=Side Walls.=--The construction of the side walls above the foundation
courses is carried out as any similar piece of masonry elsewhere would
be built. To direct the work and insure that the inner faces of the
walls follow accurately the curve of the chosen profile, leading frames
previously described are employed.
=Roof Arch.=--For the construction of the roof arch, the centers
previously described are employed. Beginning at the edges of the center
on each side, the masonry is carried up a course at a time, care being
taken to have it progress at the same rate on both sides, so that the
load brought onto the centering is symmetrical. As soon as the centers
are erected, the roof strutting is removed, and replaced by short props
which rest on the lagging of the centers and support the poling-boards.
These props are removed in succession as the arch masonry rises along
the curve of the center, and the space between the top of the arch
masonry and the ceiling of the excavation is filled with small stones
packed closely. The keystone section of the arch is built last, by
inserting the stones or bricks from the front edge of the arch ring,
there being no room to set them in from the top, as is the practice in
ordinary open-arch construction. The keying of the arch is an especially
difficult operation, and only experienced men skilled in the work should
be employed to perform it. The task becomes one of unusual difficulty
when it becomes necessary to join the arches coming from opposite
directions.
=Invert.=--In all but one or two methods of tunneling, the invert is the
last portion of the lining to be built. In the English method of
tunneling, the invert is the first portion of the lining to be built,
and the same practice is sometimes necessary in soft soils where there
is danger of the bottoms of the side walls being squeezed together by
the lateral pressures unless the invert masonry is in place to hold them
apart. The ground molds previously described are employed to direct the
construction of the invert masonry.
=General Observations.=--In describing the construction of the roof
arch, mention was made of the stone filling employed between the back of
the masonry ring and the ceiling of the excavation. The spaces behind
the side walls are filled in a similar manner. The object of this stone
filling, which should be closely packed, is to distribute the vertical
and lateral pressures in the walls of the excavation uniformly over the
lining masonry. As the masonry work progresses, the strutting employed
previously to support the walls of the excavation has to be removed.
This work requires care to prevent accident, and should be placed in
charge of experienced mechanics who are familiar with its construction,
and can remove it with the least damage to the timbers, so that they may
be used again, and without causing the fall of the roof or the caving of
the sides by removing too great a portion of the timbers at one time.
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