IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVEMENTS, ROADS, AND WAYS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Davison, of No. 4, Shoreditch High
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, Bernard Peard
Walker, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, and
Henry James Dainge, of the Albert Road, Aston, in the County
of Warwick, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PAVEMENTS, ROADS, AND WAYS."
Sealed the 6th October 1875, and dated the 27th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Davison,
Bernard Peard Walker, and Henry James Hainge at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 27th
July 1875.
We, ROBERT DAVISON, of No. 4, Shoreditch High Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, BERNARD PEARD WALKER, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, and HENRY JAMES
HAINGE, of the Albert Road, Aston, in the County of Warwick,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVEMENTS, ROADS, AND WAYS," to be as follows
-
Our Invention has for its object the construction of a paving of great

page_text: durability with a minimum adhesion of wheel surfaces, thereby
diminishing friction and the power required to draw a load, and at the
same time securing ample provision for the foothold of animals.
And our Invention consists in the adaptation and application to
asphalte pavements of iron plates or frames with projecting chilled ironi
studs or bearing surfaces at suitable intervals, the spaces between them
being filled in with asphalte, thereby producing a paving of asphalto
with slightly projecting chilled iron studs or bearing surfaces adapted to
sustain heavy traffic and to give the requisite foothold for horses.
.
The iron plates or frames for retaining the chilled studs or bearing
surfaces in position as required may be cast altogether in iron moulds
or "chills," or in moulds composed partly of iron and partly of sand,
the moulds being constructed and arranged so as to produce castings
with suitable pieces or webs of metal for retaining or supporting the
chilled studs or bearing surfaces.
In some cases the metallic framework may be formed or constructed
of wrought iron hoops placed in proper position in the moulds, and
united with the hard cast studs or bearing surfaces by moulten cast
iron poured in.
The hard cast studs or bearing surfaces may also be connected as
required by means of hoop or strip iron, and in some cases by a
continuous sheeting of iron plate to form also a base, in which cases
the plate, or hoop, or strip iron may be lightened and the consumption
of metal diminished by cutting out portions which may be available for
other uses.
The said plates or frames may be varied in size and thickness to suit
the traffic, and it is intended to form the pavement by first laying a
sub-stratum of concrete, then covering this bed with a thin layer of
asphalte where necessary, and afterwards laying the iron plates or
frames evenly on the top thereof. Asphalte will then be run over the
whole surface sufficient to fill up the spaces in the plates or frames, and
leaving the chilled iron studs or bearing surfaces flush with the surface
of the asphalte, but which will slightly project therefrom on the
shrinking of the asphalte during the process of cooling, or if necessary
the asphalte may be pressed in order to give the requisite projection to
the studs.

page_text: The asphalte employed for filling in the interstices of the iron framing
may consist of a mixture of natural rock asphalte, chalk or stone dust,
bituminous shale, or other approved materials, combined by the action
of heat or otherwise
The above described system of paving may also be advantageously
used for passages, staircases, brewery cellars and the liko, floors of
buildings, and other positions where great durability and power to
sustain traffic are required, and it can be made ornamental by the
introduction of castings of white or yellow metal or other durable
substance or matorial.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard Walker, and
Henry James Hainge in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 27th
January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
DAVISON, of No. 4, Shoreditch High Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, BERNARD PEARD WALKER, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer, and HENRY JAMES HAINGE, of the
Albert Road, Aston, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said Robert Davison, Bernard
Peard Walker, and Henry James Hainge, Her special licence that we,
the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard Walker, and Henry James
Hainge, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard Walker, and Henry James
Hainge, our exccutors, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVEMENTS, ROADS, AND WAYS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard
Walker, and Henry James Hainge, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our, 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 six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard
Walker, and Henry James Hainge, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say).
-
Our Invention of "Improvements in Pavements, Roads, and Ways"
has for its object the construction of a paving of great durability with
a minimum adhesion of wheel surfaces, thereby diminishing friction and
the power required to draw a load and at the same time securing ample
provision for the foothold of animals.
And our Invention consists in the adaptation and application to
asphalte pavements of iron plates or frames with projecting chilled iron
studs or bearing surfaces at suitable intervals, the spaces between them
being filled in with asphalte, thereby producing a pavement of asphalto
with slightly projecting chilled iron studs or bearing surfaces, adapted
to sustain heavy traffic and to give the requisite foothold for horses.
The iron plates or frames for retaining the chilled studs or bearing
surfaces in position as required may be cast altogether in iron moulds
or chills," or in moulds composed partly of iron and partly of sand,
the moulds being constructed and arranged so as to produce castings
with suitable pieces or webs of metal for retaining and supporting the
chilled iron studs or bearing surfaces.
In some cases the metallic framework may be formed or constructed
of wrought iron hoops placed in proper position in the moulds, and
united with the hard cast studs or bearing surfaces by molton cast iron
poured in.

page_text: the metal frame alone, and another portion represents the roadway as
completed by the addition of the filling material, Fig. 2 represents the
same in vertical section.
The frame of iron or other suitable metal is composed of a number of
projecting studs or bearing surfaces A, A, supported and sustained as
required by curved webs and base plate B, B, leaving spaces C, C, to be
filled in with asphalte D in such a manner as to cover the whole surface
of the road or way, with the exception of the studs or bearing sur-
faces A, A, which are left slightly projecting from the surface of the
asphalte D, as shown in Fig 2, at the right hand of the same. In this:
Figure E is the bed of concrete or other sufficient sub-stratum adapted
to constitute the foundation of the road or way, and F is a thin layer of
bituminous material, which is laid so as to present an even surface upon
which to bed the metal frame carrying the projecting studs or bearing
surfaces forming the hard, unyielding, and durable portion of the road
or way. These metal frames are laid on and pressed down on to the
bituminous material F while heated and yielding, so as to form a solid
bearing for the metal framework.
The frames are by preference made of cast iron run into either sta-
tionary or movable moulds, made by hand or machine, so arranged as
to chill and thereby harden the parts of the frames which when in usc
will be exposed to abrasion, and the frames and such parts thereof are
made of such sizes, weights (varying for roads from fifty to one hundred
and fifty pounds or upwards per square yard), and shapes as may be
most suitable for the conditions of the road or way to be formed. These
plates or frames are formed of a perforated base plate with the holes or
perforations arranged regularly in rows, and of such a size as to leave.
between them sufficient bearing surface of metal to support the weight
of the vehicles passing over the road or way. Upon the parts where the
webs B, B, intersect there are projecting pieces, the faces of which form
the projecting studs or bearing surfaces A, A, which constitute the
metallic portion of the surface of our improved road or way. The
moulds in which these plates or frames are cast may be made of sand in
the usual manner, or partly of sand and partly of iron, so that the sur-
faces of the projecting pieces above referred to may be chilled by the
melted iron flowing upon an iron surface; or the moulds may be of fire-
clay, or fire-clay and iron, or wholly of iron.

page_text: In some cases the plates or frames may be made of hard or white iron,
so as to produce hard castings without chilling. These plates or frames
are filled in with asphalte or other suitable material (intended to form
the surface of the road or way in the spaces between the said projecting
6 pieces) to within a small distanco below the face of the studs or bearing
surfaces A, A, so as to leave them slightly projecting from the general
surface of the filling in material, thereby forming a good foothold for
horses, and presenting a diminished resistance to traction. This is illus-
trated in Fig. 2, where the curved line is intended to represent a portion
) of the circumference of a wheel passing over the bearing surfaces A, A,
from which it will be seen how small is the extent of contact of wheel
surface with the bearing part of the road or way.
From the foregoing description it will bo evident that the essential
feature of our Invention consists in forming the surface of roads or ways
5 partly of a comparatively yielding material, such as asphalto, impervious
to water and with minimum liability to abrasion, and partly of a hard,
unyielding, and durable material, such as chilled cast iron By means
of this combination we obtain a durable and evon road surface, suitable
for all kinds of traffic, with a sufficient amount of roughness to give
) foothold for horses and other animals when drawing loads, and reduce
the resistance of traction, thereby securing the advantages of asphalte
paving whilst avoiding the slipperiness inseparable from the ordinary
construction thereof.

page_text: or grids are to be embedded in asphalte or other suitable material or
materials, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Davison, Bernard Peard
Walker, and Henry James Hainge, have hereunto set our hands
and scals, the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our 5
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
ROBERT DAVISON.
BERNº. P. WALKER.
(L.S)
(L.S.)
HENRY JA³. HAINGE. (L.S.)