Show non bamm v U 0 OIL V instrument TO TEST SOILS by means of modern apparatus it Is I 1 possible to obtain most valuable information by tho the t ed department of agriculture an instrument for testing soils on which roads are to be built has been devised by the bureau of public roads of the united states department of agriculture it consists ot of a metal disk resting on the soil and supporting a cylinder into which shot can be poured the apparatus Is held in position vertically erti cally by means mean S ot of a tripod at the top of which Is mounted a small dial that tells to one anath of an inch how far the disk sinks into the soll soil as shot Is poured into the cylinder by means of the instrument it la is possible to get information ns as to how bow the soil will act in TA wet et weather the kind of soil beneath a road surface has a great deal to do with how it will stand up under modern traffic and engineers look upon this as an important consideration in determining the kind of road to be built this Is confirmed by a number of instances where two sections 0 of the same road have been built in exactly the same manner and subjected to the sams same traffic but on different types of soil one section lon has lasted asted well uell while the other has broken up in a manner that can only be explained by a lack of supporting power of the soil beneath the road the bureau has for some time been investigating this question along varl N ay iy k 6 alvi Y a I 1 M norwalk aspland ohio road bedfor and after given needed improve merit ous lines both in the field and in the laboratory studying the characteristics of different soils and experimenting with means to keep down the moisture content of the soil and thus increase its bearing po er the latest development has been the new device |