AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF n ROADS, PAVEMENTS, WALES, AND FLOORINGS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Oliver Macomber, of No. 10, Arundel
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF
n
ROADS, PAVEMENTS, WALES, AND FLOORINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Oliver Macomber
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th May 1871.
I, DAVID OLIVER MACOMBER, of No. 10, Arundel Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF
ROADS, PAVEMENTS, WALKS, AND FLOORINGS," to be as follows:-
I use a compound of pitch, ashes, and sand for paving, and for roads,.
walks, and floorings I take the ordinary pine pitch. in combination
with coal, ashes, and sand. The ashes are first sifted and then mixed
in about equal measures with sand of good quality. The mixture is
heated in any convenient manner. The pitch is heated in a pan or other
suitable vessel, and while heated the hot pitch is added in such quantities

page_text: as may be found necessary to form a composition of the desired con-
sistency. The mass must be well stirred and mixed while the heat is
continued, and the composition may be at once applied to the road bed
or walk, or it may be formed into blocks for storage or transportation.
The blocks before use may be again melted, and the composition raised
to a proper degree of heat before application. The proportion of the
ingredient may be considerably varied without materially affecting the
result, and may be advantageously used to adapt it to the various
conditions under which it will be used, two essential qualities of the
composition being that it shall not be injuriously affected by the hottest
or coldest weather.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Oliver Macomber in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
OLIVER MACOMBER, of 10, Arundel Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said David Oliver Macomber, Her
special licence that I, the said David Oliver Macomber, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David Oliver
Macomber, 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 "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, PAVEMENTS,
WALKS, AND FLOORINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said David Oliver Macomber, my executors or administrators, 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

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent,
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Oliver Macomber, 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 :-
I use a compound of pitch, ash, and sand for paving, and for roads,
walks, and floorings I take the ordinary pitch in combination with
coal, wood, and coke, or other ash and sand. The ash is first sifted and
then mixed in about equal proportions with sand of good quality. The
mixture is heated in any convenient manner. The mixture is heated in
a copper or other suitable vessel, and while heated the hot pitch is added
in such quantities as may be found necessary to form a composition of
the desired consistency. The mass must he well stirred and mixed while
the heat is continued, and the composition may be at once applied to
the road bed, walks, or flooring, or it may be formed into blocks for
storage use or transportation, or be laid in that form and shape for any
of the above purposes, or the blocks before use may be remelted. The
proportion of any of the ingredients may be considerably raised without
materially affecting the result, and may be advantageously varied
according to the conditions of climate under which the composition is
to he used, two essential qualities of the composition being that it shall
not be injuriously affected by the hottest or coldest weather.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not claim the composition of asphalte formed of ashes, sand, and pitch
in any proportions, but what I do claim is the improved composition of
asphalte by heating the ashes and sand either separately or together
before mixing them with the pitch in order to form the composition.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Oliver Macomber, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-