IM- PROVEMENTS IN ROADS OR WAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND FOOT-PATHS GENERALLY
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Butler Dodgson, of Upper Clapton, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ROADS OR WAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND FOOT-PATHS
GENERALLY."
Sealed the 4th June 1853, and dated the 10th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Butler*
Dodgson, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th March 1853.
I, THOMAS BUTLER DODGSON, of Upper Clapton, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS OR WAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND FOOT-PATHS
GENERALLY," invented by the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, to be as
follows, that is to say:
The said Invention consists of a mode or modes of constructing
Roads or Ways, Pavements, and Foot-paths, partly of metal and
partly of other materials.
The metal part or parts the Inventor casts or makes in frames, so as
to form spaces or compartments, which may be filled with wood, stone,
or similar material.

page_text: The forms and sizes of the frames and spaces or compartments may
be varied, and they may be filled so that they may be either above
below, or on a level with thic fillings.
A road way, or pavement, or path thus formed, may have a sub-
stratum of clastic or soft material placed under the whole of it, or
under the metallic parts or the fillings only, so as to impart a small
degree of elasticity to it, or to diminish the sound produced by wheels
rolling over it.
The metallic frames may be cast or fastened together in any con-
venient manner, so as to make them more firm, and facilitate the
laying them down.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 9th September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS BUTLER DODGSON, of Upper Clapton, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of March in the year of
our Lord One thousand oight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of er reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, Her special licence,
that I, the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, my
executors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ROADS OR WAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND FOOT-PATHS GENERALLY," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: 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 Thomas Butler Dodgson, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):
My said Invention consists of a mode or modes of constructing
Roads or Ways, Pavements, and Foot-paths, partly of metal and
partly of other materials.
The metallic part or parts I cast or make in frames, constructed in
such a manner as to form spaces or compartments, which may be filled
with wood, stone, or any other similar material.
The forms and sizes of the spaces or compartments may be varied,
and such form or forms, size or sizes, may be adopted in every case as
may be most suitable for enabling the roadway or pathway or pavement
to bear the traffic which will pass along it.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, of the drawings hereunto annexed, I
have shewn top views of frames made with various forms of such spaces
or compartments; Figure 1, being a frame having a mixture of
hexagonal and diamond-shaped spaces; Figure 2, a frame having square
spaces or compartments; Figure 3, a frame having each of its spaces in
the form of a parallelogram, and placed so that the end of one space or
compartment shall be opposite the middle of each of the next adjoining
spaces; Figure 4, a frame having diamond or lozenge-shaped spaces;
and Figure 5, a frame having hexagonal spaces or compartments.
The metallic bars or rails of which these frames are formed may be
made of such a depth that the upper edges of the bars may either be
somewhat higher than the fillings, as shewn in Figure 6, which is a
vertical section of a part of the roadway, shewn in Figure 3; or the
upper edges of the bars may be lower than the fillings, as shewn in
Figure 7, which is a vertical section of a part of the roadway shewn
in Figure 2; or they may be on a level with the fillings, as shewn in
Figure 8, which is a vertical section of a part of the roadway shewn in
Figure 4.

page_text: These bars or rails may be made larger at the bottom than the top,
as shewn in Figures 6 and 7; or larger at the top than the bottom, as
shown in Figure 8; in which last mentioned figure the fillings are
shewn resting upon the foundation under the roadway or pavement,
and having only lateral contact with the bars or rails between them; or
the bars or rails may be made as shewn at Figure 10.
The metallic bars or rails may be cast or fastened together in any
convenient manner; and I cast or make them in, upon, or attached to
frames or plates or in picces, so as to make them more firm, and faci-
litato the laying down of the intended roadways, pathways, or pave-
ments; and the bars or rails may be made with projections or shoulders,
as shewn in Figures 6, and 7, so that the edges of the bottoms of the
fillings, or of the elastic material under the fillings, shall rest upon pro-
jections or shoulders, as shewn in the figures.
The fillings which I introduce into the spaces or compartments may
be made of any material which may be most suitable for bearing the
wear and tear to which the road or pavement will be subject to; and
such fillings should be made so that they may be introduced with
facility into the spaces in which they are to be placed.
When I introduce the fillings, I prefer to cement them, by any con-
venient cement, into the spaces in which they shall be placed, for the
purpose not only of causing the fillings to be more securely held in
their spaces, but also for the purpose of proventing the water which
may fall upon the road from percolating through the joints into the
foundations of the road; and I prefer to cement the joints between the
frames for the same purpose. A roadway, pathway, or pavement thus
formed may have a substratum of elastic or soft material placed under
the whole of it, and upon the foundation upon which the roadway,
pathway, or pavement, is supported, as shown in Figure 9, which is a
cross section of a carriage-way, having roadway or pavement laid down
according to my Invention, the section being taken at the joints or
joinings of some of the frames, and through the middles of the alternate
frames, and thus shewing end views of some of the frames, and vertical
sections of the others.

page_text: Instead of the elastic substratum being placed under the whole of
the roadway or pavement, it may be laid under each of the fillings
only, more especially in such pavements as shewn in Figure 7, in which
the fillings rise above the bars or rails.
By placing a soft or elastic substratum under a roadway, pathway, or
pavement, in this manner, a small degree of elasticity may be imparted
to it, or the sound produced by wheels rolling over it may be diminished.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Butler Dodgson, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
THOMAS BUTLER DODGSON. (Ls.)