AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PAVING STREETS AND OTHER PLACES.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ernest George Henry Shum, of St. John's Wood,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
COMPOSITION FOR PAVING STREETS AND OTHER PLACES.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ernest George Henry
Shum at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th May 1874.
I, ERNEST GEORGE HENRY SHUM, of St. John's Wood, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PAVING STREETS AND OTHER PLACES," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved composition to be used for
paving streets or roadways and other places, the principal ingredient in
which is the substance known as rock lava, and obtained from Vesuvius.
The composition consists of the said rock lava, together with mineral
tar and Portland cement, and may be prepared in the following manner,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ernest George Henry Shum in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 23rd November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERNEST
GEORGE HENRY SHUM, of St. John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Ernest George Henry Shum,
Her special licence that I, the said Ernest George Henry Shum,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ernest George Henry Shum, 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 PAVING STREETS AND
OTHER PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ernest
:

page_text: George Henry Shum, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 I, the said Ernest George Henry Shum, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:
My Invention relates to an improved composition to be used for
paving streets or roadways and other places, the principal ingredient in
which is the substance known as rock lava, which may be obtained from
Vesuvius or elsewhere.
The composition consists of the said rock lava, together with bitumen
or mineral tar and Portland cement, and may be prepared in the following
manner, the proportions named being calculated by weight, viz. :-
Rock lava (broken small)
Mineral tar
Portland cement
-
8 parts.
-
1 part.
- ½ part.
These ingredients are boiled together, and laid in a sufficiently soft
state on a previously prepared foundation of concrete about 12 inches in
depth. The layer of composition should be about one inch in thickness,
and after being properly spread over the foundation is rammed with a
beater to solidify it and render it sufficiently smooth. It is then grouted
or faced with clean sharp river sand or pulverized lava, and when hard
forms a very durable and inexpensive pavement.
It may however be found preferable to omit the Portland cement, in
which case the relative proportions of the two other ingredients will
remain the same.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not in any
way limit myself to the proportions above given, as these may be varied
as found desirable, but what I claim as my Invention to be protected by

page_text: the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the improved paving
composition, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ernest George Henry Shum, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.