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Untitled Article
his statement to be correct , inasmuch as the invention , Such as it ig , belongs to a Mr . John Finlayson . But though the colonel be not the parent of the invention , he has certainly made himself its godfather or stepfather , by adopting it ; as his note at the bottom of page 24 , in the second edition of his pamphlet shows : * In Buch streets * ( principally used by * gentlemen ' s carriages' ) the very iu plus ultra would be the wooden pavement spoken of in page 9 . Were the blocks of wood well saturated with coal tar , and driven down according to my plan , 6 uch a pavement would remain as level as a billiard table for twenty years . After thus contributing to the maintenance of the brat with coal tar , he has certainly rendered himself liable to the further consequence * equally with Mr . John Finlayson . Altogether the pamphlet in question is one which , if carefully studied by those interested in the improvement and economy of roads , could not fail to do great service . The introductory review , by Mr . Robertson of ' The Mechanics' Magazine , ' is a clear and instructive statement with
regard to the respective merits of the different systems of road-making . It is written with great judgment , and rightly gives the preference to Colonel Macerone ' s principles of paving , whether the material be stone or wood , or any other substance . These principles have hitherto been most strangely neglected by those who have had to pay for roads ; but it is not a thing to be surprised at , that those who were gainers by roadmaking should be anxious to get as much employment as possible , by
not making the roads too durable . The Jlrst principle is that the ' substratum should be made solid , ' which has rarely been done hitherto . The second principle is to drive down the stones , when first laid , with a machine similar to a pile-driver , so that they may be compressed with a force or weight greater than is ever likely to he applied to them in the
ordinary traffic of wheel carriages . Thirdly , to level the pavement from time to time , by the same process , as often as hollows or protuberances appear , from wet or other causes . The whole system , in fact , is based upon one general principle , which the sagacity of Colonel Macerone , acquired by long experience in various portions of the world , convinced him was the true : viz . as it is self-evident that a stratum
compressed by a given weight , is mostly capable of further compression by an increased weight , the only way to insure against casualties is to compress with the greatest weight in the first instance . An Irishman with a rammer , some forty pounds in weight , designated by the term Lady Griffin / is set to drive down a stone over which has to pass
afterwards , with considerable impetus , a coal waggon , weighing several tons , one-fourth of which this individual forty pound rammed stone has to sustain . The rammer ought to have been a machine , and the weight some six hundred pounds , with a corresponding momentum , and a stone thus fixed would not be removed by any lesser pressure . The treatise of Colonel Macerone touches also on the subject of the ancient Roman roads , and their method of construction , especially in Italy , detailed apparently from actual observation and examination . There are some useful 4 hints' on other subjects appended to the work ; one on the artificial means of increasing the light in London , by whitening the buildings , which is well worth attention , even though lime whiting' be not a very durable wash in a rainy climate , where sv ^
Untitled Article
158 Colonel Macerone .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1834, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2630/page/74/
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