Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1899 — OIL SPRINKLER FOR ROADS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OIL SPRINKLER FOR ROADS.

Au Attachment for a Common Wagon Holding a Barrel. Recently civil engineers have given considerable attention to the application of oils to the roadbeds of electric and wagon roads. The idea of using oil bn roadbeds originated with the steam railroad corporations. The purpose was to prevent dust and foreign matter rising from the roadbed and getting into the bearings and gearing of the rolling stock. But several other beneficial results were obtained. After a roadbed is sprinkled with a surfacing of oil the loose matter is not only so weighted and caked that it cannot rise and envelop wagons or carriages behind In a cloud of dust, but the bed itself is strengthened. The oils form with the earthy matter to a depth of three to five inches, according to the treatment, and such parts of the bal-

last as are penetrated by the oils assume a crusty condition, which is impregnable to rain and in a great measure is impregnable to frost This state of the roadbed is* highly serviceable. Under ordinary conditions the earth as it naturally exists in a carriage road is porous enough to receive and ertain oil to a depth of several inches. As oil and water do not combine, the moisture is driven off and the earth becomes compact to such an extent that any future deluge of water simply flows off over it. In order to build up an oil-saturated surfacing of this type certain operations are followed. Some have gone to considerable expense in the direction of sprinkling devices for this work, while others use a simple oil sprinkling pipe leading from a cask or oil barrel, which is conveyed over the road on a wagon. This barrel is provided with the necessary controlling devices, which are connected with a lever regulated by the driver. A form of sprinkling apparatus is joined to the bottom of the tank, as in the illustration, and this sprays the oil over the roadbed. Several trips are made, until the ballast is saturated near the top, after which the crust forms, which will last for years before another treatment is needed. Cheap grades of crude petroleum are used.

The drawing shows the plan usually adopted for distributing oil over dirt roads. It consists in placing a barrel of crude oil, on blocks, upon a common wagon, which is drawn over the sections of the road which are to receive the oil. The barrel is placed bung down, and the pipe A is screwed in. This pipe can project downward through the wagon bottom or drop to the ground over the rear. The connecting pipe is joined with the distributer, B. The latter is simply a perforated pipe. If a road surface eighteen feet wide is to be covered, one barrel of crude oil will do for about eighty feet in length.

OIL SPRINKLER.