Improvements in Means. for Paving Streets, Roads, Pathways, and the like, and in the Manufacture of the same.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 19th Oct., 1895
DI BUITICATION.
Improvements in Means. for Paving Streets, Roads, Pathways, and
the like, and in the Manufacture of the same.
I, CHARLES WILKIN JEFFERSON, of 69 Manor Road, Stoke Newington, in
the County of Middlesex, also of Schenectady in the United States of America
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My invention relates to means for paving streets, roads, pathways, and the like.
and in the process of manufacture of the same, and has for its object the production
of a paving medium of a more lasting nature than that of wood, of a less slippery
nature than that of asphalte, and of a more yielding nature than that of stone; in
other words I arrange to combine the specific advantages of the three types of
paving, and avoid at the same time their specific disadvantages.
My invention consists firstly in the combination of fibrous peat and asphalte to
form a paving medium and secondly in the process of manufacture of the same.
To carry my invention into effect I may take blocks of dried peat which have
been cut to a suitable size for paving purposes and I impregnate them with molten
asphalte either by soaking or by any equivalent method, such as impregnation'
under pressure. In practice I find it is difficult with some forms of densé peat to
produce thorough impregnation to the centre within a reasonable time, and in this
case I make the molten asphalte more liquid by the addition thereto of coal tar,
pitch or a residual oil thereof.
By this means I can also control the hardness of the finished block. As a
naturally dried peat block will absorb a large quantity of the asphalte solution,
more than is necessary to convert the peat into a solid firm state, I subject the
asphalte impregnated block of peat to pressure to produce consolidation and
express therefrom any excess of asphalte there may be present.
This I effect by subjecting the block while in a heated condition to pressure
within a mould, so that the resultant block is of a definite size and shape. The
result of this treatment is that the fibres of the peat are closely compressed
together, the asphalte holding them and filling up all the spaces between the fibres.
After the block has been thus prepared and is cool and of a proper hardness it
may be used for paving in the same manner as those made of wood or stone.
Or 1 may first disintegrate the peat and then soak the fibres in molten asphalte ;
from the mass of material thus produced while in a heated condition I form bricks
or blocks of a suitable size for paving purposes in a machine in a similar manner
as in moulding bricks of clay, the consolidation of the material taking place in the
process of forming the brick or block.
In order to use the material for forming sheet pavements I prepare the mixture
as above described and I spread or roll out a heated mass of it in situ subjecting
it to heavy pressure during rolling or pressure by heaters to produce thorough
consolidation. I may if desirable remove by washing or by disintegration and
sifting any superfluous earthy matter that may be present in the peat before
treatment with the molten asphalte.
Or I may take the disintegrated peat fibre and asphalte which has been reduced
to a powder, and mix them together in a dry state in suitable proportions.
This dry material when heated is in a more or less plastic state and can be
moulded and pressed into bricks, or rolled or spread out into sheet form.
་

page_text: "
Care must be taken in all cases not to raise the temperature of the asphalte to so
high a point as to carbonize the fibres of the peat.
سلم
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that what I
claim is :-
1st. A material for paving purposes consisting of dried peat impregnated with
an asphalte composition and consolidated by pressure either in situ or in detached
blocks, substantially as described.
}
2nd. A process for the manufacture of paving material consisting of drying
peat, impregnating it with a molten asphalte composition, consolidating the mixture
by pressure, and forming the material into its ultimate shape in a heated condition,
substantially as described.
1
3rd: In a manufacture of paving, the mixture of disintegrated peat fibre with
powdered asphalte, the heating of the mixture and the formation of the mixed
material in a heated state under pressure, into its ultimate form or shape,
substantially as described.
4th. In a manufacture of paving material, the disintegration of the peat, the
removal therefrom of any excess of earthy matter, the impregnation of the residual
fibrous matter with a molten asphalte composition and the laying of the material
in situ, in a heated condition and a simultaneous consolidation of the same by
pressure substantially as described.
Dated this outh dan T.1 1005
FELL & WILDING,
1 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C., Agents for the Applicant.
L6.