| 摘要 |
Hitherto fore hard surface paths and roadways have been constructed in two ways; either with slabs of rock, concrete or brick, or with tar holding small pieces of rock (aggregate) in a formation. The trouble with slabs is that it is very difficult to brace them that they do not move with respect to their surrounding slabs, and so over time, each slab edge forms a ridge/bump with respect to the neighbouring slab surface. It is also difficult to seal the crack between slabs. Water seeps under the slab and softens the substrate. Water collects between the slabs and freezes, separating the slabs and weakening the road. The trouble with tar based formations is that they have no allowance for thermal expansion/contraction, and so cracks form and the road deteriorates in a rather short length of time. The longest lasting road that I have seen is brick, in the pattern of Figure 5. There are two problems with it though. First, the edges must be contained. Expensive curb work must be done in advance of the bricks, else the bricks on the edge of the formation will tend to fall away, and deteriorate the structure. Secondly, the pour in place curb work will deteriorate much faster than the roadway it contains, and so the spectre of pulling up sections of perfectly good roadwork for the replacement of badly deteriorated curb work tends to spur the maintenance departments into excessive inaction. Third, the pattern is a bit complicated, and so the laying must be done carefully, and with a bit of expensive skill. This invention is a geometric block (slab) where the circumference of the block is grooved in order to allow sealing tar or mortar to flow between a large configuration of blocks through a single application hole. Once the effluent has set and hardened, it forms sealing plugs in a latticework of locking pin/plugs that makes the shifting of one edge to another virtually impossible. Even when the plugs dry out and fracture, they remain valid locking mechanisms, disallowing one edge from moving against another for decades after the sealing role of the plugs has deteriorated far beyond viability. Roads made in such manner would have extreme resistance to heaving, sagging, rutting and potholing. Even without a consistent and stable substrate, these roads should remain exceptionally smooth and sound for many decades. |
