Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1914 — “REPAIRING” OLD TIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

“REPAIRING” OLD TIES

CONTINENTAL RAILROADS HAVE A PICKLING PROCESS. Growing Scarcity of Wood and the Amount of Building Going On Ha* Made Necessary Something of Thie Kind. The forests are going. The demand for wooden sleepers is growing in all civilized lands. It is necessary toincrease the length the old wooden ties» can be used, and to solve this problem, experiments have been

made on some continental railroads with hardwood tie plates, set into the old ties in such a way as to prevent mechanical wear and tear on the rail, while improved pickling methods render the soft wood of the sleeper practically immune to attacks of fungi or dampness. The hard wood, and this is also taken to mean a wood mass powerfully compressed hydraulically, in the shape of pads, either wedgeshaped or circular with a bevel is set into the seat which has been cut in the sleeper, which is filled with a hot, tarry mass, and turned by suitable force until its longer side is at right angles to the center line of the sleeper. This distributes the cementing material, and makes it fill any existing small gaps. Thus no water can penetrate the joint, while at the same time an elastic intermediate layer Is provided. The pads are interchangeable, and easily replaced with new.— Popular Mechanics.