IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING METALLIC AND OTHER PAVEMENT AS PERMANENT ROADWAY FOR TRAMWAYS STREET ROADWAYS AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1885

page_text: 1 CHARLES AMBROSE WILKES of 17 Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate, London in
the county of Middlesex, Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LAYING METALLIC AND OTHER PAVEMENT AS
PERMANENT ROADWAY FOR TRAMWAYS STREET ROADWAYS AND OTHER PURPOSES
"
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to improvements in laying metallic and other pavement as
permanent roadway for tramways street roadways and other purposes and has for
its object to lay in situ any metallic or other material suitable for the purpose and
to complete the utility and convenience of the same by roughening or grooving
the surfaces by means of suitable appliances hereinafter described. I find it
advantageous to use the material for which application for Letters Patent was
made by myself and William Millar on this eleventh day of June 1885 and
which application was numbered 7148, but I do not confine my method of laying
to any particular composition.
By my invention any hard durable concrete preferably metallic is laid in situ in
a plastic condition upon a bed of hard core, broken stone, or preferably rough
concrete. For foot paths I form and lay the material in sections of any convenient
size say four to eight feet square and two to four inches thick, and in order to
allow for the expansion of the material during the setting of the sections, or
subsequent variations of temperature, I pack the joints between the sections with
a layer of felting cloth or other compressible and perishable material thus forming
expansion joints. I may if necessary slightly roughen the surface of the material
thus laid so as to afford a more sure foot-hold for passengers. In laying street pave-
ments I lay the material in situ of a thickness suitable to the estimated traffic
and I form the grooves on the surface in imitation of ordinary granite or stone
paving sets say about seven by three inches.
In laying tramway pavement, I form grooves or channels, to secure a grip for
horses feet, to any desired pattern, and I also give a slight camber between the
rails, falling about one in thirty from the centre.

page_text: The appliance I use for the roughening or grooving of the surface consists of
either a roller with raised ribs on its surface according to the pattern desired, or a
stamp which may be constructed with raised triangular ribs on its under surface,
to any suitable pattern.
For stamping street paving I find that four by three feet is a convenient size for
the stamp; for stamping tramway pavement I make the stamp the same width as
the gauge of the line, and of suitable concavity of surface to suit the camber before
mentioned, and any convenient length. The stamp is pressed down while the
material is in a plastic state, and grooves corresponding to the ribs on its face are
formed in the surface of the pavement.
"
A great advantage of laying pavement according to my improved method is that
when any repairs are necessary, a piece of the exact size required can be manu-
factured at the works, and also stamped to the same pattern as the adjoining pave-
ment, and placed at once in position on the removal of the worn portion, thus
saving the time taken by the setting of the concrete in situ.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The method of laying metallic or other concrete in situ with or without
expansion joints, in combination with the grooved surface, and the appliances for
forming the same substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore ascertained
and described.