IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS, FLOORS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir John Scott Lillie, Companion of the Most
Honorable Order of the Bath, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS, FLOORS,
"
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sir John Scott Lillie in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 28th October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
SIR JOHN SCOTT LILLIE, Companion of the Most Honorable Order of
the Bath, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, Her special
licence that I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sir John Scott
Lillie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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, my Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS, FLOORS, FOOTWAYS, AND OTHER LIKE
SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Sir
John Scott Lillie, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, and in what 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 Sir John Scott Lillic, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
The improvements consist in the formation of blocks and slabs for
the construction of roads, footways, and other like surfaces of broken
stone, gravel, wood, iron, metallic substances, or other hard material,
conjointly or separately, and caused to adhere by means of bituminous
compounds, or other cements. The moulds may be formed of sand or
of iron boxes with moveable sides and ends, and of any convenient size
or shape, such as that of a parallelogram two feet by one, and six
inches deep. I fill the moulds indiscriminately with the said materials,
or with alternate rows of wooden blocks, with the grain of the wood set
perpendicularly, and the intervals filled with the before-mentioned
materials cemented together. Metallic sand, borings, filings, or other
small pieces of metal, may be added to any ordinary cement, or bitu-

page_text: minous compound, for coating the surfaces of the blocks and slabs,
which may be cast with grooves.
For heavy traffic, wooden planks, from one to two inches thick,
should be attached to the bottom of the blocks, on which the small
wooden blocks, when used, should rest, and short pieces of wood,
embedded in a concrete or other foundation, to serve as an additional
support to the ends and sides of the said large blocks. For footways,
floors, and other like surfaces, I form slabs from one to two inches
deep, of the same combination of materials; and when great strength
is required, I attach them to boards of about one inch in thickness.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I
do not confine myself to any precise form, dimension, or mode of con-
structing the said blocks or slabs; but what I claim is,―
Firstly, the formation of blocks and slabs for constructing roads,
floors, footways, and other similar surfaces, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the covering the said or other paving blocks with metallic
sand, borings, filings, or other small pieces of metal, as herein-before
described.
Thirdly, the application of boards or planks for supporting the said
blocks, and also blocks of stone in ordinary use for paving purposes, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir John Scott Lillie, have hereto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-seventh day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
J. S. LILLIE. (L.S.)
Witness, L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU.