XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Feb 



ruary, 1910 



"LANE'S BALL-BEARING" 



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Best 

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 Hanger 

 Made 



Other Styles for Less Money. Sold by Hardware Trade. Send foi Catalog. 



LANE BROTHERS COMPANY 



434-466 PROSPECT STREET POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 



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SliOWROOIVIS 91 DEARBORN ST- 

 CENERAt OFFICES 60I LAKE ST. 



i)ENVER,C01 



CHICAGO 



TRENTON, N.J. 



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BRICK ROADS FOR THE 

 AUTOMOBILE 



AC()RRl-:Sl'().\l)l-:.\'r in Cleveland, 

 0.. conimentini^- on our recent editor- 

 ial. "The llij;h\vay and the .\ntonio- 

 hile," calls attention to the fact that there 

 are a great many brick roads being- laid in 

 the territory adjacent to Cleveland, and 

 asks our o])in.i()n as to their practical value. 

 As far as the antoinobile is concerned, there 

 is no question but that a properly con- 

 structed brick road atTords an excellent 

 surface, in respect of the smoothness of 

 running, the tractive adhesion of the tires, 

 and the limited amount of tire wear and 

 destruction. It is certainly superior to the 

 concrete road as ordinarily laid. Those 

 who have driven their machines at high 

 speed over the Motor Parkway, Long Is- 

 land, com])lain bitterly of both the rough- 

 ness and the inequalities due to the hollows 

 of the surface, the former producing a 

 rapid wear of the tires, and the latter 

 serving to set up e.xcessive vibration at any- 

 thing but very moderate speed. This was 

 so marked at the last \'anderbilt Cup 

 Race that several drivers were quoted as 

 saying that there was a marked increase of 

 speed in the car when they left the con- 

 crete surface for the ordinary macadam. 



The smooth face of the brick is less de- 

 structive of tires than the file-like rough- 

 ness of the ordinary concrete surface. 

 Moreover, it is possible to lay the brick 

 with a truer surface than is secured by the 

 ordinary contractors' gang engaged in lay- 

 ing a concrete surface. To true up the 

 surface of a continuous bed of concrete 

 with the exactitude which is necessary to 

 give a smoothly riding surface for high- 

 speed or even moderate-speed automobile 

 travel, is a job calling for no little nicety 

 of workmanship. 



Provided the brick be of high (juality 

 and the foundations of sufficient depth and 

 thoroughly laid, the l^-ick road forms an 

 ideal automobile highway. The foundation 

 should consist of large broken rock fol- 

 lowed by smaller stone or a good quality 

 of gravel, and a layer of concrete. Upon 

 this should he a shallow bed of sand for 

 surfacing purposes, upon which the brick 

 should be laid and carefully surfaced, and 

 grouted into place. The sand serves to 

 give a slight cushioning effect between the 

 concrete and the brick, and also permits of 

 the necessary adjustment of level to bring 

 the upper face of the bricks to the true 

 surface. A State road of this character, 

 built with a proper amount of crown for 

 drainage, slunild be good for many years 

 of service, and would re(|uire but little re- 

 pairs, except in such sections as are sub- 

 jected to heavy wagon and dray traffic car- 

 ried on steel-tired wheels. Heavy concen- 

 trated wheel loads would tend to fracture 

 the hard face of the bricks; and unless 

 the bricks were at once replaced, the cease- 

 less hammering of traffx would quickly 

 jiroduce a low spot in the road. Even 

 where traffic is heavy, however, we be- 

 lieve that, as in the case of a macadam 

 road, immediate repairs, made at the first 

 indication of a breakdown, would serve to 

 give the road, as a whole, a long period of 

 life. A good combination, for a State high- 

 way would be to build it of macadam with 

 a tarred surface in the suburbs and vicin- 

 ity of towns and cities, and build it of brick 

 through the country districts. Although the 

 first cost would be heavy, the saving in re- 

 pairs (that is, if the supervision were close 

 and constant), and the enormous saving in 

 the cost of haulage would, in the course of 

 a very few years, constitute such roads a 

 paying, and in many localities a richly- 

 paying, investment. 



