IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir Charles Fox, Knight, of New Street,
Spring Gardens, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS." A Communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sir Charles Fox
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th November 1852.
I, SIR CHARLES Fox, do hereby declare the nature of.the.said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROADS " to be as follows:-.
I melt together eight parts by weight of resin, and eight parts
of tar or pitch or other similar bituminous matter, and I add to
the melted mixture thirty-three parts of finely powdered puzzolana;
and when they are well incorporated together, I add sixty-nine
parts of broken granite or other hard stone previously heated,
and mix the whole together; this mixture is then spread out
upon the road, which has been previously cleaned." The Invention
is particularly applicable to the repair of macadamized roads;
if the road has not been previously macadamized, it is first to be
macadamized with broken granite or stone, and after the stones
have sufficiently settled themselves, the road is to be cleaned so as
to present to view the irregular or rough surface of the broken
stones. The road is then to be covered with the above mixture
in a hot state, to the thickness of an inch and a quarter, or two
inches, more or less...It is then beaten with-hot irons so as to
and

page_text: consolidate it, but still to leave a rough surface. The thickness
of the layer, and the proportions of the ingredients, may be varied.
The advantage of this system is, that the solidity of the road
is maintained in all weathers by the constant adherence of the
composition, while in the ordinary macadamized road the ad-
herence or cohesion of the road is interrupted, both by excess of
dryness and excess of moisture, and the road becomes disintegrated
and the stones crushed, which gives rise to dust or mud. The
cohesion of all parts of the road permits the surface to be left
rough, and thus to avoid the slippery surface which is generally
presented by an asphalte pavement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Sir Charles Fox in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 11th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
Sir CHARLES Fox, Knight, of New Street, Spring Gardens, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Sir Charles Fox, Her
special licence that I, the said Sir Charles Fox, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sir
Charles Fox, 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 ROADS," communicated
to me from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Sir Charles Fox, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-

page_text: formed, 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 Sir Charles Fox, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say:
The Invention relates to the construction of roads by means
of fragments of stone in combination with puzzolana and bitu-
minous and resinous substances in manner herein-after described :—
The Invention is particularly applicable to the repair of roads
made of broken stone, and generally called macadamized roads.
When it is required to construct a new road according to the
Invention, the road is to be first made in the ordinary manner
of making a macadamized road; and when the stones have become
settled, the Invention may be applied to it in the same manner as
in repairing an old macadamized road. For this purpose the sur-
face of the road is to be swept, or otherwise cleaned, so as to remove
mud and dust, and to expose the irregular or rough surface of the
broken stones for the reception of the following composition: -
Eight parts by weight of resin are melted together with eight
parts of vegetable or mineral tar, or other similar bituminous
matter, in a pan or cauldron, and thirty-three parts of dry finely
powdered, natural or artificial, puzzolana are then added, and the
whole is well stirred and incorporated together; sixty-nine parts of
broken granite or other hard stone, such as is used for ordinary
macadamized roads, are then added, and well mixed with the other
ingredients. The broken stone may be used cold, or it may be
previously heated to prevent it from chilling the composition when
it is introduced. This hot mixture or composition is then spread
over the cleaned dry surface of the road to a thickness of from one
inch and a quarter to two inches, or more or less, and it is beaten
with hot iron bars or beaters so as to consolidate it, while still
leaving a rough surface to give sufficient foot hold for horses
passing over it. When the composition has cooled and hardened,
the operation is complete, and the road is fit for use. If, after

page_text: spreading the composition, it should appear to be not sufficiently
hard, it may be rendered so by spreading over and beating into it
one or more layers of gravel before it has completely set.
The operation should not be performed in frosty weather.
The cohesion of the composition is due to the combination of the
puzzolana with the tar and resin, which cements the whole together,
and it is not therefore destroyed by excess of dryness or excess of
moisture, or by frost, as is the case in an ordinary macadamized
road. Its cohesion is such, that the angles of the broken stones
may be allowed to project so as to render the surface rough, with
little or no danger of such fragments being detached by the action
of the traffic upon the road; and in this way the slippery surface
presented by an ordinary asphalte road is avoided.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not claim the separate use or application, in the con-
struction of roads, of either of the ingredients of the composition
herein-before described; nor do I confine myself to the precise
relative proportions of such ingredients as herein-before mentioned.
But what I claim as the Invention whereof the exclusive use is
intended to be secured by the aforesaid Letters Patent is the con-
structing roads of a composition or mixture of bituminous and
resinous substances, with puzzolana and broken stone, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Charles Fox, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-throo
CHARLES FOX. (L.S.)
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
20. Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.