,
but in the manipulate of the materials en-
tering into its composition. With us it has
/ been the fault of the minute sand which, rs
r you have seen under the microscope, is pure
! silica. The vulcanite asphalt pavement
once properly composed and laid, is elastic.
During a warm day it will show the marks
, of t o wheels Of vehicles, but the next
, morning it will show as smooth a surface as
ever"
} THAT is true of the Washington pave
9 ments," said Mr. Philips, land the in
creased heathfulness of Washington is at
tribued to the asphalt. The sewers still
discharge in the flats, but the malaria has
almost disappeared. The asphalt is
l thorough disnfectant 1t is death to all
germ life, and have noticed where asphalt
@ pavements "ere being laid in a northern
n cemetery that the ~orkmen would sweep
= up every morning great piles of
!, dead insects worms, bugs d
( toads. frog or toad will not travel
@ far on form pavement when
, II first goes down, until it keels over dead.
Inextreme warm wea her ca b3llc acid and
other dlsinfecting gases arise from the
! | pavement, 50 that in my Judgment il is the
4 sanitary pavement of this country, and if
the streets of tropical and semi-tropical
Ct les were paved with asphalt | believe
yellow fever epidemics would be unknown"
9 RUBBER AS A PAVEMENT.
! During the discussion about asphalt
! pavements, the following from a Berlin
Germany paper was read:
For paving streets India rubber threatens
70 eter into co npetion with asphalt. TIE new
o pavement is an invention Of Herr usse of Lin
g den, who has introduced il in Hanover. He used
@ II first in the summer of last year for paving
a | the Goethe bridge, which has a surface OF
about loo square meters or 1904 square feet
! Inc new pavement It is stated. proved 50 salts
factory that l,5Jo square meters nc l46 square
I feeO OF ordinary carriage way in the
| city were paved with IL this summer The Ber
lin corporation being fayorauly impressed
q | with the new pavement has had a large area
! paved with India rubber as an experiment, and
! | the magistracy OF Hamburg is Likewise trying
= the pavement II is asserted that the new
! / pavement combines the elasticity OF India rub
/ Der with the resistance II granite II is said to
be perfectly nuiseleSs, agd unaffected either by
! heat or cold. IL is not 80 slippery az asphalt
v | and is more durable than the latter. AS a Gov
4 eriug for bridges II ought TO prove excellent, as
. | IL reduces vibration; but a question may be
y asked as to rs cost. The expense must be
= heavier than That OF any known pavement"
That said Mr. Phillips, taoug fully,
lis tie vulcauized rubber Of commerce
The o st objection TO II, but not the most
u | impo tant, Is that it will be too expensive
g We might AS well talk Of paving a street
, with lead But the greatest objection is
u that it is a vegetable, aud IL wouldn't
- do to go into the vegetable king