Road roller

“ When a road has been neglected and allowed to become uneven and rough, or is by constant use worn down to the foundation stones, there should be a general repairing. In the first place, if it is the roughness and unevenness that is the only defect, this may be remedied by the use of a large, heavy roller with steel spikes in its rolling wheels. This will puncture the surface so that an ordinary harrow will tear up the surface stones. Then take the spikes out of the roller wheels, and, with sprinkling and rolling, the roadbed can be repaired and made like a new road. ”

“ For constructing roads and repairing them a roller is necessary, the weight depending upon the kind of road constructed. If the road is not wide a roller of from four to six tons is all the weight necessary. The rolling should be continued until compactness is obtained. For wide, heavy roads a steam roller of fifteen tons can be used to advantage. ”

“ If loose earth is dumped into the middle of the road and consolidated by traffic, the action of the narrow-tired wheels cuts it or rolls it into uneven ruts and ridges, which hold water, and ultimately results, if in the winter season, in a sticky, muddy surface, or if it be in dry weather, in covering the surface with several inches of dust. If, however, the surface be prepared with a road machine and properly rolled with a heavy roller, it can usually be made sufficiently firm and smooth to sustain the traffic without rutting, and resist the penetrating action of the water. ”

“ From the foregoing it is very evident that some description of binding material is essential in making a road under a roller. Where traffic is allowed to consolidate a road it is different, as then the stones are knocked about and are sufficiently abraded against each other to form a binding material for themselves. ”

“ Such material is usually carried upon a road in wheelbarrows or dump carts, and then spread in even layers with rakes, but the latest and best device for this purpose is a spreading cart.
If a roller cannot be had, the road is thrown open to traffic until it becomes fairly well consolidated; but it is impossible properly to consolidate materials by the movement of vehicles over the road, and if this means is pursued constant watchfulness is necessary to prevent unequal wear and to keep the surface smooth and free from ruts. ”

“ Too much binding material or too much water should not be used in forming a road with a steam roller. It is unfortunately frequently the case that a road is made quickly only to go to pieces with the traffic in a few weeks. The surface of a well-constructed macadamised roadway should after being rolled look almost like an encaustic pavement. If there is too much binding material in the joints of the stones, the first heavy rain washes it out and the surface of the roadway quickly goes to pieces. ”

“ Rolling.—A three-wheeled or "macadam" type of roller, of the self-propelled type, is best for compacting the broken stone road. The weight varies from eight to fifteen tons, but for most conditions the ten or twelve ton size seems to be preferable. On Telford base construction, a heavier machine is desirable and for very hard stone it may be successfully employed. ”

“ Without entering into the yet unsettled controversy respecting the superior utility of conical, barrelled, or cylindrical wheels, for the purpose of draught, it is perfectly evident, that the narrow part of the surface upon which wheels of the two first descriptions meet the ground, cannot give them the advantage of the roller. ”

“ For general purposes a roller weighing from eight to twelve tons is all that is necessary. Heavier weights are difficult to handle upon unimproved surfaces unless they be constructed like the Addison roller, the weight of which can be increased or lightened at will by filling the drum with water or drawing the water out. ”

“ Rolling.—You will insist upon the rollers being placed upon the freshly raked surface just as soon as the material will bear them without being squeezed out or displaced laterally. The tendency is to keep the rollers off too long, thus permitting the chilling of the surface and preventing its proper compression. Do not take the contractor’s word as to how soon the rolling may be begun, but have trials made until you are able yourself to judge. The rolling by the heavy roller should be very thorough: keep the roller 107at work constantly until the surface is too cold to be impressed. ”

“ The rolling shall begin as near the curb as practicable, the roller being operated slowly, parallel to the axis of the street, and working outwardly until the center of the street is reached, when the roller will proceed to the opposite side of the street and the operation proceed as before. After this longitudinal rolling is completed the pavement will be continuously rolled a second time, the roller operating back and forth at an angle of forty-five degrees to the axis of the street, and a third time, the roller operating at right angles to the course of the second rolling. ”

“ On each side they have a leather loop like those on a tandem pad, and through these the traces are passed. In the bolts on the top of the pads is pivoted a small steel roller. The curricle bar rests on the rollers, and by their action is enabled to work freely from side to side, or from one horse towards the other, without any friction or noise. The rollers can be raised or lowered about a couple of inches, so that should the horses be of unequal height the bar can be levelled by raising or dropping one end of it. ”

“ The end rollers guide the table when making any portion of a revolution, and carry such part of the weight as may not be taken up by the centre. A recess is shown in side wall to facilitate the inspection of end rollers. In the earlier forms of engine turn-tables, the revolving movement was effected by attaching to the upper portion of the girders a strong winch, which acted upon gearing fixed either to the end rollers, or direct on to a toothed ring forming part of the roller-path. ”

“ The distance between the centres of the rollers is regulated by screws, furnished with wheels on their upper ends, similar to what is seen in the drawing dies at C. The two rollers have pinions on their axes, which make them revolve together; they are set in motion by an endless strap passing round a drum, upon whose axis is a pinion working into the teeth of a wheel fixed upon the axis of the lower roller. ”

“ When your horses are poled up, they are drawn toward the pole, and you will notice that the inside [367] trace is therefore shorter than the outside trace. This difference should be taken up by enlarging the inside roller-bolt by wrapping it, never by punching holes in the trace, and thus weakening it. Then fasten the coupling-reins to their bits, and fasten your reins over your off wheeler's pad-terret, or let them be drawn through above the trace and tug-buckle from the front, back.
Then bring out your leaders and fasten their traces to their bars. ”

“ Every time that the carriage is pushed home, the larger weight gets wound up; and when the carriage is drawn out, the greater weight turns the roller, and advances the endless apron, so as to deliver the carding at the same rate as the carriage runs out; but when the proper quantity is delivered, a knot in the rope arrives at a fixed stop, which does not permit it to move any further; while at the same instant the roller 5 quits the lever 6, and allows the upper rail G, of the clasp to fall, and pinch the carding fast; the wheel E, being then set in motion, makes the spindles revolve ”

“ Portugal the old classic bullock-cart on this principle is still to be seen, and it has been reasonably guessed that such carts tell the story how wheel-carriages came to be invented. Rollers were early used, on which a block of stone or other heavy weight was trundled. Suppose such a roller made of a smoothed tree-trunk to be improved by cutting the middle part smaller, so that it became an axle and pair of broad wheels in one piece, then by making this axle work underneath the rudest framework, the simplest imaginable wheel-carriage is made. ”

“ For one revolution of the great rim or fly wheel of the mule, the front roller makes about 6-tenths of a turn, and delivers therefore 22·6 lines or 12ths of an inch of yarn, which, in consequence of the tenfold draught through the rollers, corresponds to 2·26 lines of roving fed in at the back rollers. The spindles or their whorls make about 66 revolutions for one turn of the rim. The pulleys or grooved wheels on which the carriage runs, perform 0·107 part of a turn while the rim makes one revolution, and move the carriage 24·1 lines upon its rails, the wheels being 6 inches in diameter. ”

“ Whilst in our first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a flat roller would remedy the whole misfortune; but a flat roller at Cape Spartivento, hard, easily unshipped, running freely! There was a grooved pulley used for the paying-out machinery with a spindle wheel, which might suit me. I filled him up with tarry spunyarn, nailed sheet copper round him, bent some parts in the fire; and we are paying-in without more trouble now. ”

“ Rolled streets have a better appearance, they are easier of traffic as having more evenness of surface and superior hardness, and it is contended that if steam rollers were more general there would not be such an outcry for other descriptions of pavement for roadways.
(8.) The steam roller soon finds out the good from the [71] bad metal for roads, it is also contended that it also does this with respect to the gas and water mains, the latter, however may be looked upon as a rather doubtful advantage. ”

“ Attempts are often made to avoid injury to the tire by covering the brake-shoe with rubber, or by using a roller instead, the intent being that the tire shall turn the roller without any sliding friction, while the operative resistance shall be in the roller itself. ”

“ The rope was soon fast to the wagon and backed-up auto.
"Go ahead slowly," cautioned Will. "We don't know what will give way first, the horse or the wagon. Take it easy, Mollie."
Slowly the auto started. There came a strain on the rope. There was a creaking to the old vehicle, and then it slowly began to emerge from the mud. The old horse, who had almost gone to sleep, roused up at this strange activity, and was literally forced to stir out of his tracks. In a few seconds the wagon was on the firm road, the auto having pulled it in a diagonal direction from the mud-hole. ”

“ The rollers now begin to turn and to deliver threads, which receive immediately a portion of their twist from the spindles; the carriage retires from the roller beam with somewhat greater speed than the surface speed of the front rollers, whereby the threads receive a certain degree of stretching, which affects most their thicker and less twisted portions, and thereby contributes greatly to the levelness of the yarn. ”

“ Fastened to the wheel is a cam, concentric for about seven-eighths of its circumference and indented for the remainder. Into a groove in the concentric portion of the edge is pressed a roller which is pivoted at the free end of a strong curved spring. When the mainspring is fully wound the roller rests in the curved depression of the cam and the effort required to lift the roller up the incline absorbs some of the mainspring's power. ”

“ All the time the spindles are quickly revolving and putting twist into the rovings, thus imparting strength to them to a far greater degree than at any previous stage. Often the carriage is made to recede from the rollers a little quicker than the latter, the difference in the surface speeds between the two being technically known as "gain." The object of this carriage "gain" is to improve the "evenness" of the yarn by drawing out any thick soft places there may be in the length of thread between each spindle and the roller, a distance of 64 inches. ”

“ In spinning the finer yarns, the carriage sometimes makes what is called a second stretch, during which the spindles are made to revolve much more rapidly than before. The drawing, stretching, and twisting, of a length of thread being thus completed, the mule disengages itself from the parts of the machinery by which it has hitherto been driven, and the spinner then pushes the carriage with his knee back to the roller-beam, turning at the same time with his right hand a fly wheel, which gives motion to the spindles. ”

“ The roller (A) has two stout pieces of hide rope wound round it. These are attached to the break-bar (B) , which slides forward and back under the staples (C) . By depressing the end of the lever (D) and hooking down its end, the friction blocks (E) are drawn against the surfaces of the wheel tires and retained there with just as much force as is thought requisite. The movements of a waggon train furnished with these contrivances are not retarded and rendered irregular by the constant and harassing stoppages consequent on the leading waggoners skidding and unskidding. ”

“ Wheelwrights of old soon found that a wheel need not be solid, that strong spokes, a sound rim, and a metal tire embody the utmost strength and lightness. Roller and ball bearings much extend the benefits of simple wheels; they lessen friction in the best typewriters, bicycles, and elevators; in wagons, carriages, and automobiles roller bearings are so helpful that their use should be universal. Of notable efficiency is the Hyatt bearing, formed by winding a steel strip into a spiral roller. ”

“ As soon as the wheels begin to move, and the carriage to advance, the wet cloth begins to uncoil, and to pass down over the first roller; a small roller attached to the carriage, as it passes over the rails in succession, holds the cloth against each rail for a short space of time, and prevents it from slipping, by which means the cloth descends in folds or loops between the rails, and is thereby made to hang in a series of folds or loops, as shown in the figure. ”