--+--------------+----+--------+----------+----------+----------+---------------
| | | | Material |Subsequent| |
No| Locality |Year|Process.| Treated. | Exposure.| Results. | Authority.
--+--------------+----+--------+----------+----------+----------+---------------
1|Chili, S.A. |1857|Boucher.|Poplar |R.R. track|Favorable |W.W. Evans
| | | | ties | | |
2|Cleveland, O |1870|Thilmany|Ties | " " |Favorable |J.R. Conrad
| | | | | | to 1875 |
3|Washington |1872| " |Paving |Laboratory|Unfavor. |W.C. Tilden
| | | | blocks | | |
4|Pensacola |1874| " |Live oak |Teredo |Failure |W.H. Varney
| | | | | | |
5|Charleston, SC|1875| " |Pine block| " | " |Q.A. Gillmore
| | | | | | |
6|San Francisco |1876| " | " " | " | " |C.S. Stewart
| | | | | | |
7|Milwaukee |1876| " | " " |Pavement |Favorable,|Schlitz Bg.
| | | | | | 1882 | Co.
8|Norfolk, Va. |1876| " |Hackmatack|Teredo |Failure |P.C. Asserson
| | | | | | |
9|Charlestown, |1877| " |Various |Laboratory|Favorable |J.F. Babcock
| Mass | | | | | |
10|Wabash R.R. |1877| " |Ties |R.R. track|Unfavor. |R.A. Houghton
| | | | | | |
11|Wabash R.R. |1878| " | " | " " | " |W.S. Lincoln
| | | | | | |
12|New York, |1879| " | " | " " | " |C. Latimer
| Pennsylvania,| | | | | |
| and Ohio R.R.| | | | | |
13|Lake Shore and|1879| " | " | " " | " |R.A. Houghton
| Michigan | | | | | |
| Southern R.R.| | | | | |
14|Cleveland and |1879| " | " | " " | " |C. Latimer
|Pittsburg R.R.| | | | | |
15|Charlestown, |1879| " |Spruce |Sidewalk |Success |S.G. White
| Mass | | | plank | | to 1882 |
16|Baltimore and |1879| " |Ties |R.R. track|Too recent|J.L. Randolph
| Ohio | | | | | |
17|Hudson River |1869|Hamar | " | " " |Success |E.W. Vanderbilt
| R.R. | | | | | |
18|St. Louis |1882|Fladd | " | " " |Too recent|H. Fladd
--+--------------+----+--------+----------+----------+----------+---------------
COMMENTS ON SULPHATE OF COPPER EXPERIMENTS.
The first experiment was carried out by Mr. W.W. Evans, on the Southern Railway of Chili, in 1857, and he informs your committee that in 1860, when he left that country, the ties were still good and in serviceable condition.
We give herewith, in Appendix No. 16, an interesting letter from Mr. E. Pontzen to Mr. Evans, on the subject of the Boucherie process.
Experiments Nos. 2 to 16, inclusive, were all tried with various modifications of the sulphate of copper process as introduced by Mr. W. Thilmany in this country. They date back to 1870 (experiment No. 2), when Mr. Thilmany was working and recommending the methods of vital suction and of the Boucherie hydraulic pressure system. After describing the foreign methods of injection with sulphate of copper, he states in his first pamphlet (1870): "This process resulted very satisfactorily, but it was found that the sulphate of copper became very much diluted by the sap, and when the same liquid was used several times, the decaying substance of the sap, viz., the albumen, was reintroduced into the wood, and left it nearly in its primitive condition."
He accordingly proposed a double injection, first by muriate of barytes, and, secondly, by sulphate of copper, forced through by the Boucherie process, and it is presumed that the ties of 1870, in experiment No. 2, which showed favorable results when examined in 1875, were prepared by that process.
Subsequently Mr. Thilmany changed his mode of application to the Bethell process of injecting solutions under pressure in closed cylinders, and probably the paving blocks for experiment No. 3 were prepared in that way. The chemical examination of them by Mr. Tilden, however, showed the "saturation very uneven; absorptive power, high; block contains soluble salts of copper, removable by washing."
It was expected that the double solution, by forming an insoluble compound, would prove an effective protection against the teredo. Experiments Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 8, however, proved the contrary to be the fact.
The process, when well done, gave moderately satisfactory results against decay. A pavement laid in the yard of the Schlitz Brewing Company, in Milwaukee (experiment No. 7), was sound in 1882, after some six years' exposure. A report by Mr. J.F. Babcock, a chemist of Boston (experiment No. 9), indicated favorable results, and the planks in a ropewalk at Charlestown (experiment No. 15), laid in 1879, were yet sound in 1882.
The experiments on railroad ties (Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 16), however, did not result satisfactorily. They seemed favorable at first, and great things were expected of them; but late examinations made on the Wabash Railroad, on the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and on the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad, have shown the ties to be decaying, and the results to be unfavorable.