SURFACE TESTING MACHINE

Southland Times, Issue 22915, 13 June 1936, Page 19

SURFACE TESTING MACHINE

£lOO A DAY BEING SPENT. Nearly one hundred pounds a day is being spent at the Road Research Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Harmondsworth testing out different types of road surfaces. It is hoped that all this expense will shortly produce the ideal road surface of great durability—a surface that will retain its non-skid qualities in the worst of weathers. The official report for 1935 just published shows that slippery roads were directly responsible for over four hundred fatal accidents during 1935. The largest road-testing machine in the world, only just built, is now testing out the qualities of a special form of “hot-process” tarmacadam. Great things are expected of this new type of surface and it is hoped that it will result in a road possessing unique durability and non-skid properties. The machine—a “skeleton” lorry weighing 12 tons races at 40 miles an hour throughout the day over this new type of road. The lorry is attached to a central post by a long steel arm weighing five tons. This new machine is housed in a special building, the track being roofed over to prevent weather conditions interfering with the laying of test roads. Artificial water sprinklers wet the track to give the tarmacadam really bad weather tests. e

A machine of such size careering round at high speeds necessitates elaborate safety devices. It is calculated that if the lorry broke loose when travelling at 40 miles an hour it would have in it energy equivalent to a sixinch shell. Danger has been minimized by the duplication of every possible part of the machine. If any one part broke or ceased to function, parts which would immediately feel the extra strain have sufficient strength to keep the machine from failing. The movements of the lorry are controlled by a driver inside a reinforced concrete room fitted with a small safety-glass window.