The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-03-12

| Under the least favorable circumstances,
where both roads were dry and devoid of
ruts and dust, the wide tires needed 1913. 4
pounds on the macadam and AS. 3 on the
dirt, while the narrow tires needed 143. 5
on the macadam and 17S. on the dirt
The difference between good dirt road
and good gravel road with .'hard sur
| face, no ruts and some loose stone the size
of black walnuts' was found to be as fol-
lows Uuder the most favorable cir
cumstances the broad tires required ~
pounds more pull on gravel than on dirt,
while the narrow tires needed an added
pull of 15 pounds. In other words
perfect dirt road is good enough for any
country if wide tires are used.
The next trial given to the tires was,
from one point of view, scarcely fair to
the broad tire, for the use of the broad
tire hardened and smoothed the good dirt
road, while the narrow tire steadily cut it
into dust, and the experimenters waited
until the farmers had cut the dirt road
into dust from two to three inches deep
before they went out and hauled their load
up and down in the dust. At this trial it
was found that the narrow tires cut down
through the dust to hard pan. the average
power needed being only 90.5 pounds,
while the broad tires pinched and heaped
up the dust far enough to require pull
of 106. ) pounds, or l6 pounds more than
the narrow tires But when the rains
came and softened the clay down to a
! depth of four inches and let the narrow
tires cut in five or six inches when running
over an uncut road the disadvantage of the
broad tire was not to he questioned AL
though the broad tires cut in only b inches
| deep. they became loaded with mud and
the power they needed was 1854 pounds
! to 335 for the narrow tires. In connec-
ton with this experiment the bulletin says
I'm every trial on soft surface over
/ living a hard roadbed the narrow tires show
an advantage This advantage reaches
its maximum when the soft covering of
the road consists of sticky clay. Such a
condition is met frequently for short peri
/ DDS in the spring, summer and fall imme-
diatelv after rain has fallen on a hard, dry
road or when the road has thawed on the
surface and remains frozen underneath.
:; :; :; In the nature Of the case this
condition is Of short duration. \ few
/ hours of sun will sufficiently dry this mud
or sand 50 that it will pack under the
broad tires instead of being pushed aside.
In that condition the narrow tire is at its
greatest disadvantage.
In proof Of the last assertion may be
cited an experiment made on March 10,
1897. 1t was on a ''clay road, mud
deep. stiff. and beginning to dry on the
surface At one end CT the run was soft
mud ON which water was standing The
narrow tire made Il rut seven inches deep
The average draught ON the narrow tires
was S52. 3 pounds and on the broad 55l.9.
or 273. / pounds in favor of the broad tire
Another feature of the experiments is
thus described by the bulletin Zone of
the most serious objections to the use of
the broad tire is the disadvantage at which
it is supposed to be placed when required
to run over the deep ruts made by the
narrow tire after the walls of these ruts
have become rigid and the surface Of the
road with the exception of the ruts has
been worn comparatively smooth IF il
majority of the loaded wagons passing
over road used broad tires. this condition
would not have to be met, but Il single
individual using the broad tire ON a road
where all his neighbors are using narrow
tires would be compelled either to pass
over the ruts made by the narrow tires or
select new track for his wagon In
either case the draught, it is supposed
would be considerably greater for him than
for the users Of the narrow tires in this
condition of road surface.
Experiments were conducted at length
to determine the facts in the matter. \
clay road, thoroughly dry but cut into ruts
of an average depth of s! inches, with
ridges of baked clay . inches high on each
side of each rut was chosen The narrow
tires running III these ruts needed from
33l.7 to 342. s pounds of power The
broad tire on going over these ruts for
distance Of 100 feet needed ON the first
trip Il pull of 521 pounds, but on the second
only 3+2. s, and on the fourth only 326 s.
The siX-inch tires almost completely
filled the narrow tire rut in four round
trips. says the bulletin Thus when Il
ton load was being hauled over this road
its surface was smoothed and improved
Every run with the broad tires was Il ben
eft; every run with the narrow tires was
an injury.
On the whole, taking the roads as they
are found the year round in Missouri or in
any similar country where dirt roads pre-
vail, the bulletin says it would be greatly
to the advantage of any teamster to use
six-inch tires regardless of what his neigh
bors used.
The above refers to road work exclu-
sively. For farm work one needs to look
at some Of the illustrations of the bulletin
to appreciate the advantage of the six -inch
tires On dry timothy sod the broad tires
had the advantage by 1856 per cent.
When the wagons were run in their own
ruts twelve times on soft sod the narrow
tires cut ruts twelve to fifteen inches deep
and the broad from four to five deep.
The percentage of advantage in power re-
quired was 100 in favor of the broad tires.
With one run on soft sod the broad tires
had an advantage of 81 per cent And so
it ran on pasture and on ploughed land,
both old and new, Everywhere on the
farm the narrow tires cut four times as deep
as the broad, and sometimes more, for on
dry land the broad tires cut not at ALL and
were often a benefit, as rollers are.
On the whole the experiments were made
under circumstances that gave undue ad
vantage to narrow tires. Thus the average
pull was alone considered, but diagrams of
the dynamometer show that the narrow
tires made a widely fuctuating pull.
There were strains runninp nm to I tnn