Improvements in Paving Roads and other Ways.
Year: 1887

page_text: ARTHUR COWPER RANYARD of No. 11 Stone Buildings Lincoln's Inn in the
County of Middlesex Barrister at law do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows :-
My invention consists in a method of paving Roads with alternate vertical layers of
hard and softer material, so that the edges of the layers are exposed and form the
wearing surface. In consequence of the mequal wear of the hard and soft material the
roadway will always present a series of ridges, as in the elephant's tooth which in wear
is always rough by reason of the edges of the layers of harder material projecting
above the softer. The material can be laid down in large blocks or bricks composed
of several vertical layers or plates of hard and softer cement which can be cast some
months previously and allowed completely to set before they are laid down on a
concrete or other foundation, or the surface of the Roadway may be built up of
separate vertical layers or plates of the hard and softer material cemented or held
together by any suitable material.
Dated this 10th day of Innum 1887
A. COWPER RANYARD.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Paving Roads and other Ways.
1 ARTHUR COWPER RANYARD of No. 11 Stone Buildings in the County of
Middlesex Barrister at law do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
My invention consists in a method of paving Roads Stables Stairs and other ways
and areas where it is desirable that the wearing surface should always be rough.
Bricks or blocks composed of alternate vertical layers of hard and softer material are
laid down so that the edges of the layers are exposed and form the wearing surface.

page_text: In consequence of the unequal abrasion of the hard and soft material the wearing
surface will present a series of ridges as in the elephant's tooth which as it is worn
away always remains rough by reason of the edges of the layers of enamel projecting
above the softer dentine.
The material can be laid down in large blocks or bricks composed of several
alternate vertical layers or masses of hard and softer cement which can be cast some
months previously and allowed completely to set before they are laid down on a
concrete or other foundation, or the wearing surface may be built up of separate
vertical layers or pieces of the hard and softer material cemented or held together by
any suitable material.
The blocks for paving roads may be made of alternate layers of pure portland
cement and of cement mixed with three times its weight of sand or clean gravel which
has been passed through a sieve with meshes threesixteenths of an inch in diameter.
I find that such blocks can be conveniently cast with the layers horizontal in moulds
with sides that can be removed. Several blocks are cast end to end each brick or
block being separated from the next by a plate of zinc sliding in groves in the planks
which form the sides of the blocks as shown in the drawing annexed in which fig. I
represents a casting box in which six bricks each 12 inches long and four inches deep
can be made a, a, a, a are the zinc plates running in vertical groves-b, b, bare
blocks at either end and in the middle to keep the boards forming the sides apart and
c, c, c are binding screws, holding the sides together, fig. 2 is a plan of the casting
box, and fig. 3 represents four bricks laid down in position on a bed of concrete.
The cement may be poured into the mould in a liquid or nearly liquid state and the
mould together with the support on which it stands shaken until the newly added
cement runs into a horizontal layer-When this is partially set, but still wet after
the lapse of about a quarter of an hour a layer of cement mixed with sand may be
added, and so on alternately until a brick of the required breadth is built up.
In order to avoid noise and jolting of the traffic the layers must not be too thick and
the bricks must be evenly laid. Three quarters of an inch for the thickness of the
softer layers and a quarter of an inch for the thickness of the harder layers will give
a series of ridges three quarters of an inch apart over which a carriage wheel will pass
practically without jolting. If desired the blocks may be made much larger than
ordinary bricks so as to lessen the number of joints and decrease the probability of
uneven laying.
Having now practically described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I claim is
A pavement consisting of alternately hard or wear resisting and soft or more rapidly
wearing layers or masses laid down so that the edges or sections of the layers or
masses form the wearing surface.