IMPROVED on Dan ז DAMUS FOR SEDURES AND OTHER PLACES " CONSTRUC ROAD
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bell Galloway, of 15, George Street, in
the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of " ' IMPROVED
on Dan
ז
DAMUS FOR SEDURES AND OTHER PLACES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bell Galloway
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th July 1871.
I, GEORGE BELL GALLOWAY, of 15, George Street, in the City of
London,, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED CONSTRUCTIONS OF ROADS AND PATHS FOR STREETS AND OTHER
PLACES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improved constructions of roadways and
paths of streets and other places, whereby a firm hard surface can be
obtained for the safe passage of horses and other animals, and also for
securing the easy draught of vehicles.
I compress a mixture of fibrous material chopped or cut (old rope or
oakum, for instance), sand, or other calcareous matters rendered into a

page_text: pasty state by the addition of tar or other liquid body of a sticky
nature, in which hydrochloric, sulphuric, or other acid is present. A
quantity of this mixture is compressed into blocks of suitable sizes
and allowed to dry; they are then to be laid in the desired position,
and retained there by mortar or by any liquid asphalte poured into the
interstices.
In some cases I spread a layer of asphalte over the top of the blocks
when in place to produce a perfectly smooth surface, and I prefer to
adopt this plan at certain parts of the roadway for the wheels of
vehicles to run upon, leaving the other portions untouched for the
horses to travel over.
In many instances this plan can be adopted where stones are laid,
and in that case the asphalted course would form a way equivalent to
trams for the wheels.
In making paths according to my plan I prefer to use metal kerbs ]
and channel water ways, but this is not essential, as when the com-
position is laid and allowed to solidify kerbs are dispensed with. This
solidifying can also be adopted for the roadways or trams.
As a foundation for my roads and paths I propose to employ iron or
metal plates which may be arranged longitudinally or transversely to
the way, so that a strain upon a small arca of top surface would be
borne by a large surface of metal underneath, and thus avoid rinks or
slush holes in the top surface to a greater degree than when concrete
foundations are used. I may also use broken slag in the making of
concrete.
For the improvement of existing roads I propose to cover road
surfaces with the asphalte composition before spoken of by running it
into the interstices between the stones and covering them over so as to
produce a smooth surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said George Bell Galloway in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
BELL GALLOWAY, of 15, George Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Bell Galloway, Her special licence
that I, the said George Bell Galloway, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Bell Galloway, my execu
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thercafter 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 "IMPROVED CON-
STRUCTIONS OF ROADS AND PATHS FOR STREETS AND OTHER PLACES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Bell Galloway,
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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Bell Galloway, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 :-
of the
In the application of my Invention I intend to adopt any
following means and appliances to effect the objects stated or implied
in the title of my Letters Patent. In some cases I cover the existing
roadways or paths with a composition as hereafter described. I take
up the curb stones and clean them of the granulated and muddy matter
and relay them upon a foundation which I level up with gravel or with
a composition composed of ground resin, iron, slag, scoria, or reduced
slate, China clay, or other similar body combined or not with pitch, tar,
or other sticky material and into which the stones may be embedded; or
I relay the stones upon a sheet or plate of iron, cast or wrought, which
iron must be first coated with a material to prevent oxydation thereof, or
in lieu of the substances or the iron, as a substructure I employ planks
of soft wood, such as Norway fir or pinc, or other wood of a cheap and

page_text: soft character for the purpose of subduing the sound of the passing
traffic. I also treat macadamised roadways in the same manner. By
this means the stones are intermingled with the composition and as
the body sets forms a hard top surface with a pliable under surface, or
I cover existing roadways, stone, or macadam or rough paths with the
composition with which gravel or other stones or slate chippings are
first mixed or afterwards spread over.
According to another plan I remove the old roadway at places
preferably to form channels which when refilled in with my composition,
mixed or not with stones, serve for the wheels of vehicles to travel upon.
If stones are not mixed with the body they should be impressed into
the surface thereof by a roller.
I form in some cases metal channels or water courses, and I form
apertures in the side walls which form the curbs or upon the top so as
to permit of the gases or vapours that may generate or escape from
below to pass away into the atmosphere; or I make the curb portions
hollow to lead the gases and vapours to lamp posts so that they may
be consumed or destroyed by the gas flame, in which case many of them
would by their ignition increase the brilliancy of the light; the same
may be said if the hollow curbs are in connection with passages leading
from the sewers and drains. By this means all noxious vapours rising
from them could be utilized to increase the light of the street lamps,
or in lieu thereof they could be led into gutter pipes to the roofs of the
houses. The vapour channels may also, or some of them, be led into
the furnaces of factories in which steam is employed, or into the fire-
places or the chimneys of dwellings to become consumed or neutralized
therein, when the refuse or products only would escape into the
atmosphere through the chimney. The vapours may even be drawn
through the curbs by a fan or pump if found advisable, and disposed of
in the manner explained above.
The composition before referred to to form roadways and paths.
according to my Invention may have fibrous materials, such as chopped
yarn, oakum, or spent tan, or woody or prepared vegetable bodies mixed
with it, and the composition may be made to assume a hard solid body
when set or a somewhat soft yielding one according to the nature of
the locality or the amount of traffic which has to pass over it. Acids

page_text: may also be used in connection with the mixing process which would
become absorbed by some of the ingredients and render them capable of
combining or adhering to the others, and also of hardening or softening,
their constituents being changed in the presence of an acid.
The composition referred to may in some cases be first shaped or
moulded into slabs, plates, or blocks which can then be laid and after-
wards cemented together by a liquid asphalte or other adhesive material
poured into the joints or spaces or laid upon such as found desirable.
The proportion of ingredients to form the composition would vary, but
as an example I quote the following :-

page_text: proposed for carrying off the noxious gases therefrom and utilizing the
gases in the manner described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bell Galloway, hath here-
unto set his hand and scal, this Fifth day of January One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
H. GARDNER,
Patent Office,
166, Fleet-Street,
London.
G. B. GALLOWAY.. (L.S.)