EARTH, SAND-CLAY, AND GRAVEL ROADS. 



25 



Middle West, and the average rate of grading with a grading machine 

 is, therefore, much less than one- fourth mile of road per day. 



USE OF ELEVATING GEADEE. 



Figure 14 shows an elevating grader at work. The essential 

 features of this machine are a plow with a heavy moldboard, an 

 elevating belt, a suitable frame for supporting the plow and belt, and 

 driving and adjusting mechanisms for operating the belt and con- 

 trolling the work. The plow loosens the material and throws it 

 onto the belt, which conveys and deposits it either in the roadbed or 

 wagons. 



Elevating graders are adapted especially to building up embank- 

 ments with material excavated from shallow borrow ditches along 



Fig. 14. — Elevating grader at work. 



each side of the road. They also may be used to advantage in 

 excavating long, shallow, through cuts and loading the material thus 

 excavated into wagons for use in building up embankments at other 

 points. The latter use, however, is restricted to situations where 

 there is sufficient space to operate the grader and at the same time 

 afford passageway for the teams and wagons to follow under the 

 end of the belt to receive the successive loads as the grader is drawn 

 forward. 



It is customary to employ a traction engine for operating the ele- 

 vating grader, though teams are used sometimes. Ordinarily, the 

 machine may be operated successfully either with a 25-horsepower 

 tractor or with 12 well-trained horses. A well-constructed elevating 

 grader, adapted to either horse or tractor power, may be purchased at 

 an average price of about $900. 



