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Title: |
1876 Article-Aveling & Porter, Steam Road-Roller |
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Source: |
Reports of the Commisioners of the United States, 1876 pg.91 |
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Insert Date: |
3/23/2014 9:13:07 PM |
Road-locomotive No. 2 (Fig. 54) was of the same size and of similar make to No.l. It had been two years in use, or longer, as a steam road-roller. To convert it into a road-roller, its ordinary driving-wheels had been removed, and in their place were fitted a pair of cast-iron wheels of similar diameter, but of 20 inches breadth of face, and weighing 3,800 pounds each. Their faces were left smooth, as hauling power was not desired; and as it was intended that they should leave the surface of the road as smooth and as firmly compacted as possible. In these driving-wheels the engine carried an excess of weight of 6,700 pounds as compared with No. 1. In statements of work done, this excess should be entered as a part of the paying-load where No. 2 is employed as a traction-engine. The great weight of these wheels was important in preventing the liability of slipping, which is a consequence of their smooth surface, and should bring up the equivalent co-efficient of adherence, in terms of the original weight of the engine, to about 0.42, or nearly equal to that of No. 1 with its regular traction-wheels. As during the trial no slip was in any case observable, this difference would not in any way affect the results.
The road-bed was macadamized, and was remarkably smooth, hard, and compact.
Such remarkably fine roads are, unfortunately, too seldom seen in this country, although not infrequently met with in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe. The fact is due partly, no doubt, to the infrequency of occurrence of such excellent material for metalling, but it principally arises from the circumstance that very few boards of road commissioners are sufficiently interested in their work, and, at the same time, sufficiently energetic and far sighted to indulge in what often seems extravagant expenditure, but what is really one of the most important among the means available for economizing greatly the cost of local and suburban transportation. |
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