Troy weekly news. (Troy, Idaho) 1897-1933, 1907-09-06
THE "TAMPING" SYSTEM.
New Process In Road Building 4.
Southern California

Southern California.
Two California companies have n
new system in road construction. and
the successful results of their new
method are greatly appreciated by all
motorists who journey to the beach
A piece of oiled road has recently been
completed from the Soldiers home To-
ward the Pacific ocean, north OF Santa
Monica, that has, in the Judgment of
experienced road builders, an impor-
tant bearing Oh road development in
California, says viii S. Little in Good
Roads Magazine. 1t differs from Or
binary street or road oiling in that II
Is a veritable construction of a street
out of natural soil with the use of oil
The resultant product is in fact very
like an asphalt lies as smooth and. il
is believed, will last nearly as long. II
Is so inexpensive as to be practical for
use in cities and upon the main coun-
try thoroughfares.
This new road is $50 foot boue-
vard with width from curb to curb
of sixty feet. The road is a sandy
loan, with some admixture of blue and
red clay slate and gravel; is graded
and plowed six inches deep and is
pulverized with harrows. If it is very
dry small amount of water is sprln-
killed. on and mixed in so as to make
it workable. Oil is then applied at the
rate of one gallon to the square yard
and cultivators mix it in to the depth
of four inches. A second gallon of oil
to the square yard is then applied and
cultivated down to six inches. The
oiled surface Is then turned under four
inches deep with a turning rlow. Up
to this point the process does not ma
terially differ from that in general use
where careful work is done in mixing
the oil with the soil. But the next
step is Il radical departure and marks
the beginning of a new era in road
construction.
The process next succeeding this in
the common practice of road oiling is
the rolling of the road, which brushes
down a thin scum on the surface that
later scales off and leaves the road full
of chuck holes. But with this new sys-
tenn the next process is one Of tamping
4 cylinder about ten feet long and six
feet in diameter, weighing about 5000
pounds and furnished with rows of
fiat headed teeth, is hauled back and
forth slowly, tamping the oiled earth
up from the bottom to within two
inches of the top. When the tamper
first goes over the road it sinks the
teeth, which are six inches long, their
whole length in the soft. oily earth,
but by each rolling or tampinS Il new
layer of solid asphalt is plastered ON
the bottom, and the cylinder rises a
little out of the mass until, when the
tamping is completed. the mixture is so
solid that the teeth no longer sink in.
There is a vast difference between
merely crushing the surface of an oiled
road with a roller and tamping six
inches of oil from the bottom up. That
difference means greater endurance for
the tamped road.
When the tamping Is brought to with
in two inches OF the top the road is re.
graded, and the last two inches of loose
surface soil are cultivated and given
another gallon of oil to the square yard.
This makes three gallons to the square
yard, all applied warm, so as to sprin-
lIle freely again the cultivator and
then the tamper, this time worked until
it reaches the surface When the lamp
ing is done the surface is little I'M
even from the marks Of the teeth, but
that is taken out by roller weighing
two tons per twelve inches Of tire.
more perfect surface can be obtained
by a slight sprinkling of gravel before
the roller Is used
This work costs about 16 cents per
square yard. The cost on the ordinary
street where no grading is needed
would amount to about 80 cents a run
ming foot of frontage.
Several streets in Santa Monica, Cali
have been constructed by the tamplns
system, and they have shown almost
perfect endurance. One in particular
has borne heavy traffic for over two
years and is now practically as it was
when originally laid.