Manufacture of road stone and respective quality requirements in the pre-revolutionary Russia

Abstract

The paper studies the establishment and development history for road stone quality requirements and covers its manufacture in the pre-revolutionary Russia. It is shown that industrial-scale production of road stone was first initiated in Russia as late as at the end of the 19 century. Due to the development of road construction technologies, it became requisite to assess the quality of rocks used to produce crushed stone. The first speculative conclusions on the effect of moisture, mechanical and temperature loads on the quality of crushed stone were made in the middle of the 19 century; however, at the time, there was no uniformity in how to establish the material quality. Crushed stone quality indicators (strength, abrasion, grain shape, and some others) were formulated at the beginning of the 20 century, when mechanized crushed stone manufacturing methods were being first introduced in Russia. In the same period, methods were developed for establishing certain crushed stone quality indicators in laboratory conditions. The underlying principles for these methods, in fact, correspond to the current methods of testing physical and mechanical properties of rocks. The difference lies in the equipment design, experimental conditions, and quantitative assessments of the indicators studied. In general, the late 19 – early 20 centuries may be referred to as the period when the scientific approach was first applied to crushed stone quality studies in Russia and the foundations for its standardization were laid.