In- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLOCKS AND SLABS FOR BUILDING, PAVING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lee Norton, of Belle Sauvage Yard,
Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLOCKS AND SLABS FOR BUILDING,
PAVING, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES.”
Scaled the 2nd July 1872, and dated the 17th April 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lee Norton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th April 1872.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the
3 City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLOCKS AND SLABS FOR BUILDING,
PAVING, AND BUCH LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
blocks and slabs for building, paving, and such-like purposes. I make
blocks for such purposes by combining stone, bricks, or tiles by means
of asphalte with a backing of wooden boards. In building or paving
with such blocks they may be attached the one to the other by softening

page_text: the asphalte at the edges by heat. The blocks may be formed with
channels to receive pointing. A wooden pavement may similarly be
formed in slabs by combining the wooden paving pieces with a backing
of planks by means of asphalte. The wooden paving pieces should be
arranged endwise of the grain. Spaces may be left between the paving
pieces to give foothold for horses. The paving pieces are first arranged
in order on the backing boards and then the asphalte is poured on so as
to cover the whole. In cooling it shrinks and leaves shallow channels
in the face of the slab or block. Water channels may be provided by
inserting taper iron core bars between the paving pieces. For tramways:
I form in this way slabs containing the sleepers and rails and the pave-
ment between the rails. When I require a flush face to the block or
slab I lay the paving pieces face downwards, pour on the melted
asphalte, and then apply the backing boards with a number of holes
in to allow the air to pass through.
Stair treads may be made in this manner:-The wooden paving pieces
may be of any shape or color and may be arranged in ornamental
patterns, or slabs may be thus made with ornamental bricks or tiles.
Slabs suitable for roofing may be thus made with slates :-In some
cases I attach fillets of wood to the slabs and fix the slates with nails 2
to the fillets so as to leave air spaces under the slates and allow the
water to flow freely off. In some cases I form in this way angular slabs
with one or more angles according to the purposes for which they are
to be used, thus troughs may be constructed in this way.
I sometimes cement match boards together with asphalte and form 2
a back for slates or tiles which also are attached by means of the
asphalte, or such match board slabs may when hot be caused to adhere
to a wall which is thus at once prepared to receive ornamental papering.
When using wooden or stone blocks, clinkers, or bricks for paving,
and when the keyways or channels require to be formed of any depth 3
or form, I construct a mould to receive the paving and pour asphalte
over the back of it to which I attach a backing of wood of any desired
strength or thickness, or the backing may be formed of the asphalte
alone. Stair treads may be made in a similar manner, and they may
be formed of clinkers, bricks, stone, or other material.
3

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Lee Norton in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 17th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and soventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Lee Norton, Her special license
that I, the said James Lee Norton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Lee Norton, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BLOCKS AND SLABS FOR BUILDING, PAVING, AND
SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Lee Norton, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Lec Norton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say —
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
blocks and slabs for building, paving, and such like purposes.
.
I make blocks for such purposes by combining stone, bricks, tiles, or
other such like lumps or pieces by means of asphalte with a backing
of wooden boards.

page_text: In Figure 1 is shewn a slab formed of bricks or blocks a, a, a, com-
bined with a wooden backing b, b, by means of asphalte. In forming
such slabs I prefer to use a softer mixture of asphalte for attaching the
blocks to the slabs than that which fills the interstices between the
blocks, as I find that tho soft asphalte is the better for adhesive pur-
poses where it is not exposed, and the hard asphalte is preferable for
exposed positions. In some cases the backing boards are made to pro-
ject the width of half a block on cach side, and at the ends of the slab.
The backing is by preference in two thicknesses, boards running length-
wise of the slab, being crossed by other boards running from side to side.
These boards are cemented together by asphalte or otherwise fixed
together.
In Figure 2 I show a portion of a road paved with such slabs
as shewn in Figure 1. In forming these slabs I prefer to omit the
blocks which cover the joints so that when the slabs are first laid down
the joints between one slab and another are exposed to view as shewn
in the shaded portions on the plan. The omitted blocks are then
inserted, a little asphalte being poured in to make the blocks adhere to
the projecting part of the backing boards, These blocks thus being
caused to adhere the spaces may be filled in with the asphalte of the
harder kind and the road thus finished so as to present an uniform
appearance.
a, a, shews the unfinished portion of the paving, and b, b, the finished
portion. This roadway is supposed to be two slabs in width. Blocks for
building walls I also. form in the manner shewn at Figure 1, but in
this case the backing boards need not extend beyond the edge of the
block or slab, or the backing boards may be omitted, the asphalte
covering the backs of the bricks to a thickness sufficient to form a strong
backing. Stones may be cemented with asphalte to the faces of the
blocks, or the blocks may be faced with Portland cement. Or the a
asphalted surface of the blocks may be roughened by the application of
shingle and then faced with Portland cement. In some cases where
backing boards are used they may be made to project on one side to
form an overlapping joint. In building with such blocks they may be
attached the one to the other by softening the asphalte at the edges 3
by heat or by melted bituminous cement, The blocks may be formed
with channels to receive pointing, the interstices between the bricks
not being entirely filled with asphalte. A wooden pavement may

page_text: similarly be formed in slabs by combining the wooden paving pieces
with a backing of planks by means of asphalte. The wooden paving
pièces should be arranged endwise of the grain.. Spaces may be left
between the paving pieces to give foothold for horses. The paving
pieces are first arranged in order on the backing boards by dipping the
blocks in melted asphalte which causes them to adhere when placed in
position on the backing boards, and then the asphalte is poured on so as
to cover the whole. In cooling it shrinks and leaves shallow channels
in the face of the slab or block, or when I require a flush face to the
block or slab I lay the paving pieces face downwards, pour on the melted
asphalte, and then apply the backing boards with a number of holes in
to allow the air to pass through. Stair treads may be made in this
manner. The wooden paving pieces may be of any shape or color and
may be arranged in ornamental patterns, or slabs may be thus made with
ornamental bricks or tiles.
In Figure 3 is shewn a slab for paving which is composed of broken.
pieces of granite, clinkers, road metal, or other suitable material attached
to a wood backing by means of melted asphalte and then covered with
hard asphalte, so as to form a surface which will have a certain amount
of roughness imparted to it by the irregular lumps, while at the same
time it possesses all the advantages of an asphalte surface. The pieces
are placed on a bed of sand. Melted asphalte is poured amongst and
over them and the backing boards are then attached thereto. When set
the slab is then turned over, and the sand having prevented the asphalte
from getting to the face of the lumps they will be found projecting in
all directions. The harder asphalte is then poured over this surface,
and should there be any excess it can easily be scraped off by means
of a hot iron. In cooling this asphalte slightly contracts so as to form
depressions between the lumps, and thus cause that slight irregularity
on the surface which is desirable to give a good foothold for horses..
a shews the finished portion of the slab, and 6 the unfinished portion,.
or in place of the hard asphalting being put on the surface ashes,
gravel, small stone, or such material may be used and rolled to form a
surface.
In forming roadways where falls or inclines are required to carry off.
water, I prefer to lay the ends of the slabs on sleepers, the thickness.
of the sleeper depending upon the amount of risc it is desired to give,

page_text: for instance, in Figure 4, which is a section of a road 4 slabs in
width; a, b, c, are the sleepers under the ends of the slabs, the sleeper b
being twice the thickness of that of a or c. In this way an outline
approaching sufficiently near a curve for all practical purposes can be
given to the section of road. The space between the sleepers I prefer
to fill up with sand to bed the slab evenly. The sleepers should be
coated with asphalte or otherwise rendered impervious to moisture. For
tramways I form in this way slabs containing the sleepers and rails and
the pavement between the rails, as also outside.
Figure 5 is a section and perspective view of a portion of a tramway
thus arranged. a, a, are the backing boards; b, b, are the paving blocks;
c, c, are the sleepers; and d, d; are the rails, and all these parts are firmly
cemented together by the asphalte. Such tramway slabs are laid in the
same way as the slabs shewn at Figure 2.
For paving stables and other places when using wooden or stone:
blocks, clinkers, bricks, or other material for paving, and when keyways
for foothold or water channels require to be formed of any depth or
form, I construct a mould to receive the paving and pour asphalte
over the back of it, to which I attach a backing of wood of any
desired strength or thickness, or the backing may be formed of the
asphalte alone. For instance in making slabs for. paving stables with,
where it is desirable to have channels inclined from the head to the
tail of the stall, I form a mould such as that shewn in Figure 6.
The inclined fillets a, a, a, upon this mould form the inclined channels
b, b, b, shewn in the slab Figure 7.. It is also evident that these slabs:
may be formed in separate portions and jointed together when they aro
laid down in their places.
In making stair treads I employ a wood backing of the size of the
tread required, and I fix on to it a metal or other nosing, then I cement
to the backing, by means of bituminous cement, one or more rows of
blocks or cubes of hard wood with the end grain exposed. I place these
close up to the nosing to take the heavy wear, which falls upon the
edge of the tread, and in some cases behind these blocks or cubes I
fill up the rest of the width of the stair tread with hard asphalte, or as
already described the blocks may be applied so as to cover the entire
surface of the stair tread. A stair tread so constructed is shewn at
Figure 8.

page_text: In some cases I form angular slabs with one or more angles according
to the purposes for which they are to be used, thus a wooden box or trough
may be coated with melted asphalte, and then lined with tiles, slates,
stones, or other materials, which in this way are caused to adhere firmly.
5 Slabs suitable for roofing may be thus made with slates, or I sometimes
cement match boards together with asphalte, and form a back for
slates or tiles, which also are attached by means of the asphalte.
In some cases I attach fillets of wood to the slabs and fix the slates
with nails to the fillets so as to leave air spaces under the slates, and
allow the water to flow freely off. In Figure 9 I shew a roof constructed
on this plan. a, a, is a boarded surface, which by preference may be
coverd with canvas and asphalte, upon which are fastened the strips
or fillets b, b, upon these strips or fillets are fastened the cross fillets c, c,
to which the slates d, d, are attached. By this means a waterproof
3 roof may be formed with comparatively few slates, and an air space
is left between the slates and the asphalted surface so as to protect the
asphalte from the sun.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I
claim is,—
1st. The construction of blocks and slabs for building, paving, and
such like purposes by cementing bricks or tiles (ornamental or plain)
or stones or wooden or other blocks by means of bituminous cement
to a backing of wooden boards, substantially as described, and I also
claim the construction of such blocks and slabs, with a backing or
surfacing of bituminous cement, in place of the wooden boards, sub-
stantially as described.
2nd. I claim the construction of tramway slabs, substantially as
described. .
3rd. I claim the construction of slabs with water channels or gutters,
or keyways suitable for paving stables and other places, substantially as
described.
4th I claim the construction of stair treads substantially as dosesibed

page_text: 6th. I claim the construction of roofing slabs, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lee Norton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal; this Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.