The Newark star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1909, 1909-09-18
INDICATED
BY ROAD TESTS
Wear-and- Tear Trials on Ridge
wood Highway Held to Es-
tablish Important Theory.

The theory of County Engineer James
Owen and the leading automobile ex-
ptrts i'm the state that comparatively
little of the more serious damage to
roads is done by fast-traveling automo-
biles was demonstrated yesterday when
automobiles of practically h same
weight were run at varying speeds
over three stretches of road treated In
different ways ON the Ridgewood road
In Glen Ridge. There were present ut
the demonstration fully nifty men prom
inent in county road and automobile
Affairs in the state.
The nrst strip tested was a stretch
Of maoadamiHed read left INTENDED and
oper to automobile traffic for the past
year and q half. During that time no
rev binder or other treatment had been
applied 70 the surface of the road, but
Vel, in spite of the almost constant
automobile traffic over the surface, the
road was in fairly good condition.
As in all three Of the tests cars were
run. FIRST at very slow speeds. and fin
ally at the highest obtainable, over the
roads, and the effects upon the road III
the way of casting the surfacing aside
or in crushing the stones noticed. II
the first test the untreated road was
not affected beyond d slight compress
sion by cars running at any speed UP
70 thirty miles an hour. At speed
faster than that, however, q stripping
or casting to one side of the Dad OF
light particles of the road surfacing
was noticed. At fifty miles an hour
tones the size of peas were lifted and
east off the road, and at sixty miles
slightly larger stones were removed.
on the stretch of road treated with
oil no effect beyond a slight lifting OF
the dust was noticed, even when the
cars were going at sixty miles an hour.
A stretch of road treated with clay
binders-a practise that was the uni
versal treatment given the county
roads before the advent of the oil
asphaltum binder-was next tested.
The results were by no means as salts
factory as those on the oiled roads,
but were, nevertheless, better than on
the untreated macadam./ 1t was no-I
ticed that d greater amount of dust
was raised over the clay-treated roads
than over any of the others.
The most emphatic of the results
were demonstrated by the final test,
however. Four heavy coal wagons,
drawn by double teams of dray horses,
were paraded over the same stretches
of ground that had been used for the
automobile tests. When the roads were
inspected after the passing of the
wagons. 1t was found that an aggregate
of damage far greater than that done
by the speeding automobiles had been
the result of the heavy iron rims of the
coal wagon wheels and the iron shod
hoofs of the horses. Mr.. Owen eX-
pressed himself as highly satisfied with
the results of the test.
Prominent ameng those who. Witness
ed the tests were Freebooter Amos w.
Harrison, of Livingstone; Director Wal
lace Ougheltree, of East Orange;
George w. Eager. of Milburn, and DR..
Edward e. Peck, of Caldwell and Essex
Fells.
City Engineer Morris r. Sherrerd and
his assistant, James c.. Hallack, were
present and took an active interest in
the tests, Mr.. Sherrerd driving several
of the testing ears. Others present
were Board of Works Commissioner
Denman, Assistant Superintendent of
State Roads e. NJ. Vail, Andrew ].
Gavett, city surveyor and street COM
missioner of Plainfeld; W~orthington
M. Jacobus. chief engineer Of the New
ark Meadows Improvement Company,
and Freebooter George J.. Anthem.
OF the cars used in making the tests,
one of the most admired was a 45-horse-
power Locomobile, the property of Jo-
seph H. Gay, of this city, n driven
b. Clarence F. Boyd. In one of the
tests the car made a speed of sixty
miles an hour.