Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-14
THE sTREET pAvINt PKoBLEaI.

grow with their growth and strengthen
with their strength, than thatof street paw
ing, involving, as it does, all the correlatives
of municipal prosperity, health, comfort,
safety and economy. I have, therefore,
given the subject some attention in order to
determine In what way this need could best
be supplied from the materials occurring IN
our state, and thus TO aid in furthering the
desires of those who wish to improve their
present condition ut the least cost while
securing the best attainable results
\ recent writer sums up the merits OF the
5everal kinds of paving which have been
adopted at different times and in different
places. as follows;
Granite block-Seryice very good. dura-
bic, needing little repair, but very noisy
and slippery when worn, especially on
steep grades, and first cost expensive.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES very good, free
from noise and dust, but slippery on street
grades; expensive to repair, and first cost
expensive.
''Brick-Service very good, free from
noise and dust, durable, very easily re-
paired, and first cost moderate if brick
can be procured in the immediate vicinity,
thereby saving the freight charges.
Wood block-Service very good during
the first few years, free from noise and
dust; but unhealthful and offensive after
the wood begins to decay; first cost
moderate.
'Ndacadam-Service reasonably good, but
very muddy in wet and dusty IN dry
weather, needing constant repairs; first
cost moderate"
To these may be added:
Sandstone block-Service fairly good at
first, but soon becomes rough from wear,
needing constant repair, noisy and dusty in
dry weather; first cost moderate where
stone is close by.
Limestone block-Same as sandstone,
except that it is more durable if good
stone A soft limestone soon wears out,
and is very dusty.
Gravel-Salne as macadam. Where there
is solid foundation and good surface
drainage, some gravel makes a very service
able and satisfactory pavement In some
of cur cities however, the necessary con-
ditiOns are absent.
All the materials enumerated exist in
Texas in their natural condition IN the
greatest abundance, and are perhaps equally
as accessible to our cities as to those upon
whose experience the above conclusions are
based. IL may be doubted, however, whether
the first cost might not be greater, and
whether our people are equally as able to
bear it.
1t has been urged by some authorities
that from d sanitary point Of view
asphaltum is superior to any and all other
material for street paving, and some even
go so far as to say that its advantages IN
this respect are such as to eEtitle it TO
preference and use regardless of cost To
this DR.. G. w. Chandler, secretary of the
Maryland board of health. takes exception
and AYERS that, '.the asphaltum pavement,
which admits no air to the interstices
below it, will destroy normal bacterial life
in the soil and thereby prevent the so-called
self-cleansing process OF the ground, which
in large towns IS always more or less
permeated with impurities derived largely
from leaking sewers and cesspits. Thus
the germs of disease are collected, as 1t
were, in Pandora's box, to be drawn
through foundation walls into the living
and sleeping apartments of our homes. II
may be regarded as a sanitary truism that
air cannot be excluded from the polluted
sub-soil of large city without disastrous
results. In the city of Paris, where asphalt
pavements exist on almost all of the
thoroughfares, typhoid fever has prevailed
in an epidemic form for many years, and
diptheria is greatly on the increase in that
city" Thus doctors differ
From the foregoing, which may be said
to contain the gist Of the results obtained
by experience, which, after all, is the most
reliable, if not infallible test, it would APP
pear that the material most available and
best adapted to the use of our cities is
vitrified brick, which, it is alleged, possess
all the virtues and none of the vices of
other material. 1t is said to be as durable
as granite and as smooth as asphaltum,
wEile cheaper than all others except gravel.
Street pavements made of vitrified brick
are somewhat new in this country, the first
having been put down in Charleston, W.
Va, about twenty-five years ago. Since
then they have been laid in the cities of
Ohio, Illinois and Nebraska; but it has
been within the last five years only that
much attention has been bestowed upon
brick as paving material. In portions of
Europe however it has been in use for
many years. In England it has been tested
tor half a century in such trying locations
rs the approaches to freight depots, where
1t is subjected to the heaviest traffic. The
brick there used is called "blue brick and
is manufactured in Staffordshire. In the
Isle of jersey the highways are paved with
brick and have been in use for many years.
IN the cities of Holland, notably The
Hague, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, brick
payements have been in use for more than
q hundred years. The rapidity with which
brick pavements have grown into favor in
the United States within the last few Years
has been wonderful, and the demand for
brick has been so great that manufacture
has scarce been able to keep pace with
it, The result has been to jeopardize
its popularity and usefulness, for
manufacturers We're so crowded with
orders that they were enabled to
put upon the market large quantities
which were totally unfit for the use to
which they were TO be put, thus riSking
the killing Of the goose of the golden egg.
There is not much danger of a repetition of
5ICLl an tA ltElulCuG III Tie 1uGuEt 1OF INT
great demand has not only led to improved
machinery and the adoption of better meth
DDS, but to investigation and experiment
which has disclosed the fact that material
is far more abundant than was ever sup
posed, and in localities never suspected; IN
fact. THAT paving brick material can be
found in the swamps and marshes as well
as in the hills and bluffs" so that now
plants may be erected near to the place of
use, that will produce brick for paving
purposes which will rival granite in dura-
bility, flint in hardness and asphaltum in
smoothness, cleanliness and ease on the
hoof. -
The prime requisites of good paving
brick are:
l. That it shall have a vitrious body.
,. That it shall be of sufficient toughneSs
to prevent crumbling under the traffic.
S That 1t shall be tree from pores, q
dense mass which will not absorb the
moisture. gases or impurities of the street
or atmosphere,
To secure these, the first essential is
selection Of 4 suitable clay; the second
proper preparation; and the third, skillful
Notwithstanding TO the point of thorough
vIrrif8ction without risk of melting. OF
these the first may be said to come more
particularly within my province, the other
two pertaining exclusively TO the practical
operations of the manufacture; and yet,
while practical experience, associated with
intelligence, IS beyond doubt sure guide,
the chemist may give the worker points of
irfDY,ma f1Nu which may SAW him ~. his ON