The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-15
United States Government Re-
ports on Wood Preservatives.
Experiments Being Made on
Santa Fe Lines.
ROADS INTERESTED.
Many Have Contributed Kinds
OF Wood.
Other Railroad News Of Local
and General Interest.

Within the last few years railroads
have been giving the matter of cross-tie
supply consideration In some parts of
the country the roads have put down
metal ties. but there is still a great
quantity of timber and by the practice
of economy its use by railroads can be
extended for long time, The depart
ment of agriculture has had DR.. Her
man Won Schrenck. German expert,
at work upon the matter of wood pre-
servatives. and it is this in which the
railroad companies have Joined with
view to some profit resulting whereby
the life of ties may be heightened.
Some of the results as published in a
recent pamphlet are covered in the
Railway Age.
summed annually in renewing those
which have rotted. There are other
heavy requirements made upon the
timber supply of the country, but this
is one of the most important, and the
principal of which mention is made IN
the treatise upon the subject of wood
preservativeS.
Last November experiments in tie
preserving were commenced on the line
of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe about
rs miles east of Summerville, Tex, and
since Then of course short time
has passed that. it is impossible to de-
rive any results. The choice of this par
ticular locality in which the tests were
to be conducted was made because
there the conditions favorable to the
quickest decay of wood existed All
the roads in the United States inter-
ested in the matter are watching the
outcome of these trials closely. They
donated the varieties of wood to be ex-
perimented upon, and the objects to be
determined are: First which treatment
now advocated gives the best results.
under the same conditions, in Increasing
the length of life Of timber: second.
does one and the same kind of treat
ment give the same results with differ
ent timbers? and third. can inferior
timbers be made to pay for the cost of
renewals by impregnatfng with one salt
or the other?
Various kinds of timber are being
beech. hemlock. tamarack. five species
of oak and four of pine. These were
treated by the following processes:
Burnett, zinc chloride: Wellhouse, zinc
tannin: Alderdyce. zinc creosote: Eng
lish oil. Barschall: Beaumont oil, zinc
chloride: Beaumont oil. and soiritine.
1t is well known that the dacay of
timber is caused by the presence of
fungi which for growth need a certain
amount of moisture. For this reason
ties in a well-drafned roadbed will last
considerably longer than in poorly
drained ballast, and well-seasoned tim
placed in the track green. On Russian
railroads 1t has been found that sea-
soned oak ties last practically as long
as some timber impregnated with zinc
chlorides, and there unusual care is
taken in piling ties in order that they
may completely season before using
Susceptibility and comparative resis-
lance to decay vary with the different
kinds of timber. The qualities which
determine the greater resistance to fun
gus attacks are as yet almost unknown.
Hardness, density, specific gravity, ten
sile strength are factors which seem
to have little influence, one way or the
other. OF the timbers in the United
States cypress, cedar and locust are as
a rule longer lived than tamarack.
hemlock, elm. birch and even oak.
In the treatment of timber pressure
| is generally resorted to in driving the
solutions employed into the wood and
the process can be much more satfsfac-
torily done If the timber is well sea-
Soned before impregnation. The solu-
lions are generally heated, as when hot
they penetrate porous matter more
readily than when cold. The materials
for impregnation now most largely en-
ployed are copper sulphate zinc sui
phate, zinc chloride, mercurfc chloride,
aluminium sulphate and the products of
coal tar distillation.
The theory upon which the injection