Improvements in the Method and Means for the Slabs for Road-making Purposes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Mar, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 20th May, 1891-Accepted, 20th June, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method and Means for the
Slabs for Road-making Purposes.
Construction of
I DONALD NICOLL of 12 Buckingham Street, Charing Cross in the County of
London, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
I take iron, slag or any similar hard substance while in a molten condition and I
cast the same into moulds which shall be capable of forming cubes or blocks in
suitable dimensions, or I take granite, stone, wood or any other hard substance
capable of being tooled or fashioned into cubes or blocks, and in order to bind
described
together any given number of same so as to form slabs for the purposes
I construct connected cells or compartments formed of corrugated fibrous substances
so as to contain the aforesaid blocks or cubes and provide space between each
block or cube which leaves their edges exposed so that the feet of horses may
find resistance and avoid slipping, the spaces are filled with a bituminous
compound in a molten condition and is composed of any or all of the substances
described in a Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 28th September 1888
numbered 13971 and under certain conditions I may add to the compound
therein described any or all of the ingredients set forth in a Specification of a
Patent granted to me on the 31st August 1867 numbered 2480 and any or
all of the ingredients described in a Patent granted to me in the preceding year
namely 1866 dated 15th February numbered 480 and when the said connected cells
or compartments are charged with the compound and the surfaces of the cubes
or blocks placed therein have been completely coated' I place the whole mass
within a compressible mould capable of receiving great force or pressure the
slab then assumes a permanent and solid form and after having had attached to its
lower surface a sufficient number of layers of cocoa nut or similar fibre blended
with the aforesaid plastic bituminous compound it may be laid and fused with other
and similar slabs and by ordinary means a perfect joint established perfectly
excluding surface water from the substratum upon which the said slabs will
permanently rest and there form an economical and noiseless roadway free from the
slipperiness usually accompanying wood or asphalte surfaces.
"
Dated this Twenty-sixth day of March 1891.
DONALD NICOLL.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method and Means for the Construction of
Slabs for Road-making Purposes.
I DONALD NICOLL of 12 Buckingham Street, Charing Cross, in the County
of London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
I take iron, slag, or any similar hard substance, while in a molten condition
and I cast the same into moulds, which shall be capable of forming cubes, or blocks,
in suitable dimensions, or I take granite, stone, wood, or any hard substance
capable of being tooled or fashioned into cubes, or blocks, and in order to bind
together any given number of same, so as to form slabs for the purposes described,
I construct connected cells or compartments, formed of corrugated fibrous substances,
so as to contain the aforesaid blocks, or cubes, and provide space between each
127

page_text: block, or cube, which leaves their edges exposed, so that the feet of horses may
find resistance, and avoid slipping, the spaces are filled with a plastic bituminous
compound, in a molten condition, and which compound is composed of any or all of
the substances described in a Specification of a Patent granted to me on the
28th September 1888, No. 13971, and under certain conditions I may add to the
compound therein described, any or all of the ingredients set forth in a Specification
of a Patent granted to me on the 31st August 1867, No. 2480, and any or all of
the ingredients described in a Patent granted to me in the preceding year namely
1866, dated 15th February No. 480, and when the said connected cells, or compart-
ments, are charged with the compound, and the surfaces of the cubes or blocks
placed therein have been completely coated, I place the whole mass within a
compressible mould capable of receiving great force, or pressure, the slab then
assumes a permanent and solid form, and after having had attached to its lower surface,
a sufficient number of layers of cocoa nut or similar fibre, blended with the aforesaid
plastic bituminous compound, it may be laid and fused with other and similar slabs,
and by ordinary means a perfect joint established, perfectly excluding surface water
from the substratum upon which the said slabs will permanently rest, and there
form an economical and noiseless roadway, free from the slipperiness usually
accompanying wood or asphalte surfaces.
Having particularly described the nature of my invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I state that I do not limit myself to the use of ordinary
iron ore, in the formation of metallic blocks, or cubes, because I may, while in a
molten condition, add ferruginous sand-stone, or other substances to the ore,
previous to casting same into blocks, or cubes; I also state that I do not limit
myself to the use of natural granite in the formation of blocks, or cubes, as I may
use crushed granite, moulded in combination with concrete to the required dimen-
sions I also state, that I do not limit myself to the use of corrugated fibrous
substances, to encase the said blocks, or cubes, as I may form their cells or cases
with other fibrous substances in combination with bituminous substances:
I now declare that I claim the method and means of constructing slabs to contain
any required number of paving blocks, or cubes, by their separate encasement with
fibrous substances, in combination with bituminous substances so that the said
blocks, or cubes, may be kept equally distant from each other on all sides, when
massed together by compression into the condition of solid slabs, substantially as,
and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
Dated this Twentieth day of May 1891
DONALD NICOLL.