Improvements in and relating to Wood Flooring and Paving and Blocks therefor.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Dec., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 19th Sept., 1900-Accepted, 24th Nov., 1900
TRUVARURAL
Improvements in and relating to Wood Flooring and Paving and
Blocks therefor.
I, WILLIAM SHOOSMITH, of 5, Eastern Road, Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, Sanitary Expert, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
According to my invention, in order to allow for the swelling and shrinking,
I interpose at desired intervals in a wood street paving a run of creeping spring
blocks.
Each spring block is, according to my invention, recessed at one side or end,
or both sides or ends, and within each recess a strip or other spring is secured
the ends of which spring normally project beyond the surface of the block and
bear upon the adjacent surface of the block of the adjoining run.
The joint between the adjacent runs of blocks may be formed of elastic
material, and it will be seen that should swelling of the paving occur the springs
will be forced within their recesses before any bulging or damage occurs to the
paving as a whole.
In lieu of the metallic spring before alluded to I may place a block of rubber
or other suitable elastic material within each said recess, allowing a clearance
for the deformation of the rubber or its equivalent when pressure from adjacent
blocks is exerted upon it.
Blocks constructed as described may advantageously be employed for wood-
block flooring of any description and such like purposes.
1000
A. F. SPOONER,
323, High Holborn, London,
Agent for the Applicant.
Improvements in and relating to Wood Flooring and Paving and
Blocks therefor.
I, WILLIAM SHOOSMITH, of 5, Eastern Road, Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, Sanitary Expert, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
-
My invention, which has for its object to provide means to take up the swelling
and shrinkage of wood paving blocks occasioned by atmospheric changes or

page_text: other causes, consists essentially in interposing, at desired intervals, a course of
spring blocks or a run of elastic material, forming an expanding and contracting
joint; the joint so formed being in some cases filled in with a running of per-
imanently pliable material.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention as applied to
the piece of a roadway,
Figure 1 is a plan,
Figure 2 is a sectional plan on the line A-B Figure 3 drawn to a larger
scale,
Figure 3 is a vertical section on the line C-D Figure 2,
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are similar views to Figure 3 illustrating modifications
and,
Figure 7 shows in elevation, the left-hand block of Figure 5.
As will be understood the blocks a forming the paving are set upon a base
or foundation of cement or the like in the usual way. b, b in Figure 1 represent
the expanding and contracting joints; they are illustrated as recurring at
every third course and between the channel courses, but they may be more
or less frequent as desired.
According to my invention each block going to form the expanding and
contracting joint is preferably recessed at one side or end or both sides or ends.
Figures 3, 5 and 7 show such a recess c formed in one side of one course of
blocks whilst Figure 4 shows such recesses in the adjacent sides of two rows
of blocks.
For
The expanding and contracting joint may be formed in various ways.
example I may, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, affix within the recess c of each
spring block a strip-spring d, or other spring like body which projects beyond
the face of the block. Or, as shown in Figures 5 and 6 the spring-like body
may be formed of a block of indiarubber or other elastic material e which
projects, as before, beyond the face of the block. In the latter case it is prefer-
able that a clearance, as illustrated by Figures 5 and 7, should be allowed so
as to admit of the deformation of the rubber block when pressure from the
adjacent blocks is exerted upon it.
Figures 2, 3, 5 and 6 show the joint completed by a filling f of permanently
pliable substance. This may be composed of any suitable material or mixture
which does not tend to harden or crack. I have found that a mixture, in
suitable proportions, of Stockholm tar, pitch and sawdust is well adapted for
this purpose, or sand may be substituted for the sawdust. This mixture, while
in a heated state, is run into the joint.
As a modification I may, as shown in Figure 4, form the expanding and con-
tracting joint of a strip g of indiarubber or like elastic material; in this case it
is better that the adjacent blocks should be recessed so that when the blocks
swell pressure is exerted upon the rubber strips at certain parts only, such
rubber strip being free to deform itself into the recesses c of the blocks.
In cases where a filling material such as f is employed it may be found advan-
tageous to bevel the two adjacent upper edges of the blocks as shown at ĥ in
Figures 5 and 6. When the blocks are in a dry or shrunken condition the
filling will be substantially as shown in Figure 5, and when swelling of the
blocks occurs it will become slightly domed as shown in Figure 6. The bevelling
of the edges h of the blocks allows more space for the filling f and obviates the
tendency of the filling "doming" to such an extent as to be liable to become
spread over the surface of the blocks by the traffic and therefore unable to return
to its normal position when the blocks again shrink.
It will be seen that should swelling of the paving occur the springs dor
rubber blocks e or strip y will be forced within the recesses c before any bulging
or damage occurs to the paving as a whole, and the pressure from the adjacent
blocks will only result in the filling f exuding slightly from the joint. On
the other hand when shrinkage occurs the said filling will still adhere to the

page_text: sides of the adjacent blocks and the surface of such filling will merely become
somewhat grooved or depressed..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is;-
1. A wood paving block having a strip-spring or a block of elastic material
attached to it substantially as set forth.
2. A wood paving block having one or more recesses and a strip-spring or
a block of elastic material affixed within such recesses substantially as set
forth.
3. A paving comprising, in combination, wood blocks formed either with or
without recesses and with or without bevelled edges, a strip-spring or a block
of elastic material affixed to the said wood blocks, and a filling of pliable sub-
stance between two adjacent courses of the paving.
4. In a wood paving the interposition of a strip of indiarubber or like elastic
material between two adjacent courses of the paving to form an expanding and
contracting joint substantially as set forth.
5. The paving blocks and wood paving constructed substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 19th day of september 1900.
A. F. SPOONER,
323, High Holborn, London,
Agent for the Applicant.