IMPROVEMENTS IN STABLES, SHEDS FOR CATTLE AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES, AND IN PAVING OR FLOORING FOR THE SAME AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Lee Norton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
November 1871.
I, JAMES LEE NORTON, of Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STABLES, SHEDS FOR CATTLE AND SLAUGHTER HOUSES,
AND IN PAVING OR FLOORING FOR THE SAME AND OTHER SURFACES," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is, firstly, to enable the dung and urine
from horses and cattle to be collected together in covered pits or boxes,
and yet allow of the cattle or horses standing on a horizontal platform or
paving, in place of on a sloping paving as heretofore. The advantage of
thus collecting the dung and urine together being that they may sub-
sequently be dried together in a drying machine, by which means a
valuable concentrated manure can be obtained at a small cost.
For this purpose I employ an openwork paving, as for example, such
as is described in the Provisional Specification lodged by me on the 22nd

page_text: July 1871 (No. 1938), and the 4th October 1871 (No. 2627), or other
openwork pavement, say of wood alone, or of iron formed in sections, and
which can by preference be turned or lifted up. Below the openwork
pavement an incline or inclines are formed leading to a pit or receptacle
formed by preference at the foot or back part of the several stalls; into
this pit or receptacle a box or lining may be placed to receive the dung
and urine. The pit or receptacle is also covered over with a moveable
section or sections of openwork paving, which can be raised from time to
time to allow of the dung being swept or thrown into the receptacle or
pit, or of the box or lining of the pit being taken out and emptied, or the
pit itself might be used to receive the dung without having a removable
box or lining. The urine which passes down through the openings in the
paving is received on to the inclined plane or planes below, and flows
down into the pit or box, and is absorbed by the dung therein. Where
the stall of a stable has already been paved the openwork paving may be
placed above it, the surface of the old paving would then form the
inclined plane below the openwork paving for the urine to flow down
either into a pit formed at the foot of the stall, or into a gutter leading to
a pit. It is not essential that the whole of each stall should thus be
paved with openwork paving, as the central portion only might thus be
paved, the side portions being paved with any ordinary paving, and made
to slope downwards from the sides of the stall to the edge of the open-
work paving. Or a simple gutter down the centre of a stall may
similarly be employed to conduct the urine to a pit, or to a gutter leading
to a pit. If the pit be formed at the foot of the stall the pit and gutter
are covered with movable sections of paving as above described.
In some cases I employ bearers placed longitudinally of the stalls to
support the several sections of openwork pavement; in this case the
inclined plane may if desired be formed of boards impregnated with
creosote placed between and carried by the bearers or supports of the
openwork paving, or the inclined plane or planes may be of asphalte,
cement, tile, or other material made water-tight, and the various sections
of openwork paving be supported by suitable feet, or otherwise supported
by bearers. For a loose box the pit may be at the centre or other
convenient part.
Slaughter houses may be constructed in a similar manner with open-
work paving in sections, or with openings between the several sections,
and with inclines below leading to pits or boxes, into which any liquid or

page_text: blood may flow and afterwards be absorbed if desired by absorbent
materials. The openwork pavement may be constructed of strips of
wood cut lengthwise of the grain, and with lengths of hoop or flat bar, or
angle iron, or iron of other sections secured to the side edges of the strips.
The strips of wood are placed side by side with slight spaces between
them, and are connected one to the other by lengths of iron secured to
their under sides, or to their ends, or otherwise, or they may be arranged
so that they are not connected together. The several strips of iron may
if desired be attached at their ends to an outer framework of iron.
In a similar way blocks of wood cut endwise of the grain may be tied
one to another by bars or strips of metal either with or without spaces
left between the several blocks. The upper surface of the wooden strips
may be covered with kamptulicon, or with cork and kamptulicon, or with
cork alone, or with other elastic material, or the elastic material may be
let into the surface of the wooden strips as described in the Specification
No. 2627, before mentioned. Wooden strips thus covered or partly
covered may be used either with or without strengthening bars of iron at
their sides, they might also be secured to wooden supports or bearers, or
be otherwise carried. Paving such as herein-before described may be
formed in segments, and movable, the several segments to fit against one
another and form a flooring or covering for a floor; paving or flooring
constructed as herein-before described is also applicable for covering over
street gutters or areas, or such like, or for paving or flooring other
surfaces.