An Improved Method of and Means for Removing from Roadways Snow, Mud, and other Deposits.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Jan., 1891-Accepted, 28th Feb., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of and Means for Removing from Roadways
Snow, Mud, and other Deposits.
I, DONALD NICOLL, of 12, Buckingham Street, W.C., Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to certain improvements by which roadways may be
relieved of snow mud or other objectionable deposits. At the sides of roadways
and next the kerbs or edges of footpaths connected therewith I cause to be sunk at
a suitable depth a line of tanks composed by preference of a substance commonly
known as Victoria stone these tanks extend continuously between gulley holes in
roadways and placed in their gutters so as to take to the sewers the surface
drainage. These tanks are covered with iron plates or guttering constructed with
projections on their surfaces in order to give a foothold to horses. These plates are
described by Figure 1 in a drawing attached to the Specification of a Patent
granted to me and numbered 1199 bearing date 25th Jany. 1887 but for this new
purpose I cause the surfaces of these plates or guttering to be also perforated so as
to pass into the said tanks road scrapings or sweepings while in a fluid state and to
prevent solid substances from entering the tanks I mask the inner side of the said
plates or guttering with galvanized iron net work and at each end of each line of
the sunken tanks that is to say at their points of junction with the gulley holes I
mask their ends with a perforated plate or with stout galvanized iron net work so as
to allow the liquid contained in mud or caused by melting snow gradually to escape
to the sewers. "By the free application of water I cause the surfaces of the roads in
summer weather to be covered with highly liquified mud so that the same may be
easily swept or scraped and deposited upon the perforated plates or guttering
hereinbefore described. The solids thus excluded from the tanks may then be
removed by carts in the ordinary way also the residuum within the tanks left there
after the water has been drained away. This operation is facilitated by the nature
of the construction of the plates or guttering described by me in the drawing
aforesaid. For the rapid removal of snow I adopt the following means after the
snow has been scraped or swept into a pile covering the said plates or guttering I
place in convenient positions travelling tanks with furnaces beneath the same and by
preference I use for heating purposes gas made to pass through a meter attached to
each travelling tank into which I either throw snow or fill with water taking care
to place therein a sufficient quantity of common salt and chloride or chloride of
lime the brine thus formed through boiling I discharge upon the snow piled over
the said plates or guttering and the melting snow will then rapidly escape to the
sewers which are prevented from unduly accumulating sulphuretted hydrogen
through the chloride of lime neutralizing the objectionable effect of salt when
applied to sewage within a confined space. When the fall of snow is not heavy or
may have been congealed by traffic or a partial thaw I cause the hose which in
ordinary cases would be used to distribute the brine over the plates or guttering to
be directed over the entire surface of the roadway which may then be swept in the
usual way towards the said plates or guttering but when the G G safety road
system forms the surface of the said roadways in the manner described by my
Specification to a Patent granted to me No. 798 bearing date 16th Jany. 1890 I
prefer to use the whalebone brushing machine as best adapted to remove congealed
ice or snow which may otherwise choke, up the spaces left between granite setts to
provide safe footing for horses.
Dated this 6th day of January 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of and Means for Removing from Roadways
Snow, Mud, and other Deposits.
I, DONALD NICOLL, of 12, Buckingham Street, W.C., Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention relates to certain improvements by which roadways may be
relieved of snow mud or other objectionable deposits. At the sides of roadways
and next the kerbs or edges of footpaths connected therewith I cause to be sunk
at a suitable depth a line of tanks composed by preference of a substance commonly
known as Victoria stone these tanks extend continuously between gulley holes in
roadways and placed in their gutters so as to take to the sewers the surface
drainage. These tanks are covered with iron plates or guttering constructed with
projections on their surfaces in order to give a foothold to horses these plates are
described by Figure 1 in a drawing attached to the Specification of a Patent
granted to me and numbered 1199 bearing date 25th January 1887 but for this new
purpose I cause the surfaces of these plates or guttering to be perforated so as to
pass into the said tanks road scrapings or sweepings while in a fluid state and to
prevent solid substances from entering the tanks I mask the inner side of the said
plates or guttering with galvanized iron net work and at each end of each line of
the sunken tanks that is to say at their points of junction with the gulley holes I
mask their ends with a perforated plate or with stout galvanized iron net work so
as to allow the liquid contained in mud or caused by melting snow gradually to
escape to the sewers. By the free application of water I cause the surfaces of the
roads in summer weather to be covered with highly liquified mud so that the same
may be easily swept or scraped and deposited upon the perforated plates or guttering
herein before described. The solids thus excluded from the tanks may then be
removed by carts in the ordinary way also the residuum within the tanks left there
after the water has been drained away. This operation is facilitated by the nature
of the construction of the plates or guttering described by me in the drawing
aforesaid. For the rapid removal of snow I adopt the following means after the
snow has been scraped or swept into a pile covering the said plates or guttering
I place in convenient positions travelling tanks with furnaces beneath the same and
by preference I use for heating purposes gas made to pass through a meter
attached to each travelling tank into which I either throw snow or fill with water
taking care to place therein a sufficient quantity of common salt and chloride or
chloride of lime the brine thus formed through boiling I discharge upon the snow
piled over the said plates or guttering and the melting snow will then rapidly
escape to the sewers which are prevented from unduly accumulating sulphuretted
hydrogen through the chloride of lime neutralizing the objectionable effect of salt
when applied to sewage within a confined space. When the fall of snow is not
heavy or may have been congealed by traffic or a partial thaw I cause the hose
which in ordinary cases would be used to distribute the brine over the plates or
guttering to be directed over the entire surface of the roadway which may then be
swept in the usual way towards the said plates or guttering but when the G. G.
safety road system forms the surface of the said roadways in the manner described
by my Specification to a Patent granted to me No. 798 bearing date 16th Jany.
1890 I prefer to use the whalebone brushing machine as best adapted to remove
congealed ice or snow which may otherwise choke up the space left between granite
setts to provide safe footing for horses.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I state that I do not
limit myself to the material forming the tanks or troughs as they may be formed

page_text: of fire brick clay or cast iron or other suitable substances neither do I limit
myself to their shape or size because when used in level roads they may gradually
deepen from a central point between gulley holes or other places of output and near
to which they may further deepen so as to form a sump-hole neither do I limit
5 myself to the formation of the projections upon the surface of the iron plates or
guttering placed over the said tanks or troughs and I declare that my claim is :-
The method and means afforded by perforated metal gutters with filtering
arrangements in conjunction with tanks or troughs for the reception of liquified
snow mud and other roadway deposits substantially as and for the purposes
0 hereinbefore set forth.
Dated this The third down of January 1891
DONALD NICOLL.