IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAINING LAND
Year: 1855

page_text: Sealed the 18th March 1855, and dated the 11th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Norton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.on the 11th January,
1855...
I, JOHN NORTON, of Dublin in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Esquire,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRAINING LAND" to be as follows:
•
This Invention relates to the application and use of hard balls or spheres of
clay in the formation' of a permeable stratum or line of watercourse for the
purpose of carrying off the water from land by a system of drainage. The clay,
which may be of any conveniently available kind, is worked up and moulded by
the aid of suitable machinery into spherical balls, presenting the spherical form
as accurately as is practicably possible: When dried the balls are burned to a
crystalline hardness, so that when deposited in the earth they will literally.
endure for ages. The size or diameter of these drainage balls will probably
vary under different circumstances, but a diameter of four or five inches is the

page_text: average size preferred, such balls when laid in drain cuts in the soil allow the
surface water to descend and pass freely through or between them, and thus
get clear off the land. Spherical stones would obviously perform just as
effectively as the clay balls; but the latter are preferred, for the reason that in
them absolute sphericity may be secured, whilst that would be impossible even
with the use of the smoothest and roundest pebbles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NORTON, of Dublin, in the County of Dublin, Ireland, Esquire, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our. Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her 'heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Norton, Her special license that I, the said John Norton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Norton, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DRAINING LAND," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Norton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
of
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Norton, do hereby declare the nature
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 in
writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-

page_text: My said Invention relates to the application and use of hard balls or spheres
of clay in the formation of a permeable stratum or line of watercourse for the
purpose of carrying off the water from land by a system of drainage. The clay,
which may be of any conveniently available kind, is worked up and moulded
by the aid of suitable machinery into spherical balls, preserving the spherical
form as accurately as is practically possible. When dried, the balls are burned
to a crystalline hardness, so that when deposited in the earth they will literally
endure for ages. The size or diameter of these drainage balls niust be varied
to suit different circumstances, but a diameter of four or five inches is the
average size preferred. Such balls when laid in drain cuts in the soil allow
the. surface water to descend and pass freely through or between them, and
thus get clear off the land. Spherical stones would obviously perform just as
effectively as the clay balls, but the latter are preferred, for the reason that in
them absolute sphericity may be secured, whilst that would be impossible even
with the use of the smoothest and roundest pebbles. :
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
attached, and showing different modifications of my improved system.
Figure 1 on my Sheet of: Drawings is a vertical longitudinal section of a
portion of a field drain, constructed according to one of the simplest forms of
my Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section of the drain, corresponding...
A rectangular cut A is first made in the soil B; in any convenient manner,
and when a sufficient depth has been attained, the bottom of the recess is
levelled off, and made hard and substantial, as a base, by laying thereon lengths
of slate, or other conveniently and economically available material C, filling up
the entire width of the drain cut. In this condition of the work a bottoni row
or layer of spherical clay balls D is laid into the drain, the two diameters of
each transverse pair of balls being in the same transverse line of the drain, as
indicated in Figure 2.. This drain is supposed to be eight inches in width, so
that two clay balls, each four inches in diameter, suffice to fill it. When the
entire base of the drain is thus filled in, a second layer of balls E is set above
the lower layer, the diametrical lines of the balls coinciding vertically, in the
manner shown in Figure 2.. This completes the draining medium; and the
two layers of balls are then covered over with a cover layer of slates F, to carry
the earth thrown in above in levelling and making fair the field. It is pre-
ferred. that the sod side of the superincumbent earth should be downwards..
This relation of the balls gives a clear thoroughfare for the drainage water
through the central, space, inclosed. by each set of four balls, as in Figure ?..

page_text: .
At the same time, there are three half passages or thoroughfares for the water
at the bottom and top of the ball layer, and one half passage on each side.
Hence, there is always a free passage for the water to drain down and percolate
through the, inclosed spaces due to the contour of the balls, getting clear away
along the slate base of the drain channel to the main outfall. Figure 3 is a
longitudinal, and Figure 4 is a transverse, section of a slightly modified arrange-
nient of this class of drain. In this instance large balls are used, às in the
first example, and the balls A in the bottom layer are placed just as in that
arrangement; but the upper-layer-B is added in- such manner-as-that each
upper ball rests in the recess occurring between the contiguous balls beneath.
This position of the balls gives smaller water spaces.than the previous arrange-
ment; but: the draining effect is the same: Figuresi 5 and 6 are, respectively,
longitudinal: and transverse sections of:ai drain with smaller balls; the drain
being delineatedsin Figure 6, as filled up with earthvabove the layers of balls
and complete. The small balls are here. represented as they would: be when
thrown into the drain: indiscriminately without any special arrangement.' A
slate sole is used to form the base of the drain,, but the diminished size of the
balls is supposed to:render. unnecessary. any upper cover; so that the earth rests
directly upon the balls: In Figures 7 and 48: are represented longitudinal and
transverse sections of a fourth modification, in which three. different diameters
of balls are used: The large four-inch balls rest on the slate sole in two layers,
and above these are placed a set of balls of intermediate size, which again are
covered with smaller balls, still the earth over-head resting on these last. These
balls are all thrown in indiscriminately, finding their own places, and leaving
but slight water passages. The smallest interstices are at the top, and they
increase in a downward way, so as to facilitate the drainage action by giving
more room where the water accumulates most rapidly. Drain's made in this
way always present a full-free passage for the descent of the water, 'as the spaces
between the balls can never be diminished except by the introduction of other
solid bodies, and the roundness of the balls is itself a point in favour of the
avoidance of such foreign deposits. Like the links of a chain, the balls will
always conform to the actual surface of the ground, and no sinking can effect
any serious dislocation; or prevent the drainage from being full and free:
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confiné or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion' to describe
of refer to as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating

page_text: from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the system or mode of
draining land, wherein the ordinary or other, drain cuts are either partially
or completely fitted with spherical or rounded clay balls, to act as the drainage
medium.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Norton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal. this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord One
with spherical
clay
the dramage
medium.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Norton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal. this Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOHN NORTON. (L.S.)