At the beginning of the 20th century European roads were a dust hell

We complain a lot about them, but the asphalt is that Gray web that joins towns and cities around the world. Today are something we take for granted, but the roads we know Today they have just a century behind them. Beyond allowing the “soft” passage of vehicles, it was the element that allowed the car expansion At the beginning of the 20th century.

And we owe everything to an accident in a town in England and dust hateors.

John Loudon McAdam He was a Scottish engineer who had a vocation: build roads. He dedicated his life to perfecting these routes because he realized one thing: the traditional stone and earth were easily embodied and the maintenance was constant.

In other parts of Europe the roads were also being perfected, but their method, baptized as ‘Macadán’ was the one who imposed. His idea was to raise the roads a bit and give them some inclination so that the water was stored on the sides. To make them more “waterproof”, stone and gravel were crushed and compacted. That was covered with a layer of sand and seems simple, but it was a revolution.

Macadan’s roads were smoother than stone, it was more resistant and drained better. In addition, it was cheap, so it seemed like a Win-Win For governments and passersby, right? Well … not so much. The main problem was the dust that constantly rose due to that outer sand layer, but soon the natural enemy of the macadan came: the self -propelled vehicle.

The first cars were many things, but of course they were not popular. Not everyone could afford a car, but who did one had to spend some time shaking the dust after a trip along Macadán’s roads. The dust is not a friend of speed, since it is impregnated in the mechanical components, in the clothes and enters through the nasal and mouthpieces of the drivers and passengers.

The chance that gave rise to modern roads

Mcadam’s contribution was great, but also hit by the new century. This is how Edgar Purnell Hooley enters this story. This Welsh inventor was walking a good day of 1901 along a Derbyshire County road when he realized that part of the road was covered with something black.

When he asked what had happened, he was told that a carriage had lost a barrel of tar, spilling on the road and, to try to cover it, someone poured a scum of nearby furnaces. The mixture had solidified and, without pretending, had created a section of smooth road, no dust or potholes.

Hooley was lit the bulb and, neither short nor lazy, patented in 1902 the process of heating tar, mixing it with sand, crushed stone and other elements and compacting it. It was baptized as ‘Tarmacadam’ and it is the element that revolutionized the roads for that new ‘animal’: motorized horses.

It seemed the ideal solution by reducing dust, having much lower maintenance than the macadan and maintaining those resistance properties to the inclement weather. Besides, Little by little it was improved adding resins and portland cement to the mixture. They soon wanted to try that ‘miracle’ and the Radcliffe Road de Nottingham converted on the first paved road in the world.

The Babylonians already used the asphalt to perform some processes, but Hooley’s technique to mix scum and tar was the real revolution on the roads

Those eight kilometers showed that Tarmacadam was the mobility solution of the new century, but the car revolution was not only occurring in England. At the same time that Hooley patented his idea, Alberto I of Monaco confessed that he was fed up with the dust raised by the cars. Dust covered tourism was not attractive, so he asked a Swiss doctor named Ernest Guglielminetti to do something.

“We only breathe dust, the flowers suffer and it is absolutely necessary to do something. Would you have any idea?” That was his Challenge/Prayer For Guglielminetti, who had an idea. He recalled that, during his work in Indonesia, part of the hospital floor was composed of wooden planks covered with tar to facilitate cleaning.

So, he proposed to spread a mixture of hot tar, sand and records along forty meters in part of the land road surrounding the oceanographic museum. It was a success and they began to asphalt other roads. In addition, tar was abundant because it was a residue of gas plants for municipal lighting that, until it began to take advantage of roads, was thrown … into the sea.

Unlike Hoolyy, Guglielminetti did not patent absolutely anything, but remained very active perfecting the tar mixture, even participating in the First International Road Congress held in 1908 in Paris. It was there when He explained that dreamed with a network of thousands of kilometers of paved roads connecting all the countries of the world.

The conclusion of that congress was that tar was the ideal solution, but before it, there was already a League against dust that promoted the benefits of the asphalting. Everything developed quite fast, something logical if we take into account that the car also began to popularize. Putting Spain as examplein 1900 there were three cars enrolled. In 1905 there were already 275, but in 1910 the figure was almost 4,000.

That rapid evolution and adoption of the car required a renovation of roads. With the passage of time, the tar stopped used Due to its adverse health effects, being replaced by oil derivatives, but maintaining the basis of what Hoolyy and Guglielminetti devised.

And, returning to the Welsh inventor, the story did not end too well. Tarmac registered as a brand and founded the TAR Macadam Syndicate Ltd, but he was not a businessman and sold Sir Alfred Hickman. In addition to Wolverhampton parliamentarian, he had a siderurgy, so the scorus for the asphalting came out for free. He relaunted Tarmac In 1905 and turned it into a success.

So much that the company continues existing And it must, as on so many other occasions, to an accidental discovery. And something that also exists is the Macadan, especially in more rural roads or green roads. And yes, the dust raises is … curious.

Images | APNEUNZEHN74, E-Newspaper Archive, Diego Salgado from Santiago

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