Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1904-07-28

MODERN ROAD ROLLER.
wheels be converted from road rollers
into traction engines it Is possible to
employ them for all the various tasks
of operating a stone crusher, hauling
the stone to the road and finally rolling
the new made road.
One of these road building autOmO-
biles WILL when in use as traction en-
gine, haul Il load of at least fifteen
tons of stone over an ordinary road.
On the other hand, when transformed
into stationary engine for operating
stone crusher, it furnishes sufficient
power to crush any ordinary rock for
use as the foundation of the highway.
In conjunction with this apparatus the
up to date road builders are using n
lately devised and very ingenious
dump cart. with an attachment for
automatically spreading on the road
any required thickness Of stone.
In this time. saving method of road
building the stone is dumped from the
crusher into the car hauled to any de-
sired point Oh the road by means OF
spread over the surface undergoing
improvement much more evenly and
rapidly and also much more cheaply
than it could possibly be done by the
use of men and teams. The distribut-
ing apparatus on the dump car can be
so adjusted that the sheet of crushed
stone. sand or gravel spread upon the
ha Of
from one to eight inches. Attached to
this odd mechanical worker is an en-
gine tender with device for use in
sprlnkling during the rolling process.
Other new paraphernala of great
value In twentieth century road build
ing operations are the complete porta-
bic rock crushing outfits, including not
only movable rock crushers proper, but
portable bins on wheels. Some of these
have folding elevators, which raise the
crushed stone fifteen feet from the
ground, although the apparatus is less
than ten feet in height when folded,
and so carefully has the weight been
kept down in planning these portable
outfits that 1t is now possible to OBJ
tain movable plant Of this kind that
is capable of handling fully twenty
tons of stone per hour. Finally in the
same category is the portable storage
bin on wheels. which, though large
enough to hold twelve tons of stone,
weighs when empty but $500 pounds.
On occasion one of these entire outfits,
consisting of stone crusher, elevator.
screen and bin, has been set up ready
for road building inside Of fifteen min
utes.
There have been introduced during
the past few years some very wonder
full road machines which will plow
and grade at surprising angles and will
work quite as well with one wheel high
up on the bank and the other down In
rut as the ordinary apparatus would
with the wheels on level. Most re-
markable of all. however, Is the mar
velous dirt elevator which plows mp
the earth and lifts the loosened ma
terial into wagons or conveys it to the
center of the roadway. The dirt ele-
vator consists principally of an adj
| Unstable frame, with two rollers around
which are placed a wide, endless can
vas belt The upper end of the frame
may be adjusted to suit the wagons
which are to be filed or to deliver the
dirt to the best advantage in grading.
The reversible steel road machine is
another one of the handy utensils al
the disposal of the present day road
building expert. In the newest ma.
chimes of this very familiar class the
great steel blade can be shifted out
side the wheels on either side of the
machine and yet retain its acute an
giles for cutting down banks and wild
ening roads. A valuable attachment is
found in rod which enables the oper
ator of such machine to force the
blade into the bank of earth to bt
moved without stopping the machine
as was formerly necessary. The aXles
of one of these machines may be ex
tended on both sides quickly, thus rem
dering it possible for the apparatus tt
take cut from the side of the road
and move 1t to the center of the high
way without the machine being forced
to run over aught but perfectly
smooth surface.