Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-02
DISCUSSES ASPHALT
RnoRT OF 4 W. DOW, A DIS
TRICT INSPECTOR.
Paving Problems Subject Of Comment
Companion Of Products
Cement Work.


ceived the annual report of the Inspector Of
asphalts and dement's, A. W. Dow. After
detailing the number Of cement and asphalt
tests made during the year the report says:
LAS there appears to be some misunder-
standing about the rejection of the cement
by this department. judging from a letter
in recent engineering paper, 1t may be
well to explain here that Of the cement re-
jected very small per cent Is really Of In
ferior quality.
"Of the rejected cement during the past
year 81 per cent was rejected for being too
quick setting. per cent for being too slow
setting. 33 per cent for being too coarse and
II per cent for being too low in tensile
strength. 1t would be safe to say that over
W per cent of the cement rejected was
good, sound cement, and perfectly suitable
and desirable for some classes Of work. the
rejection having been because the cement
DID not meet the requirements Of our specf-
hcatfons. which are drawn up to obtain a
cement that will meet all requirements OF
the various branches of the engineer de-
partment"
Asphalt Paving.
The report deals with the asphalt paving
problem as follows:
The contract for paving with sheet as
phalt during the past fiscal year was
awarded to the Warner Qulnlan Asphalt
Company of Syracuse, N. Y. This COM
pany proposed to do the paving with Trim
fdad land asphalt mined from the deposit
on the Dundonald property. situated in the
village of La Brea, Trinidad.
After an investigation it was decided
that the asphalt as refined by the Warner
Quinlan Asphalt Company was of such
quality as to meet the requirements of the
specifications-tha is, that when this as
phalt was fiuxed with desirable resduum
the resulting cement would not be inferior
to a cement maae of the best quality Trim
idad asphalt and petroleum residuum.
After the awarding Of the contract the
Brennan Construction Company Of this city
made arrangements with the Warner Qun-
Ian Asphalt Company by which they be
came the agent for the company and ex-
ecuted the work of the contract.
by request of the contractor the first
three streets were paved with the Trinidad
land asphalt fiuxed with petroleum re-
slduum alone. to demonstrate that good
work could be laid with this material. In
all the other work the Trinidad land as
phalt was fluxed with California maltha
and the petroleum residuum.
THE question as to the relative merits
of the Trinidad lake and land asphalt has
been much discussed subject and the bone
of contention in many a bitter fight.
OF Common Origin.
There is strong evidence to show that
these two asphaits. lake and land, are of
COun1IiOu OEIklH anu that the fdDu dSpHdlC Is
the result either Of an overflow Of asphalt
from the lake or that 1t Is being forced up
through crevices in the earth from the
same source a 1t Is supplying the lake; or
1t may be either that these deposits are q
result of the combination Of the two above
conditions.
But whatever the origin of the lake. as
rule, is appreciably the softer, as this de-
post, being SO extensive in bulk, has lost
less If the lighter oils and has been less SUB
jected to molecular changes than has the
asphalt from the land deposits. 1t Is upon
this the advocates Of the lake asphalt base
their claim of superiority over the land, and
1t Is useless to mention here the numerous
tests that have been devised to show that
the lake asphalt Is softer and contains more
light oils than the land asphalt.
Cuban Asphalt.
During the past year the Brennan Con-
structfon Company used in about 5000
square yards Of sheet asphalt pavement a
cement made Of Cuban asphalt fuxed with
California maltha. This asphalt is mined
at Bejucal about twenty miles from Ha-
vana, Cuba. The f1ux used to, soften this
asphalt into a paving cement was manu-
featured by the Sunset Refining Company
of Los Angeles, Cal
This asphalt is too hard in Its natural
state to be suitable to use as a paving ce-
nent and has to be fiuxed to the desirable
consistency by the addition of a suitable
OIL"