341 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
erally of S inches thickness of rock. All 
(i.rainaMe is carefully taken care of hy catch 
basins and other inlets. I mention these 
details for the reason that I am convinced 
we would not have attained the excellent 
results we are now able to show without 
having- had well-built roads with proper 
foundations to begin with. 
These roads were maintained by the or- 
dinai’A' method of repairs and sprinkling' 
with water from about to the spring of 
1906. at which time the increasing num- 
ber of automobiles began to make it im- 
perative that some manner of surface treat- 
ment be devised to withstand the damage 
caused by the rubber-tired tractionally-pro- 
pelled vehicle. 
Our first experiment was with the Tarvia 
supplied by the Barrett Manufacturing Com- 
j)any. This experiment was made upon a 
block of macadam pavement on a 6 per 
■cent grade in May. 1906. under favorable 
conditions of weather, and was simply a 
superficial treatment; that is. the pavement 
w'as swept clean of loose dust and dirt; the 
Tarvia was then applied hot from a tank, 
approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit, at 
the rate of about one-third of a gallon per 
square yard, and at a total cost of $0.06 
per square yard for the application. This 
treatment we found to at once check the 
deterioration from washing on this steep 
grade and to be entirely effective in check- 
ing the deterioration from the suction of 
the automobile rubber tire. 
At the same time we began to experi- 
ment with fuel oil obtained from the 
■Standard Oil Company. In making the first 
■experiment with oil. we simply sent one of 
our water sprinkling carts to the Standard 
Oil Company’s plant in Armourdale and 
obtained a sprinkler full of fuel oil, the 
ordinary oil that is delivered for fuel pur- 
poses. After cleaning the macadam street 
by sweeping, we applied this oil rather 
lightly, in exactly the same manner as wa- 
ter is sprinkled upon the surface, and cov- 
ei-ed the oil over with loose sweepings from 
the street to mitigate as much as pos- 
sible the unavoidable nasty condition fol- 
lowing the sprinkling of oil upon a street. 
This was a pioneer treatment of oil so far 
as this section of the country was con- 
cerned. and met at first with prompt ob- 
jection from residents along the boulevards 
and complaints to our hoard that rugs, 
stairs and steps, and whole premises were 
entirely ruined, but we overlooked these 
objections, and within a week’s time the 
evident beneficial effect was apparent and 
our friends who made the first objections 
began to call for an extension of the oil 
treatment over the rest of the boulevards. 
This original treatment, as I have just 
described it, is substantially the plan upon 
which we have oiled our entire boulevard 
and park road system most successfully for 
the past four years. We were, of course, 
able to improve on the first method in the 
selection of a more suitable grade of oil. 
and by experience have learned to lay the 
oil on the boulevard in such a manner as 
to cause no inconvenience whatever to resi- 
dents or patrons of the boulevard. 
We found by experimenting that the re- 
siduum from the Kansas oils (which are 
the oils obtainable in our city), with an 
average specific gravitj' of 0.93 at 60 de- 
grees Fahrenheit, when referred to water 
of the same temperature, gave us the best 
results on the road. Our only specification 
for this residuum now is by hydrometer 
test as the oil is received in tank carloads. 
This test should register 19 to 21 degrees 
Baume by a high-grade hydrometer. 
It may be of intei’est in this paper to 
discuss rather fully our method of apply- 
ing this oil and I will quote from a bul- 
letin on Oiling Roads issued by our depart- 
ment April 20, 1908; 
Method of Reoeiviug Oil from Tank Cars. 
“Two steel receiving tanks of 8.000 gal- 
lons capacity each were erected near our 
track on the Belt Railway, as shown on 
plan. The railroad tracks at this point 
are at sufficient elevation to permit un- 
loading tank cars by gravity, the receiving 
tanks also being at such height as to al- 
low our sprinkling wagons to load by 
gravity. A four-inch pipe connects the re- 
ceiving tanks to a short upright pipe in 
the center of switch track, which is con- 
nected to the outlet in bottom of tank car 
ny a short piece of adjustable six-inch 
hose, fastened wtih iron clamps around 
outside of pipes. 
“A portable four-horse power boiler is 
erected, as shown, with %-inch steam pipe 
running to each tank, which provides am- 
ple steam to heat the oil so it -will run 
freely and remain warm until delivered on 
tne street. 
“This plant for unloading has worked 
very efficiently and cost, erected and all 
connected up. approximately $750. 
“It was found not to be essential to heat 
the oil handled in hot weather, after the 
middle of .Tune, and until the middle of 
September the oil ran freely, and no par- 
ticular object was gained by heating. 
Equipping Sprinkling Wagons for Distri- 
bution. 
“Adapting the ordinary street sprinkling 
cart for distributing oil on the street was 
a very simple matter, consisting of simply 
attaching a tin ti’ough six inches in width, 
six inches in depth and long enough to 
enclose the discharge valves, perforated with 
H-inch holes about inches apart. The 
oil allowed to come into this trough through 
the valves is then evenly distributed over 
the road. 
Preparing the Roadway and Spreading the 
Oil. 
“Applying oil to the roadway by any 
process is dirty work and will inconvenience 
the public for a short time while the road 
is being treated. To avoid accidents we 
barricade the section to be treated (using 
one side of the street at a time), place a 
sign ‘Fresh Oil' on the barricade, which 
gives the public fair notice, and then go 
ahead. 
“The best results were obtained when 
the road was absolutely dry and hot. Af- 
ter sweeping th« road as clean as possible 
with a rotary street broom, leaving the 
sweepings along the edge of the gutter to 
prevent the oil running on the cement gut- 
ters. the oil was applied over the entire 
surface and thoroughly spread with brooms, 
after which the sweepings from the gut- 
ter. with sufficient limestone screenings to 
form a light dressing, were cast over the 
oiled surface and rolled down with a road 
roller. The object in using the screenings 
is to absorb such oil as does not pene- 
trate into the road, and as soon as screen- 
ings are applied the work is finished, and 
no further inconvenience to the public is 
encountered.” 
We have found the oil treatment to re- 
quh'e a diminishing amount of oil each 
year; that when a road has been thor- 
oughly oiled for one year, practically half 
the number of gallons of oil will success- 
fully oil it the following year, a still less 
number of gallons will he required the 
third year, until, in the fourth year, w’e 
find the residuum remaining on the road 
together with the oil that has been added 
year by year, the action of the elements 
and the ironing out of these substances by 
the passage of vehicles over the surface 
has built up a cushion on the 'road asphal- 
tic in character, entirely dustless, neutral 
in color and ideal for a driveway surface. 
We have achieved a remarkable result in 
Kansas City with this method of treating 
road surfaces. I am not so sure that our 
exact methods will achieve the same re- 
sults in other localities and under different 
conditions. W’^hile our boulevards ai'e in 
fact residence streets, and extend to all 
sections of our city, yet by ordinance we 
eliminate business traffic entirely from 
them, except for necessary deliveries and 
collections from residences. I know from 
experience we cannot maintain the cushion 
surface where that surface is subject to 
any considerable amount of heavy draying. 
T am convinced that this cushion could not 
be maintained on an all-purpose street as 
we are able to maintain it on our boule- 
vards and park drives. The problem with 
us has been to meet the conditions as they 
come up. and the fifty miles of excellent 
dustless drives now in constant use in our 
city are evidence that the problem has 
been solved for the conditions obtaining 
there with some degree of success. 
Cost of Oiling. 
The following condensed statement shows 
our cost for oiling for the fiscal year April 
18. 1909. to April 18, 1910; 
Total area of pavement oiled (sq. 
yds.t 780.066 
Total number of gallons of oil 
used (gallons) 213,485 
Cost of oil per gallon at distrib- 
uting tank $ 0.02171 
Total cost of oil used $4635.36 
Total cost of applying same (la- 
bor, teams and dust) 7372.57 
Annual cost of oil per sq. yd.... 0.00592 
Annual cost of applying same per 
sq. yd. 0.00942 
Total annual cost of oiling pave- 
ment per sq- yd 0.01534 
These figures show the total area of sur- 
face 
oiled 
for 
the year. All 
of 
it 
was 
oiled 
twice 
and 
a good portion 
of 
the 
area 
was 
oiled 
three 
and four times. 
but 
the 
area 
that 
was 
maintained under 
the 
oil 
treatment 
was 
780.066 square 
yards. 
and 
the 
annual 
cost 
per square yard 
for 
the 
system. whether two or more applications 
were made, was 0.01534 per square yard. 
In the last year of water sprinkling the 
annual cost for that service was 2.4 cents 
per square yard, and that was for limited 
service, sprinkled -jn the day time only. 
For roads subjected to all conditions of 
traffic. T am sure an oil treatment would 
require oil carrying cementitious or bind- 
ing qualities, a quality entirely absent in 
the oils we have used in Kansas City. I 
have experimented in a small way with a 
mixture of asphalt with oil on a few steep 
grades Avith very satisfactory results. Nat- 
urally, the mixing problem will increase 
the cost oil' oiling materially, depending on 
the percentage of asphalt used, yet the 
results will warrant that expense when the 
necessities of traffic require it. 
In this connection. T wish to say that 
we have obtained a valuable result from 
the use of Tarvia as a binder in the top 
four inches of a macadam road, using the 
Taivia in the place of water for bonding 
the top course, keeping the . Tarvia well 
down in the rock, then finishing with fine 
screenings well rolled on the top. after 
which a surface treatment of residuum oil 
as a dust layer will provide the dustless 
macadam road, bonded in such a manner 
as to withstand heavy travel very satis- 
factorily. 
This character of macadam road has been 
laid in Kansas City under the direction of 
the city engineer on .several greets carry- 
ing heaA'y mixed traffic and is showing 
A'ery excellent results. 
In conclusion I wish to say that the in- 
expensive oil treatment has proven very 
satisfactory in Kansas City, and to any one 
de.cirous of adopting our methods only 
wish to add this little bit of advice gained 
from experience, which may be expressed 
in this list of don'ts; 
Don’t oil your road — 
When the material of the road is loose. 
When the surface is not hard and 
clean. 
When the whole road is not in good 
surface and properly crowned. 
When the weather is not hot and the 
road dry. 
Then oil only one-half the width of 
the road at one time. 
Above all, don’t let it rain while you are 
oiling. Oil and water Avill not mix, neither 
will oil penetrate a damp road. By ob- 
serving as many of these don’ts as pos- 
sible you will be relieved of some of the 
grief we have experienced and obtain in 
the end a satisfactory and inexpensive so- 
lution for the pleasure drive road surface. 
