Process of infusing liquid into settable porous material

Claim 2

The process of claim 1 in which said sheet conduit structure is discontinuous in the direction in which said slab is to extend so that predetermined portions of said settable material come in direct contact with said prepared roadbed.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 which includes forming said sheet conduit structure from a generally flat sheet of expendable corrugated paperboard in which said primary fluid channels are defined by the corrugations thereof which extend transversely of said inner form sections and said secondary fluid channels are defined by a uniform series of holes provided in the paper face ply which defines said upper surface of said sheet across substantially the full length and breadth of said face ply so that said fluid is meterable upwardly through said sheet over substantially its entire upper surface to insure uniform infusing of said settable material by said fluid.

Claim 4

A process of directly infusing fluid into a horizontally oriented settable mass of dry porous material, such as concrete, which hardens when mixed with fluid, such process being carried out in a series of successive steps in a substantially continuous operation to form a generally continuous slab of said settable material, comprising preparing a roadbed in a location determined by the direction in which said slab is to extend; providing a form structure of predetermined contour in which said settable material is to be set; horizontally orienting said form structure to extend along opposite margins of said roadbed; positioning a substantially rigid, generally flat preformed, self-sustaining sheet which defines a hollow conduit structure within said form structure, said form structure at least partially overlying opposite lateral edge margins of said sheet, said sheet conforming generally to the configuration and size of said form structure and having a plurality of primary fluid channels extending laterally horizontally internally thereof and a plurality of secondary fluid channels in communication with said primary channels and branching upwardly therefrom and extending through the upper surface of said sheet which is to be in contact with said settable material in said form structure; introducing a predetermined quantity of said settable material into said form structure to overlie and cover said surface of said sheet; compacting said settable material in said form structure on said sheet; introducing fluid substantially uniformly and in controlled fashion into said settable material through said lateral edge margins of said sheet for distribution through said sheet over substantially the entire extent of said surface of said conduit structure by providing hydrostatic heads adjacent said lateral edge margins of said sheet defined by quantities of said fluid introduced into said sheet and meterable thereby substantially uniformly through said primary channels and then upwardly and outwardly through said surface of said sheet through said secondary channels; said fluid being introduced into said sheet from fluid troughs defined by said form structure along said opposite margins of said roadbed; and maintaining said hydrostatic heads defined by such fluid to insure continued metering of said fluid through said surface of said conduit structure through said secondary channels until said settable material is thoroughly infused by said fluid for the full length of said slab.

Claim 5

The process of claim 5 which includes forming said sheet conduit structure from a generally flat sheet of expendable corrugated paperboard in which said primary fluid channels are defined by the corrugations thereof and said secondary fluid channels are defined by a uniform series of holes provided in the paper face ply which defines said upper surface of said sheet across substantially the full length and breadth of said face ply so that said fluid is meterable upwardly through said sheet over substantially its entire upper surface to insure uniform infusing of said settable material by said fluid.

Claim 6

The process of claim 5 in which said sheet conduit structure is discontinuous in the direction in which said slab is to extend so that predetermined portions of said settable material come in direct contact with said prepared roadbed.