Modern Motoring

Northern Advocate, 3 June 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

Modern Motoring

Trial Length in India

New Road Surface

A hundred yards' trial length of< ;

“mollasses” highway built in India

“successfully withstood the heavy traffic of the cane season, passing thraugh two rainy seasons successfully,” according to a report by the Imperial Institute of Sugar Technology at Cawnpore, India.

While at first thought construction of highways with molasses as the paving element would seem to have little economic justification, consideration of the national and international problems created by surpluses of sugar puts this

new development in a different light. It is contended by the Indian authorities that the molasses surface is perfectly liquid at time of application; it does not melt on the road in summer; it does net wear away under heavy traffic; it is cheaper than other preparations now on the market.

Hints, Information and Advice for Owners and Drivers

The process of manufacturing the molasses paving composition consists in carrying out the resinification of molasses with a mixture of coal tar and asphalt in the presence of an agent such as sulphuric acid. The carbohydrates contained in the molasses .are said to combine with the phenolic bodies of the asphalt and coal tar to form a resinified compound perfectly insoluble in water. Success in manufacturing the molasses compound was said to depend upon the removal of every trace of moisture from the molasses before mixing the other ingredients. The top surface of the “molas,ses-tar-macadam” may sometimes show signs of peeling off after two or three months, but this does not occur if a suitable seal is applied to make the surface smooth, the institute said.

This seal coat is prepared by dissolving the molasses compound in the proportion of one pound to one gallon of coal tar, the resultant product being "quite liquid anc: easy to apply to the read surface.”