CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING STREETS, ROADS, AND OTHER WAYS WITH WOOD, AND ALSO IN THE MEANS OF ENABLING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS TO PASS OVER SUCH ROADS, AND OTHER SLIPPERY SURFACES WITH GREATER SAPETY THAN HERETOFORE
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OSBORNE
REYNOLDS, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Osborne Reynolds, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Osborne Reynolds, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Osborne Reynolds, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN COVERING STREETS, ROADS, AND OTHER WAYS WITH WOOD, AND
ALSO IN THE MEANS OF ENABLING HORSES AND OTHER ANIMALS TO PASS OVER SUCH
ROADS, AND OTHER SLIPPERY SURFACES WITH GREATER SAPETY THAN HERETOFORE;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Osborne Reynolds, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in Her 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.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Osborne Reynolds, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, (that is to say):-
My Invention of certain improvements in covering streets, roads, and other
ways, with wood, and in the means of enabling horses and other animals to pass
over the same with greater safety than heretofore, may be divided into two
parts, and consists,―
Firstly, in various improvements upon a former Invention, for which I
obtained a Patent on the Twenty-seventh April, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-one, for improvements in paving streets, roads, and
ways, and,
Secondly, in a novel method of making the shoes of horses and other animals,
to prevent them from slipping, and giving them a firmer hold on the pavement."
In order to form a firm, compact, and cheap paving, I first level. the ground. and
ram it hard, covering it also with sand if desirable. Upon this I lay boards,
planks, beams, laths, or slips of wood, either in close contact or with any
intervals between them; and upon these boards so arranged I place blocks of
wood of any form. The forms of blocks which I prefer are parallelopipedons,
or other figures such as may be formed by one cut, either oblique or perpen-.
dicular to the grain of the wood from a plank of any breadth, and of any:
thickness, not exceeding four inches; I also use blocks formed similarly from.
round or unhewn timber. If desirable, I place a second or even a third layer
of boards on the first, imbid them wholly or partially in cement, nail, or other-
wise fasten them together. If desirable, I intersperse between those sides of
blocks which are in contact a few grains of gravel or other hard substance not
smaller than spheres, whose diameter is one-twentieth of an inch, so that these
grains may be partially imbedded in each of two adjacent sides, and thereby.
strengthen their mutual support. To make the pavement water-tight, I sur-
round the blocks, when desirable, with cement; and to unite the whole
compactly together, I secure the blocks to the foundation planks, or to each

page_text: other or both, by nailing or pinning each block to the mass already formed.
This method of fastening the blocks together is obviously different from any
of the methods hitherto employed of securing a number together by means of
pegs, pins, or dowels.
To roughen the surface, I scatter upon it by the hand
or other instrument, gravel or broken stone, screened so as to contain neither
dust nor sand, nor grains of any size less than that described above. I scatter
this gravel in any quantity, not exceeding four pounds avordupois to the
square yard. This operation I repeat often enough to keep the surface con-
stantly rough. This repetition, combined with the use of grains of a proper size,
alone produces the whole effect desired, without the accumulation of mud or
dust, which always accompanies the use of gravel, as it has been hitherto
employed for this
purpose.
The second part of my Invention consists in forming bars, ribs, or projections
on that part of the underside of horse-shoes, which is between the toe and the
caulk, for the purpose of preventing horses from slipping.
Figure 1 in the accompanying Drawing represents the underside of a horse-
shoe constructed in this manner; and
Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; a, a, a, a, are the bars, ribs, or pro-
jections formed on the under side of the shoe; and b, b, b, are three ribs which
form the toe of the shoe. I do not intend to confine myself to the precise
arrangement herein shewn, as it may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying it into
effect, I claim,
Firstly, the method herein described of using boards for a foundation of wood
pavement; also the use of blocks of the forms described, together with the
modes described of strengthening the whole by means of hard grains of gravel
and nails of iron or pins of wood; and, further, the method described of
roughening the surface continually by gravel or broken stone.
Secondly, I claim the improved method, berein shewn, of constructing the
shoes of horses and other animals, whereby they are prevented from slipping as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Osborne Reynolds, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
OSBORNE (L.s.) REYNOLDS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of August, in
the sixth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Osborne
Reynolds came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and
acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth
year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-two.
WATTOO