Milford chronicle., 1922-07-07
PAYMENTS MUST BE BUILT TOs
"BEND" WITHOUT 'BREAKING"
By A. Laynan

1 stood by the side of the road and
watched some sweating workmen
pour hot sticky substance in the
cracks between the newly laid brick
IN the pavement. 1 wondered what it
was and why it was used. This gave
me an excuse for opening conVersa-
tlon with the engineer on the job.
'PaVements must be built to bend
without breaking" was his terse re-
ply.
1 looked at him like a fool. Who
ever heard of pavements bending? I
suspected that, seeing I was a lay
man, he was trying to spool me. Well,
he couldn't fool me.
"Bend?" "Ha ha," laughed. "That's
a good one"
He looked down at me pityingly,
started to turn away as if in disgust
and then, evidently thinking there
still was hope of saving me from to-
tai ignorance, tried again. He was a
busy man and said lot in a rev
words.
"a pavement must have five char
acteristics, and if any. one is absent,
the pavement has lost just that much
of its value. 1t must be hard, but not
brittle; smooth, but not Slick;
tough, but not rough; flexible, not |
rigid; waterproof, not porous"
He picked up a paving brick and, |
showing it under my nose in a man
ner that made me step back, he con- |
tinued:
''See this brick?. It is hard, smooth,
tough, and won't absorb water. That
stuff they're pouring in the cracks is
asphalt filler. When you're all done,
your pavement is hard, smooth,
tough, waterproof and flexible. It will ;
bend when it has to-
Ouch! There was that "bend" again.
Was he kidding me? Remembering my
fathers advice in early life to always
ask questions" I fired away:
81 don't quite understand that
bending business" 1 said. 81 never
saw a pavement bend" ;
you've seen pavements cracked,
haven't your" he asked. l said that 1
lad, and he informed me that the ;
often was due to the pave
nent's rigidity and refusal to bend.
"Old mother earth's surface isn't s
still for a moment, and I'm not. re-
erring to its turning on its axis or
moving around the sun, either. The
sround right under your feet is NOV E
ng this very second, expanding with
or contracting as it dries +
'ut. You've seen a sponge swell up. =
Also, you've seen cracks in the clay y
oil when it has dried out after a c
ain. More than that, you should t
now that in the winter the freezing
nd thawing means expansion and :
OntractiOn.
"No power in the world that man
nows about as yet, can entirely stop =
hese movements. We can only minim- Fl
ze them. When you put a stiff, rigid e
avement on the ground, the earth N
lOves under it. Sometimes the pave
lent is supported and sometimes it s
sn't. Along comes heavy traffic and a
racks it. Disintegration follows"
He didn't notice my open mouth,
nd kept right on. n
"Old Sol gets in his licks too. His q q
eat expands pavements, and cold el
them. If there is no give N
nd take they simply must crack
nd crumble away. So, what you II
eed is a pavement that will cling to ta
lother earth like wet blanket, only s.
must be hard, smooth, tough and b,
aterproof. That filler makes the e!
ayemeht waterproof and flexible. If St
le base happens to be Of the rigid 4
ind, it may crack, but the surface =
ont. Your brick are hard, tough and
nooth, and your filler waterproof
Id flexible. There you have all five
laracteristics. Do you see?" I fo
niled weakly, and thanked him. B,
DEEDS for pen or typewriter at fs