US2012566A - Road construction - Google Patents

Description

' Aug. 27, 1.935.

H. A. INGALLS ROAD CONSTRUCTION Filed March 15,5, -1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HENRY /l. /NeAL L5 )hd-MM, @um ,-'tzlA ATT RNEYs.

Patented Aug. l '27, 1935 ROAD CONSTRUCTION Henry vA. Ingalls, Bakerseld, alif.

Applicatignfmrcn 13, 1933, serial No. 660,595

6 Claims. (01.34-23) li/ Iyl invention relates .toroad or paving construction. I have discovered I'that soil may be; very readily treated at its place of origin anid1 converted into a condition where it maybe readily made into a smooth, strong, durable and ineipen'- sive road surface when properly combinedwith other 'comparativelyf inexpensive constituents, such, for instance, as water and viscousgfluids, such as crude oil. I of course do not claiinfbroadly w the method of Vconstructing roadsg'by"v the mere use of crudeoil'and "soil, but I ddjvclaim, among other novel features, to be hereinafter set forth,

to have discovered that by 1nfsl''treating the soil to reduce. same to a loose,""nely divided mass,v then impregnating same'hder prQper conditions with a suicient quantity of water;'I amable to so condition or prime same, that when crude oil is incorporated therewith the oil will be effectively incorporated in/thewsoil in a manner that will cause maximun'benefit to be derived from use thereof .aiftr'the road has been fully constructed. fl.t

My invention therefore has fono'ne of its objects the treatment of the soilto first render same sufficiently moist that after oil is initially incorporated therewith at thelsitus of the soil, the. oil may thereafter be distributed to positions in the mass where `it will function to securely bondY together the particles of soil and produce at the upper stratum of the soil, and the immediate vicinity thereof, a very smooth, strong and durable traffic surface lwhichwill be"'far less porous than was possible"'heretofore with prior methods. yIam further able to utilize much smaller quantities of oil, and at the same 'time produce a nished product which will not dry 'out or disintegrate prematurely, and one which willb'etter resist the effect of the elements and satisfactorily withstandthe effect of heavy loads o imposed thereon.

" A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a novel method of constructing roadsN wherein provision Vis made for the work being'carried on continuously. A still further object offthe invention is to provide a method of constructing roads wherein thek crude oil whichI cause to be deposited at prede termined lpositions therein will be promptly sub-y jected to the action 'of steam or a blast of heated air so that the oil will be atomized'thereby and forcedin'an upward direction through lthe loose particles of soil, whereby to cause the saidI particles of soil to be thoroughly'saturated with oil.

" .i A still further object of' 'the linvention isto provide a' method of the"character set vforthv wherein precalculated or definitely 'controlled' portions of oil may be satisfactorilyused to effect proper impregnation of the loose particles of soil with the oil. i

` Another object offtle invention is to'provlde 5 in paving or road construction a road surface having an inexpensive but strong and durable portion Whi'cljwlll'provide a lane'over which light trafficmay be handled andasimilarlycon-` structed, butf'somewhat modined portion` serving" 10' as a laneiforthe handling'of heavy trafc.

n ovefyirnportant objectof the inventior'i'is to' pro 'de a road, the bed-'of which will-be characterized in the manner aforestatedV in conjulic, tion with which said bed isemployed a novel slab 15 surface "which will` freely/ adapt itself to variations in temperature without resulting in injury tosaid surface. f' "5 Uff My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which 20 Figurejj'l is a view in transverse sectionl showing the Acondition oi` the"4 premoistend"soil and the Yapplication theretoof crude foil, to effect stratification of the-oil preparatory to an application of a condensing. pressureto the4 mass; 254

Figure 2 is a viewfsimilar'to Figure 1, showing the mass fully condensed'forfcompressed;

Figure 3 is a. viewinplan :of the road when provided with myiiinproved slab construction;

Figure 4 ;aflongitudinal sectiontthrough a 30 accordance with one embodimentof the inven- 151011;Lv L v. 'f

Figure 5 is a vertical section through the oil distributing means; 'Y

Figure 6 is a transverse section throughva portion'of a roadway showing a slightly modified form of the invention. y Y

Figure? is aplan view of the modified construction shown in Figure 6; i In preparing thefsoil, Iflrst"` reduce same Vto a finely divided. state which may be subsequently condensed into, a substantially homogeneous i dense mass when uniformly Lsubjected` to the-ac tion of suitable external condensing; pressures,v 45

preferably pressuresof a .progressively increasing nature, such as may' be brought about by an initial application of a light l.weight roller thereto, followed by-similar uniform applications oi rollers of gradually increasing weights. After the soil'ha's been turned and'made light, all large foreign particles, stones land the like,are preferably removed therefrom so that no large voids will remain in the mass'through which loil might yfind egress to the vsubsoily or tolevelsvor places `beyond the effective zone of the soil under'treatment.

I then again tumble and 'thoroughly agitate the soil, this time in the presence of Water, so that the mass will be fairly moist. In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated as well as possible the condition of the soil after same has been reduced to afinely divided state, saturated with water and supplied with crude oil; Best results may be obtained by application of the oil s'o as to stratify same, so to speak, relativelyto adjacent layers of moist soil.

I have previously indicated a desire to so apply the oil that it will be stratified in the mass of soil under treatment. I very nicely accomplish this object by the use of the distributing -mechanism shown in Figure 5. This mechanism comprises a manifold A into which the crude oil may be conducted from any suitable source of supply (not shown) and then led from the manifold through the pipe B into a valve chamber C. 'Ihe valve'chamber may be sub-divided into as many sections as are desired. and in each section is a rotary valve D, which'acts in conjunction with the valve chamber to cause controlled or predetermined quantities of oil to be discharged from the chamber as .the .valve is rotated. The valve is therefore mounted upon a driven shaft E into which power can be taken in any suitable well known manner, whereby to revolve the valve, preferably at a comparatively slow speed. The said valve is divided into a plurality of peripheral pockets F, each functioning to accommodate a predetermined measure of oil. For each section of the valve chamber C is-employed a vertical distributor G, the upper end of which is of funnel formation and arranged with its large'end directly beneath the discharge nipple H of the particular valve section of the cham- Aber C with which it is intended to coact. The

lower end of the vertical distributor is formed at its front end with a soil penetrating -blade or portion I and immediately at the rear of said portion I the walls of the distributor are formed with an oil discharge opening J, from which the oil may be discharged in a downward and rearward direction. At K is illustrated a blast tube, the same being extended into' a funnel-like end of the distributor G, and, as illustrated, it is fonned with a vertical leg L which extends through the bore of said distributor. 'I'his leg L of the blast tube K is preferably eccentrically positioned with relation to the annular walls of the distributor so that a duct M is formed between said walls and said leg -for the free downward passage therethrough of the oil, as will be appreciated. The lower end of the leg L is provided with a rearwardly extending nozzle N, whose free extremity is preferably curved slightly in an upward direction, as at O. 'I'he blast tube may be connected in a source of air supply, and it is desired that said tube be provided with a circulating coil P, w ch is adapted to be heated by a burner Q; It in this manner that air under pressure, as it is being conducted to the leg L. will be heated, whereby to enable the oil to freely ow through the duct M and to discharge from the orifice J. Now it follows -that when the heated airis discharged from the.4

curved end of the nozzle N, blasts of air will be made to impinge against the soil, so as to induce a suction at the rear of the orifice J, and thereby accelerate the movement of the oil out of the orice, while producing an upward current of warm air which cifectually functions to atomize the oil and to force same in an upward direction through the loose particles of soil. It is in this manner that I provide for proper impreging in the use of oil is effected. Instead of dis- 4 charging air into the blast tube K, steam may,

of course, be used as a substitute therefor.

After the oil has been applied to the premoistened soil, as aforestated, a road grader is passed thereover and the mass leveled; I then ap-.

ply condensing pressures to the mass over such period of time and by the use of rollers or the like of progressively increasing weights and by planing same until the mass has been densely packed and reduced to a homogeneous condition. It is largely in this manner that I `provide for very complete distribution of the oil through the entire mass of soil, without undue loss of oil. I am also able to confine' the oil to the effective area formed by the mass under treatment. Due to the existence of a moisture content in the soil, I am able to producea road, the top stratum of which is exceedingly smooth and Well sealed off by the oil, as the tendency of the moisture contained in the soil is to raise the oil to levels within the mass of soil, where full benefltwill be derived therefrom. Any inequalities in the surface are, of course, readily lled in by planing same during the early development' period, and, if desired, oil or water may be sprayed or otherwise applied to the surface to additionally seal off any and all pores contained therein and to allay dust.

A road constructed as aforementioned is more or less yieldable, and same furnishes a uniform support for a cement or other suitable overlying hard surface, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Suitable forms, not shown, may be placed upon the finished. densely packed underlying bed i (Figure 2) and cement poured therein so as to pro- 4duce wedge or substantially wedge or key-stone shaped laterally movable slabs 2, and somewhat similar but considerably longer slabs 3, of approximately,100 foot lengths. When the forms are removed Vfrom around thev respective slabs thus formed, grooves 5 are left between the complementing edges of the adjoining slabs, and these joints are then filled in with tar, asphaltum, pitch or othersuitable well known substance which is more or less elastic and impermeable to water. By means of these elastic joints, taken with the fact-that at least two faces of each of the slabs 2 and 3 are flared, in opposite directions, as clearly shown in Figure 3v of the drawings, it follows that effective expansion joints are formed therebetween so that said hard surface will readily adapt itself to variations in temperature without resulting in injury to said surface.

The method herein described is such that I am able to take advantage of known natural laws, in a desire to place an essential constituent, namely, crude oil or the like, in a condition of more or less stable equilibrium, so to speak, when associated with a liquid of different density, such as water, whereby to conne the oil wholly within the body or mass of soil, which latter is employed as a base material in the construction of my improved road. In other words, I am able to definitely superpose heterogeneous liquids (oil and water)l with respect to each tion or l-ane for accommodating heavy trafllc.

otherso that the oil will be held in suspension in said mass of soil until displaced inthe manner aforementioned. While I have described that the soil is first properly saturated with water and that, thereafter, the oil is applied by stratifying same with respect to layers of said` soil, I do not mean to infer that I, in fact, constantly maintain relative supcrposed stratification of the oil in the mass of moist soil. It ismy opinion that the relative portions of oil and water employed act upon each other so that the whole body of oil will remain pretty much suspended until the soil has been properly subjected to the action of the necessary external pressures. During the operation of condensing the mass of soil, the excess oil is displaced and same rises toward the upper stratum of the soil. It follows that, in

time, much of the water contained in the soil goes rmore expensive road constructions.l A road bed,

when constructed as herein described, affords a more or less uniform yieldable support for an expansible overlying hardl surface, such as I have described and particularly illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings. By perfectly sealing the joints between the aforestated slabs 2 and 3 with asphaltum, tar, pitch or other suitable well known compounds, and flowing the joint material onto the upper stratum of the underlyingnbed, premature deterioration of the said bed by contact with surface water is eliminated.

The aforementioned slabs 2 and 3 are arranged in longitudinal rows along the road thus constructed and -each of said slabs may, of course, be'of any suitable Width and of such thickness as may be required to render same perfectly strong and durable. Their arrangement with respect to each other is such that they will readily respond to any and all forces applied thereto, as

`may be due to variation in temperature.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 6 and '7, a roadway very, similar to the one described in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, is.

provided, but inthis form of the invention the roadway is of greater width than the first said form, whereby to provide an intermediate portion formed for handling light traflic and a `por- VVhile I have shown b ut one of said portions 5, it is to ,be understood that two thereof will be provided in practice, anddisposed at the respective sides of the portion'l. In the said portion 5 I incorporate cement rails 6 which are arranged in parallelism with each other. rails are constructed of cement and each thereof includes mating longitudinal sections 1, whose ends are xnitered` at 8 to provide the expansion joint ,9 therebetween. filled in with asphalt, p itch, tar or the like l0'. Each rail section 1 is of dove-tailed form .in cross section, as shown in vFigure 6, so as to provide downwardly and outwardly aring sides I'I, a nat upper surface l2 and a flat lower surface I3. These sections are embedded in the bodyof the pavement or roadway, as clearly shown in Figure 6 It is to be understood that these cement rails are to be' properly spaced apart so that the These.

These joints are thenV wheels of an automobile may roll thereoverand -that the upper surfaces of the rails are of ample width to accommodate the tread surfaces of said wheels. I

I would have it understood that as many layers of oil may be injected into the soil as may be found desirable or necessary according lto the thickness of the mass of oil under treatment. In a road structure the thickness of which is ,to be six inches, I have found in practice that a single application of oil is suflicient when injected to a depth of approximately six inches from the upper surface. It has also been found that when the oil is distributed as aforementioned and the soil subsequently subjected to the action of external pressures, sometimes surplus oil appears upon the surface. When this condition presents itself, it is only necessary to spread over the surface containing said surplus oil suihcient quantity of suitable soil, preferably a soil which affords traction. A surprisingly small amount of oil may be satisfactorily used, and in the road constructed as aforementioned. the structure was strong enough to sustain exceedingly heavy traiiicsuch as motor trucks which are now otherwise ordinarily barred from the highways.

I claim as my invention: l

1. The herein described steps in the method of constructing roads comprising reducing soil at its situs to a nely divided state so that no voids of any appreciable'size are lleft therein; mixing heterogeneous liquids with the soil; vthen applying a condensing pressure to the soil to -densely pack same and to dispose the liquid of lighter density in suspension upon the liquid of heavierdensity so as to cause said liquid of lightbuilding of roads comprising reducing the soil to a finely divided state, incorporating water in j the soil in a manner to thoroughly moisten substantially all particlesthereof; mixing a structural liquid with the soil, the density of which is less than water; then condensing the soil to effect i upward displacement of the said structural liquid and the water with the structuralliquid in flotation on the water and to cause same to become a homogeneous part of the soil at the upper stratum of the soil. A

3. The herein described method of utilizing soil at its situs as a structural material in the vbuilding of roads comprising reducing the soil to a finely divided state; incorporating water in the soil in a manner to thoroughly moisten substantially all particles thereof; mixing a viscous structural liquid with the soil, lthe density of which is less than water; then condensing the soil to effect upward movement of said structural liquid and the water with -the .former in flotation on the water andv to cause same to become a homogeneous part of the soil and to seal oil? the voidssurface thereof to cause the water, when rising, to carry the oil vertically upwardly through the mass and thus gradually ll the voids in the mass and to seal off the upper surface of the mass to render same impervious to downward penetration of water into the mass.

5. The herein described method of constructing roads comprising dividing the soil while same is in situ to reduce same to a loose more or less finely divided mass, incorporating water in the mass in a quantity to constitute an. upwardly moving hydrostatic head when down pressure is applied to the upper surface of the mass, incorporating controlled portions of oil in the mass below the upper surface thereof, then applying suceessively increasing condensing pressures to the mass from the upper surface thereof to thereby cause the water as it rises to carry the oil vertically upwardly through the mass and thus gradually ll the voids in the mass and to seal oi the upper surface of the mass to render same im` pervious to downward penetration oflwater into the mass. Y

6. The herein described method of constructing roads comprising dividing the soil while same is in situ to reduce same to a loose, more or less nely divided mass', incorporating water in the mass in a quantity to constitute an upwardly moving hydrostatic head when down pressure is applied to the upper surface of the mass, incorporating controlled portions of oil in the mass below the upper surface and at different levels in the mass, then applying a condensing pressure to the mass from the upper surface thereof to cause the water, when rising, to carry the oil vertically upwardly through the mass and thus gradually ll the voids in the mass and to seal off the upper surface of the mass to render same impervious to downward penetration of water into the mass.

HENRY A. INGALLS.

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