IMPROVEMENTS IN THE .CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS WORKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE .CONSTRUCTION
OF ROADWAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS WORKS."-A com-
munication from abroad by A. D. Boivin Jenty, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 22nd August 1871, and dated the 20th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 20th March 1871.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON; of the Office for Patents; 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
ROADWAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS WORKS;" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of roadways, pavements, or
any other works in which asphalte may be employed, and consists in the
use of cubes, flags, or blocks of asphalte of any shape or dimensions;
instead of the ordinary process of laying asphalte in the form of powder

page_text: or small grain, and compressing the same by rolling or otherwise. The
cubes, flags, or blocks may be prepared at the place where the asphalte
is extracted, and is effected by compressing it in moulds of the proper
size and shape in which it is submitted to very heavy pressure. The
blocks thus made are joined together when put down by means of gas
tar, pitch, bitumen, or any other substance answering the purpose; a
heavy roller is then passed over them to complete their adhesion and
regulate the level, and the joints are closed up by means of a red hot
iron tool.
The advantage of this Invention consists chiefly in securing the
regularity of the compression and an equal thickness of asphalte, and
in avoiding the defects caused by changes in temperature, or from
dampness, rain, or other cause during the completion of the work.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special
licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS, PAVEMENTS, AND OTHER
ANALOGOUS WORкs," being a communication to me from abroad by A. D.
Boivin-Jenty, of Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors or adminis-

page_text: trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say) :-
The various modes of applying asphalte for making roadways, pavc-
ments, and other analogous works have usually consisted in reducing
the bituminous rock to powder in any suitable and convenient manner,
and heating this powder, so that it may be spread over a layer or bed of
concrete, then well ramming the asphalte by means of cast-iron rammers,
so as to consolidate it into one mass. These operations are tedious and
difficult, especially if the season be unsuitable.
The necessary plant and apparatus for transporting and preparing the
asphalte are costly to purchase and keep in order; the numerous workmen
employed must be intelligent and well acquainted with the nature of the
work, and must consequently be well paid.
Although the process may be conducted under the most favorable
conditions it does not always succeed as well as could be wished. In
fact, if the powder is prepared beforehand and carried to the place where
it is to be used it does not always arrive there at the proper degree of
temperature for its proper agglutination and consolidation under the
operation of the rammers. It is therefore frequently preferred to heat
the powder on the spot, for which purpose it will of course be necessary
to bring to the spot all the materials and apparatus required. Complete
compression of the materials can never be obtained by means of ramming
with rammers in the usual way, and this compression is therefore finally
effected by means of the traffic. Whatever may be the skill of the
workmen the spreading of the powder is never regular and uniform, the
ramming operation moreover is more perfectly effected at one place
than another, lastly the rolling (which never takes place until the
roadway has become quite cold), can never remedy any defects which
may arise from bad work. The external surface of the roadway which
will be very even and uniform when the work is just finished, will in

page_text: time become uneven, and will present hollows more or less numerous
when the work of compression by the traffic has been completed. These
defects cannot be repaired by simply laying on an additional quantity of
asphalte to fill up the hollows, because when the powdered asphalte is
spread on in a thin coat it will not retain its heat long enough to admit
of it being made to adhere to the asphalte already laid. The defective
places must therefore be taken up and laid afresh.
The process which forms the subject of the present Invention, simply.
consists in compressing natural or artificial asphalte. in moulds of any
form and dimensions suitable for producing blocks for paving any road-
way. Asphalte in this form may be employed in all kinds of works, in
place of powdered asphalte which must be worked in a hot state on the
spot.
The compression and moulding of the asphalte can be effected by
means of any suitable or well known machine, such as those used for
agglomerating or consolidating ceramic products, bricks, and other
plastic articles. The mould should make the block in the form of a
prism, with a polygonal base, and of any suitable or convenient thickness.
The faces of the block should be very regular and exact, and the angles,
very sharp, so that the least possible space should be left for joints when
the blocks are put together. Although this system is so simple it effects.
a novel and useful result. It dispenses with expensive apparatus and
difficult skilled labour, which must be highly paid. It shortens con-
siderably the duration of the work on the spot; and, lastly, the paving in
blocks produces a regularity of surface and solidity of work which the
other modes of using asphalte will never attain.
For the purposes of the Invention it is preferred to use the siliceous.
asphaltic rock obtained from the Alicia Mine, near Maestu, in Spain,
because of the property it possesses of agglutinating in a cold state, but
the blocks or bricks may be made either cold or hot from any other
suitable asphaltic rock, and even from artificial asphalte, either with or
without the addition of any cementitious substance.
It will be evident that as all the moulded blocks intended for the
same piece of roadway or pavement are of exactly the same thickness
the. regularity and evenness. of the surface. will depend upon the
evenness of the substratum. It is, therefore, important that the latter
should be firmly consolidated and prepared with great accuracy
according to the intended profile of the road, whether the substratum

page_text: be formed of lime, concrete, or of mortar prepared with very hydraulic
lime. Upon the surface of the substratum is spread a layer of quick
setting cement, about one quarter of an inch in thickness, for the purpose
of forming a bed for the blocks. Upon this cement, while fresh and soft
the bricks or blocks are laid one against the other, just as ordinary
paving bricks or stones are laid, taking care to place and knock them
as closely together as possible by means of a soft wooden mallet, the
joints being arranged in such a manner that the longitudinal joints of
one row will correspond to the middle of the blocks of an adjoining row.
Before placing them in situ the sides or lateral faces of the asphalte
blocks are paved over with gas tar, pitch, or by preference with the tar
obtained from bituminous schist. This tar should be used in a liquid
and hot state, its object being to facilitate the adhesion of the blocks to
each other, and also to prevent water and mud from filtering and passing
through the joints. When a certain portion of the surface has been
completed, a cast-iron roller, weighing from eight to ten hundredweight,
is passed over it several times. When it is quite certain that the cement
which has been used as a bed for the blocks is perfectly set and hard
the road may, without inconvenience or risk of damage, be subjected to
the traffic of wheeled carriages. If from the first this traffic should be
great, all the blocks of which the surface is formed will be very quickly
cemented together, and all appearance of joints will be effaced.
The skill of the workmen will consist in placing the blocks perfectly
even and level, so as to present a perfectly regular surface of the desired
profile. As all the blocks will have been subjected to the maximum of
compression during their manufacture, and as their thickness will be in
proportion to the expected amount of traffic, the substratum will not be
affected or damaged by such traffic if it has been properly prepared and
consolidated. Repairs can be made very easily, whether they be neces-
sitated by making openings to obtain access to sewers, gas or water
pipes, or otherwise, or by accidental sinkings at any parts. The sunken
parts may be removed, and new blocks substituted for them, by proceeding
in the same way as for forming the road in the first instance. The
formation of a road in this manner may be proceeded with in any kind
of weather, and need never be stopped, except, in cases of severe frost,
which would prevent the use of the lime cement for the bed of the
blocks. Wet weather will have no effect upon the solidity of the road,
as the blocks will be laid in a cold state and upon a bed of freshly
prepared mortar or cement.

page_text: In rare cases, such for instance as when extra strength, solidity, and
durability may be required, or in very cold or rainy weather, instead of
the bed of mortar or cement a layer or bed of bitumen may be employed.
The blocks (in such cases) must be laid while the bituminous cement
is hot, and in the same manner as when a bed of cement is used.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me
by Letters Patent as aforesaid, constructing roadways, pavements, and
other analogous works of natural or artificial asphalte compressed in
moulds and thereby made into the form of blocks or bricks, which are
afterwards laid upon a suitable bed or substratum and firmly attached
or consolidated together so as to form an uniform and regular surface as
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.