IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIALS FOR MAKING ROADS, WAYS, AND FLOORS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Samson Thomas, of 46, Baker Street,
Pentonville, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIALS FOR MAKING ROADS, WAYS,
AND FLOORS."
Sealed the 23rd August 1872, and dated the 15th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Samson
Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th March 1872.
I, FREDERICK SAMSON THOMAS, of 46, Baker Street, Pentonville, in
the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIALS FOR MAKING
ROADS, WAYS, AND FLOORS," to be as follows, that is to say :——
My Invention consists in forming compounds of bituminous matters
with certain cohesive and non-cohesive substances herein-after enume-
rated, for making roads, pathways, and floors, so as to resist the
injurious effects of atmospheric changes, and to enable them to sustain

page_text: the pressure or wear of road or other traffic more perfectly than at
present.
For the purpose of making the cohesive portion of my improved
compounds I use a combination of the ordinary pitch of commerce
and ordinary gutta percha or india-rubber. When I use the two first
substances I melt them together in the proportions of about eight
pounds of pitch to two pounds of gutta percha; these proportions how-
ever may vary according to the nature of the non-adhesive substances
employed therewith.
The non-cohesive substances which I employ to form the body of my
improved compounds are sawdust, coal ashes, pulverized granite, or
pulverized ironstone, by preference the fossil ironstone which is found
in Surrey and Sussex, or the ordinary kinds of grit may be employed.
I use these substances either alone or two or three of them in com-
bination.
To liquify or dissolve gutta percha or india-rubber by the ordinary
method, hot water or spirits are usually employed, but the main object
of my Invention is to avoid the use of water and spirits, as water or
the remains of water in the compound is detrimental to its tenacity
under the influence of frost, and I effect this object by employing
heated pitch, the same being used with due regard to the following
process:-
One of the modes by which I make the compound is as follows:—I
take the herein-before stated proportions of pitch and gutta percha, and
melt them together until they are reduced to a liquid state, when they
are well stirred and mixed together until they form one cohesive mass,
which is allowed to cool and then finely pulverized.
I afterwards finely
pulverize the grit I intend using and mix it with the said cohesive mass,
and when mixed I pass the whole through a fine sieve so as to effect the
intimate incorporation of all its component parts. To lay down the
compound thus formed it is first submitted to considerable heat in a
suitable vessel or furnace, and then laid down (while in a heated state),
and either rolled, pressed, or beaten into a compact homogeneous mass.
The improved compound may also be cast into blocks in moulds and
pressure applied.
Should it be desired to effect economy in the use of the cohesive
compounds, I make the road in three layers or surfaces, the lower layer

page_text: or foundation being of an ordinary concrete of the usual kind. On this
foundation I apply a layer of about two inches in thickness of any of the
ordinary kinds of grit, or of any of the herein-before mentioned non-
cohesive substances mixed with pitch alone, and upon this second layer
I apply a superficial coating or layer of about one inch in thickness of
the compound of pitch and gutta percha or india-rubber, as herein-before
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Samson Thomas in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
SAMSON THOMAS, of 46, Baker Street, Pentonville, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, Her special
licence that I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick
Samson Thomas, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MATERIALS FOR MAKING ROADS,
WAYS, AND FLOORS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Frederick Samson Thomas, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, do hereby
declare the nature of 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in forming compounds of bituminous matters
by using certain cohesive and certain non-cohesive substances herein-
after enumerated for making roads, pathways, and floors, having the
properties of resisting the injurious effects of atmospheric changes, and
of sustaining the pressure or wear of road or other traffic more perfectly
than the pavements at present in use.
For making the cohesive portion of my improved compounds I use a
combination of the ordinary pitch of commerce and ordinary gutta
percha or india-rubber, which I melt together in the proportions of
about eight pounds of pitch to about twelve ounces of gutta percha or
of india-rubber. These proportions however may vary according to the
nature of the non-adhesive substances employed therewith.
The non-cohesive substances which I employ to form the body of my
improved compounds are for some purposes sawdust, coal ashes, or
pulverized granite; but for roads I use by preference the fossil iron-
stone in a pulverized form alone, which fossil stone is found in Surrey
and Sussex. The ordinary kinds of grit may also be employed, and I
use these substances cither separately or two or three of them in com-
bination.
To liquify or dissolve gutta percha or india-rubber by the ordinary
methods, hot water or spirits are usually employed, but the main object
of my Invention being to obtain a compound in the composition of
which water does not enter, I avoid the use of water and spirits (as
water or the remains of water, or the use of any ingredient having a
tendency to absorb water, in the compound is detrimental to its tenacity
under the influence of frost), and I effect this object by employing
gently heated pitch, the same being used with due regard to the
following process :-
The mode in which I make the compound is as follows:-I take the
herein-before stated proportions of pitch and gutta percha, both of which
I first reduce to a fine powder in their dry or cool state, then I melt
them together and mix them by gentle heat until they are reduced to a

page_text: liquid state, when they are again well stirred together until they form
one cohesive mass, which is allowed to cool and then again finely
pulverized. I afterwards finely pulverize the grit (or ironstone) I
intend using, and mix it whilst cool with the said cohesive mass, and
when mixed I pass the whole through a fine sieve, so as to effect the
intimate incorporation of all its component parts. The compound of
pitch with india-rubber I form in the same manner.
For the purpose of
laying down either of the compounds thus formed it is again submitted
to considerable but not burning or scorching heat in a suitable vessel or
furnace, and then laid down while in a heated state. The composition
of sawdust, ashes, or pulverized granite must, whilst being laid down,
be either rolled, pressed, or beaten into a compact homogeneous mass,
but the compound of fossil ironstone must be only laid in its intended
place in its intended form, and allowed to consolidate itself. The im-
proved compounds may also be cast into blocks in moulds, and pressure
applied or not according as the before-stated compositions have
been already respectively required. to be treated whilst being laid
down.
In addition to the substances herein-before stated I have found that
the cohesive portion of the compound may be advantageously made by
using (instead of but in a similar manner to that herein-before described
for gutta percha or india-rubber) a material or substance having
properties similar thereto, obtained from a plant recently discovered
in the East Indies, and to which the name of alpha gutta has been given.
To effect economy in the use of the cohesive compounds I make the
road in three layers or surfaces, the lower layer or foundation being of
ordinary concrete. On this foundation I apply a layer of about two
inches in thickness of any of the ordinary kinds of grit, or of any of the
herein-before mentioned non-cohesive substances mixed with pitch
alone; and upon this second layer I apply a superficial coating or layer
of about one inch in thickness of the compound of pitch and gutta
percha, pitch and india-rubber, or pitch and the aforesaid alpha gutta
mixed with the fossil ironstone as herein-before described, but I lay no
claim to this method.
And having now described the nature of the Invention, and the best
means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into effect, what I
claim is, the melting and combining india-rubber, gutta percha, or alpha
gutta, by means of and with the ordinary pitch of commerce, and incor-

page_text: porating therewith in a pulverized state, fossil ironstone or other
non-adhesive substances for making improved compounds for roads,
ways, and floors, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein before described.
porating therewith in a pulverized state, fossil ironstone or other
non-adhesive substances for making improved compounds for roads,
ways, and floors, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
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In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Samson Thomas, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
Witness,
W. A. GILBEE,
4, South St., Finsbury.
FRED. S. THOMAS. (L.S.)