The record-union., 1899-07-22
PAVED WITH GLASS.
A Street in Lyons, France, is Thus
Covered.

- 49,
Covered.
Wonderful results have been achieved
in France during the last few months
with glass. 1t has been used expert
mentally for some months as pavement
in one of the busiest streets in Lyons
with such success that contracts are
being made by many cities all over Eu-
rope for it to replace Belgian block. In
Paris an entire palace of it is being
built for the great exposition.
The material. which is so strong that
it can withstand usage under which
Belgian block crumbles away, was in
vented by French scientist in Chagny,
Burgundy, where he conducted his first
experiments. 1t took a long time for
him to get any one to consider his in
vention seriously, and when he asked
the municipal authorities of Lyons for
permission to pave the principal streets
of that city at his own expense he
found it hard to get them to assent.
However, after persistent effort, he
won, and few months ago he was au-
thorized to go ahead with his novel ex-
pertinent
Perhaps such permission, at least
without more convincing practical re-
suits to back it up, would never have
been granted in an American city. But
the French are a nation of experiment.
ers and always ready and willing to try
something new. Louis Garchey, the
inventor, took conservative advantage
of his privilege. He paved only a por-
ton of one street. selecting for the pur-
pose a crowded section of the Place
de la Republique. which is crowded day
and night with heavy traffic.
Z Under his direction the pavement of
ceramic stone" was laid and finished
in November last. and it is now as
sound as when it was first put down.
The experiment has been pronounced
by the experts, who were Skeptical in
the beginning, as entirely successful,
and so thoroughly satisfied have they
become with the practical usefulness
of its invention that they are prepar-
ing now large contracts for similar
pavements in other European cities.
The glass pavement is laid in the
form of blocks, eight inches squaLu,
each block containing is parts in the
form of checkers. The blocks are fitted
together so closely. that no water can
soak between them.
The advantages of the glass pave
ment as developed so far are it's re-
sistance, which is greater than that OF
stone; its property as a poor conductor
of cold, owing to which ice will not
form on it readily; it's resistance to
dirt, which does not accumulate on it
as easily as on stone. and it's quanry
not to retain microbes.
The Central Architectural Society of
France made report on the material
recently, in which it said
From the various forms in which
this material is presented, it's use can
be readily determined for both practical
and decorative purposes. On careful
examination, we find that the Garchey
ceramic stone is glass brought to, a
special molecular condition. In GER
tain sense it constitutes a new sub
stance which resembles f1agstone,s gran
ite or marble.
This new product is obtained from
broken glass heated to temperature
of 1.250 Adegrees and compressed in.
matrices by hydraulic force. The physi-
cal transformation of the glass is due
to IDENTIFICATION under the process. The
of identification produces.
a sort of dissolution more apparent
than real, for upon a chemical analysis
the devitrifed glass is found to possess
all the intrinsic qualities physical and
chemica) Of glass. except the trans