MAKING OR PAVING PUBLIC STREETS AND HIGHWAYS, AND PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ROADS, COURTS, AND BRIDGES, WITH TIMBER OR WOODEN BLOCKS
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
STEAD, of Great Winchester Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of May, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said David
Stead, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said David Stead, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said David Stead, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the
Invention of "MAKING OR PAVING PUBLIC STREETS AND HIGHWAYS, AND PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE ROADS, COURTS, AND BRIDGES, WITH TIMBER OR WOODEN BLOCKS,"
_communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said David Stead, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, tho said
David Stead, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):
The Invention consists of a mode of paving by means of wooden blocks
cut or formed of similar sizes or dimensions; and in order to give the best
information in my power, I will proceed to describe the Drawing annexed,
which represents part of a road or other similar surface laid down with blocks
of wood of a sexagonal figure, which figure at once offers the advantage of
going together, and also that the lines of junction proceed in varied directions,
by which the blocks of wood will sustain each other more securely than if
formed of any other figure. I do not, however, confine my claim to sexagonal
blocks, as triangular or square blocks placed diagonally may be used with
advantage; and in order further to secure the blocks from sinking or getting
displaced, I employ dowels or pins to each block, as is shewn in the Drawing,
though I do not consider this requisite in all cases. The blocks of wood are to
be placed on the earth or formed with the grain of the wood in a vertical
position; and in. applying such blocks as a paving, the surface of the road or
other such way is to be prepared in as solid a. condition as possible, and to the
figure or intended slopes, and the blocks are successively to be applied, having
sand or other fine filling, driving each block up to. those against which it is
to rest, having first introduced the dowels or pins, which I prefer to be of oak.
And it should be stated that the wood I make use of should be of a hard and
solid texture, such as oak, pine, beech, &c., and that the size of the blocks I
prefer for public roads and streets, about seven to ten inches diameter at top,
slightly diminishing to the base, and about nine to twelve inches in height.
And I prefer that the wood. employed should be first boiled in tar or saturated
by other suitable material, acting as a preservative to the wood; and it will be
found advantageous to fill up the interstices between the blocks of wood with
melted pitch, or pitch and sand or earth combined; though this is not essential,
and I make no claim for such using of pitch and sand or earth.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Stead, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
DAVID (L.B.) STEAD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1838, the aforesaid David Stead came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her 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 stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.