The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-02-14

novaculite About May /, 1865, after
fifteen years of wear, repair OF, these
streets became necessary. The old sur
face was first swept clean with a horse
sweeper so as to expose the solid pave
ment beneath. This was done because
tar will not penetrate a road surface
which is covered with dust ana loose
material Next, the surface was loos-
| ened by means of spikes placed i'll the
wheels of a ten ton steam roller, the
street reshaped and new material add
| ed where needed. The road was then
sprinkled, rolled, bonded and finished
| to form hard, compact, even surface
and allowed to dry thoroughly before
either tar or Oil was applied, for nei-
| ther substance can penetrate moist
road surface. The best results are OBJ
| tanned when the work is done in hot,
dry weather, and accordingly the tar
was first applied in August. 1t may be
well to add that the noyaculite used in
the construction of the roads is an al
most nonabsorbent rock.
The tar used was byproduct from
| the manufacture of coke and was prac-
ticaIly free from moisture 1t was
brought to i temperature which sener-
ally reached 210 degrees F., but when
placed on the road it was reduced to a
| temperature from 100 degrees to 190
degrees Il. The hottest tar produced
the Lest results. It was spread with
hose
Laborers, with street cleaners
brooms of bamboo fiber, followed the
tank aud swept the surplus tar ahead.
They spread it as evenly and quickly
as possible and in a layer only thick
enough to cover the surface. One side
of the street was finished at Il time
and barricades placed to keep Off the
traffic until the tar had had time TO
soak into the surface. The time al
| lowed for this process was varied
from few hours to several days.
From the results obtained it can be
stated that under hot sun. with the
road surface thoroughly compact, clean
and dry and with the tar heated al
most to the boiling point aud applied
as described above, the road will ab-
sorb practically all Of it in eight or ten
hours. A light coat Of clean sand
screenings or the clean particles swept
from the surface of the road may then
be spread as evenly as possible and
rolled in with steam roller.
After more than seven months. in
Guiding the winter season of laca-06
the tarred streets and roads are still
in excellent condition They are hard
smooth and resemble asphalt, except
that they show more gritty surface
The tar forms a part of the surface
proper and is in perfect bond with ths
macadam Sections cut from tht
streets show that the tar has penetrat
ed from one to two inches, and the fin,
! black lines seen in the interstices be
, tween the individual stones show tina
the mechanical bond has been re-en
J forced by the penetration of the tar
The tar is q matrix into which tn
stones of the surface are set, forming
! a conglomerate or concrete. seeon'
coating applied year after the frs
! would require much less tar than tn
! first, as the interstices of the rocl
would then be filed with tar.
a tarred street is dustless i'll tll
same sense that an asphalt street
{ dustless, th Ugh fine sandy powde
, wears off, as in the case of asphalt
1t can be swept or washed clean. Thes
streets have since been swept regularl
and the city government is in favor Q
r treating all of the streets with tai
8 The cleaning that would soon ruin a
. ordinary macadam road does not il
!, I jure the tarred surface, as the stone
are not torn up or disturbed. The ia
!, itself has antiseptic properties; heac
= its use would be beneficial both as
: germicide and as a means Of securin
cleanliness.