SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
CONCRETE TANKS FOR OIL STORAGE. 
The United States Bureau of Standards has published the results 
of a series of tests to determine the effectiveness of concrete as a 
retainer of oil. The results may be summarized as follows :— 
(1) Various mineral oils, covering practically the entire range of 
fuel oils, have been stored in conerete tanks for approximately 
thirteen nionths, apparently without injuring the concrete in the 
slightest degree. 
(2) A number of vegetable and animal oils have been stored 
successfully in concrete tanks for a period of thirteen months, and 
only two, cocoanut oil and lard oil, have appreciably attacked the 
concrete. 
(3) The quantitative losses of pure oils have been determined 
under a pressure head of 25 feet. ‘The results indicate that heavy and 
medium weight fuel oils can be stored in concrete without excessive 
losses. The storage of kerosenes and gasolines under these condi- 
tions will probably prove uneconomical unless some impervious 
coating can be found which will be durable under long exposure to 
the lighter oils. ; 
(4) In a single test of six months’ duration, spar varnish has 
apparently been effective in successfully retaining a 43-deg. kerosene 
of 0.015 viscosity. The loss during that period was practically 
negligible. 
NATIONAL ROADS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
The value of good roads, and the necessity of uniform methods of 
construction and maintenance to secure the greatest economy, is widely 
realized in the United States, and a proposal is now being considered 
under which the Federal Government will build, in each State, trunk 
highways, which, when linked together, will form a national system 
connecting the whole country. The scheme is embraced by the National 
Highway Bill, introduced into the Senate by the Chairman of the 
Committee on Post-offices and Post-office Roads. It is proposed that 
the Federal construction shall be to the extent of not less than 2 per 
cent, or more than 5 per cent. of the total mileage of a State. The 
consummation of the scheme will prove a further strengthening of the 
forces behind road development, and will enable a much wider use to 
be made of the knowledge gained from the research carried out by the 
office of Public Roads. At the same time, it will produce more effective 
co-operation between Federal and State agencies, the one applying its 
efforts to national connexions, and the other to the development of 
local or Intra-State roads. Apart altogether from this scheme, how- 
ever, it is interesting to note that the estimated expenditure for this 
year on road construction and repair in the United States totals 
£70,000,000. Both in the United States and in Europe good roads are 
regarded as essential to the development and maintenance of rural 
interests, and in view of the enormous growth of motor transport, the 
question assumes much greater importance. 
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