A NEW MODE OF WOOD PAVING
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GRIMMAN, of 7, Camden Street, Islington, in the County of Middlesex,
Modeller, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Fifteenth day of April, in the third year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me Her especial licence that I,
the said William Grimman, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Grimman, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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, my
Invention of "A NEW MODE OF WOOD PAVING;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Grimman, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said 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
William Grimman, by this instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in

page_text: which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained
as follows (that is to say) :-
And, first, my Invention consists in the application of blocks of a certain
figure, and formed in a certain manner, or cut according to a certain angle,
for the purposes of carriage-road pavements, foot pavements, court yards, coach-
house floors, stables, carriage drives, &c.; and the mode by which I propose
to carry such intention into effect is as according to the following method:-
I take blocks of wood, whose face, cut vertically, form a regular figure,
for instance, say a parallelogram, whose longest side is twice its breadth, and
its depth equal to its longest side of the face, the sides forming a rhombus or
rhomboid of an angle of 77 degrees, or thereabouts, the form or plan whereof
is given in the margin hereof, and marked A. And I further claim the
Invention of the mode of applying these blocks thus made to the purpose of
carriage way pavement, &c., and which is thus effected: I lay down the
block No. 1 in the annexed Plan (marked B), the depths on the sides A, D,
forming an inner angle of 77°, and those of the sides B, C, forming an outer
angle also of 77°. I then place the block No. 2 with its inner angle E
against the outer angle B of block No. 1, and its inner angle F parallel with
the inner angle of A, block 1. Block No. 3 is then placed, its inner angles
I and K being placed against the outer angles B and H of blocks No. 1 and 2.
No. 4 is then laid down with its inner angle N against the outer angle C of
block 1, and the outer angle O against the inner angle I of block 3. The
block No. 5 follows with outer angles S and T against the inner angles B
No. 1 and N, No. 4. No. 6 is placed against blocks No.1 and 5, with its outer
angles against the inner of the before-placed blocks 1 and 5. In like manner
also block No. 7 is placed. The block No 1 being then entirely surrounded
by those Nos. respectively, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and being equally pressed
upon or equally pressing upon one or more of them, becomes firmly fixed in
its situation. In like manner the block No. 4, on being surrounded by blocks
No. 5, 1, 3, 10, 9, and 8, placed with the same attention to the inner and
outer angles, becomes also fixed; and the same principle applies to each single
block until the space to be covered having been filled in this manner as far as
whole blocks will accomplish it, the filling in of the residue is effected by
cutting the blocks horizontally on the side nearest the extremity of the work
to be covered to fit the aperture, and the whole will then form one solid mass.
I also propose to lay these blocks on a concrete foundation, brought to a
smooth or level surface, either by a fine concrete or a thin layer of asphalte, or
by laying thin slabs of wood on the concrete.
And I hereby declare the foregoing to be my Invention as to the mode and

page_text: manner of cutting, and also as to the principle of placing, the said blocks for
the purposes before specified; and I further claim the Invention of applying
this principle to any block of wood or blocks of wood whose vertical end having
a regular figure will, by the application of an outer angle on one block to the
inner angle of another, and by continuity, form one solid mass by pressing
upon, or by equally being pressed upon, by the block adjoining, be the angle
of inclination more or less than 77°. And I do not claim the privilege of In-
vention to the concrete or to the covering the same with asphalte, or laying
thin slabs of wood on the concrete. And my Invention or mode of wood
paving is further shewn or explained by the Plans delineated in the margin of
these Presents.
In witness whereof I, the said William Grimman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid William Grimman came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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 Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and forty.