A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING AND ERECTING BRIDGES
Year: 1807

page_text: PALMER'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PALMER, of Enon Cottage, Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third 'did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of
June, in the forty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
John Palmer, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Palmer, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING
AND ERECTING BRIDGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said John Palmer, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after' the
date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto bad, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Palmer, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in manner
following (that is to say) :-
1 The abutments of proper materials, as in the construction of common
bridges, inclosing a bar or beam of cast iron of sufficient strength and thickness

page_text: to bear the weight intended, and so secured as to prevent the possibility of its
giving way. 2-The piers or supporters are to be of cast iron, erected on
platforms or bases of cast iron, resting on rocks or other hard materials.
Theso supporters may be formed of ten, fifteen, or any number of cast-iron
columns, according to the width of the bridge, and the weight they are
intended to bear, with two or more cast-iron stays to go from each of these
columns into the platforms or bases, one large cast-iron beam or more to rest
on the top of the columns, so as to unite the whole together, and sufficiently
stout. There may be many piers or supporters formed in this way, propor-
tioned in height with and strength to the design of the architect; or the piers
may be made of stone or brick as in other bridges. 3rdly -From the abut-
ments to the piers or supporters, and from one of these to another, chains must
be passed, made of iron, brass, copper, or any other metallic substance. These
chains may be either flat, circular, or oval, or of any other construction, and must
be placed parallel with each other, and drawn to the same degree of tightness.
If they swag, iron or other metal rods should be passed through at proper
distances, like basket work, which will braco them, and being properly braced
and fastened (after having been first proved), form a support for the roadway.
4thly-On these .chains planks are to be laid of about eight inches wide and
four thick. These planks should be fastened to each other with hinges or
rings, which would keep them in their places, and yet allow them to move
properly with the chains; or rather the passage from one pier or set of sup-
porters to another made be made in this way:-Let flat chains be formed of
hinge work from about four to twelve inches long, sufficiently strong and
proved. These are to be laid as chains, and the planks fastened to them
as in common door work. A road may be made by these means that would
bear any weight. 5th.-The guard or side fences of the bridge may be well
formed by fixing chains of any construction sufficiently strong from one upright
to another, placed on the top of the piers or supporters, and if thought neces-
sary, placing iron wire against them on the inside of about nine or ten feet
high. Bridges on this plan may be so constructed as to take down and replace
at pleasure with very little trouble or expence, and may be repaired with tho
greatest care when found necessary.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Palmer, have hereunto set my hand
and seal the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.
JNO PALMER (L.B.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1807, the aforesaid John Palmer came before our said Lord the
King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.