New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-23
THAT RUMBLING PAVEMENT.
WHAT ENGINEER LEWIS SAYS IN REF
ERENCE TO IT
REPLY TO Mr. GRANGERs CoMMENTs-rfiE
CONCRETE DECLARED FIRST -cLAss-cAN
TIE PRESENT TROUBLE BE RENE

CONCRETE DECLARED FIRST-Cl-AsS-CAN
TIE PRESENT TROUBLE BE RENE
pIED,-rTs PROBABLE CAUSE.
The man who undoubtedly knows more Aoou.
the brick pavement IN McDonougn-s'. IMAM s
o.her official IL Engineer Nelson r. Le"'s'
,or mara than two years has had charge VI az
the repaving tina, has been done IN proo n,'
a,,.,,on was called Saturday 10 the le''s'
,,,oa IN The Tribune that morning from r. d.
c-,rSs, who undertook TO explain why shch
d,.aeresable rumbl,ng sourd was caused oy "aso"
ct eels rolling over the bricks MT Lewis reau .ee
.o.,ar u m care and then commented on IL 10 '"'s
offec.: -. -
49,, ,,o co,cre,e was OF inferior quality ard
We, ,sat Il is sufficiently strong 70 FORM WIFI "e
80 a bridge That IT, ne would have us De-
,eve ,ha, inferior concrete. as re calls H. ca"
We, be strong enough TO support ITSELF ana ali inc
weight above II, for. according TO his theory ai'er
its completion the earth Underneath i sank away
leaving the concrete unsupported. That would De
imposslble That the contractor eXcava'ed the
ear,h TOO deep and thea had 10 I'll In agan 10
form a crown 10 the street cannot oeieve' Tor
that IL not the way experienced contractors uo
Their work They CO no: 10 ise.ess things IN that
way The contractor knew perfectly Wen tha'
The stree, must nave crown-he never WORKED o"
= street where that was not the case-and na'u-
= all
ingly.
"As matter OF fact the concrete on that street
il OF the best quality. 1t the WORK OF Arst-
class company. IN which have entire confidence.
Mr. Granger says there are about eight lnches
G, concrete Tn. concrete is Ave inches thick. Mr..
GRANGER shows MS Ignorance OF the subject whsn
Re SAYS that after the concrete had been laid ard
before q had set. the contractor should have pUt
on heavy roller and rolled L down sol.dy on the
earth beneath Tha, would simply have been
ru.nous We do not allow concrete II be lad after
It has been mixed half three-quarters OF an
hour ard when laid 1t mus; be left una sturbed
II there Is any disturbance OF It after I, takes
what is called the initial set 1t Is spoiled No
one who knows the first thing sbou; concrete would
dream OF putting a steam roller on H. After be-
ing laid It has to be left several days. until 1t is
firm enough to carry whatever load Is TO be pu;
II.
LAS for the proportions OF material In this con-
crete-another thing that Mr.. Granger crticises-
they were just right; that Is. four parts OF broken
stone two parts OF sand and part OF cement.
When mixed. the actual proportion OF cement is
nearly part In four. as the cement and the
sand h IN the voids or interstices In the stone.
A contractor who s going 10 lay 800 yards OF con.
crete. for instance, must buy !6o or AS yards OF
Now as for the cause OF the rumbling 4 is
matter which have studied with a good deal Of
care. II does not seem to me to be coincidence
that In every OF rumbling with this sort OF
pavement II turns out, on examination, that the
pavement lad late in the fall the be-
ginning OF winter That | find on inquiry 10 have
been the with .le pavements that
planned OF In Newark. Poughkeepsie. Troy and
other cities In Troy only one street has caused
trouble. and 1t the only paved In cold
Their So II seems 10 me that II Is fair
sumo that the cement cooled too quickly and id
not HI up all the openings between the bricks
and In consequence OF these vods the rumbng
There has been trouble where brick
pavements have been laid in cities to the south OF
us. where the cold weather would be less Likely to
cause bad effect.
and u constantly and carefully Inspected. |
put my best inspector on II. The contractor APP
parently did everything In frs-class shape and as
there nothing In the contract TO guarantee lis
against noise. there is way In which he can be
compelled to remedy this defect. Nevertheless he
has asked permission TO what he can do. and
l am willing TO give him a chance before under
taking anything on my own account. How to 20
10 work to apply remedy Is not entirely clear I
TO get all the light can on 1t.
I'm spite of the black eye which this experience
may be supposed to have given the use OF bricks
as paving material, there people IN the city
who are anxious to have II laid I'm front Of Their
property and say that they do not fear the noise.
1t has been asked for block OF ST. Marks
ave. and II Is probable that a brick pavement will
be laid this year on Greene-ave.. between Fulton
st. and Clnton-ave II Is certain that noise Is not
! am confident that prevent II In the future
have felt a special interest in the pavement
McDonough-st. as II was the first OF the kind In
the city. and greatly regret the unfortunate re-
suit. which, however, / believe Will be remeded
soon after the weather opens"