IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE BLOCKS. APPLICABLE TO STREETS, RAILWAYS, AND BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE BLOCKS. APPLICABLE TO STREETS,
RAILWAYS, AND BUILDING PURPOSES." -A communication from abroad
the Franire of France.
Sealed the 31st August 1869, and dated the 23rd March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
on the 23rd March 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE BLOCKS, APPLICABLE TO
BUILDING PURPOSES," a
STREETS, RAILWAYS, AND
communication from
abroad by François Coignet, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the artificial stone blocks
known as "beton agglomeré," and consists in facing those parts of such

page_text: blocks as are most liable to become worn or injured when in use with
cast iron or steel protecting plates whereby the durability of such blocks
is greatly increased. The said protecting plate or plates are secured to
the blocks either by claw bolts secured to or cast in the plate and
imbedded in the substance of the block at the time of ramming the
It is proposed to employ
The
materials into the mould or by bolts and nuts.
these protected blocks as street curbs, steps, and other parts of building,
and flags, in which case the corner or angle or other surface most exposed
to hard wear is protected by an angle piece of steel or cast iron.
shape of the protecting piece may be varied according to requirement.
It is also proposed to use these artificial blocks provided with pro-
tecting plates on their surfaces, such plates having either a raised rib or
a sunk groove on their surface to serve as wheel tracks for ordinary
vehicles or for the wheels of street railway carriages. Sometimes a central
rail alone may be used in lieu of two side rails for guiding the carriages,
but in all cases the rail or plate forming the track forms also a pro-
tective covering for the block, and is secured thereon by claw bolts or
nuts and screws as before described, the block serving as a sleeper. On
each side of these artificial blocks a recess is made for the reception of
paving blocks or stones laid in one or more rows along each side of the
artificial blocks and intermediate between them and the macadam of
the roadway, by which means the artificial blocks are better protected
from injury when picking up and repairing the main portion of the road.
In laying the artificial blocks it is proposed to join them end to end by
a tongue and groove joint, a projection on the end of one block entering
a corresponding recess or .notch in the adjoining end of the next
block.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN HENRY
JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Heury Johnson, Her
special license, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Chanuel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE BLOCKS, AI FLICABLE TO STREETS, RAIL-
WAYS, AND BUILDING PURPOSES," a communication from abroad by Francois
Coignet, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Lotters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say-
The said Invention relates to improvements in the artificial stone
blocks known as "beton agglomire," and consists in facing those parts
of such blocks as are most liable to become worn or injured when in use
with cast iron or steel protecting plates, whereby the durability of such
blocks is greatly increased. The said protecting plate or plates are
secured to the blocks either by claw .bolts secured to or cast in the plate
and embedded in the substance of the block at the time of running the
materials into the mould or by bolts and nuts. It is proposed to employ
these protected blocks as street curbs, steps, and other parts of buildings,
and flags, in which case the corner or angle or other surface most
exposed to hard wear is protected by an angle piece of steel or cast iron.
The shape of the protecting piece may be varied according to require-
ment. It is also proposed to use these artificial blocks provided with

page_text: protecting plates on their surfaces having either a raised rib or a sunk
groove on their surface to serve as wheel tracks for ordinary vehicles or
for the wheels of street railway carriages. Sometimes a central rail
alone may be used in lieu of two side rails for guiding the carriages,
but in all cases the rail or plate forming the track forms also a pro-
tective covering for the block, and is secured thereon by claw bolts or nuts
and screws as before described or otherwise, the block serving as a
sleeper. On each side of these artificial blocks a recess is made for the
reception of paving blocks or stones laid in one or more rows along each
side of the artificial blocks and intermediate between them and the
macadam of the roadway, by which means the artificial blocks are better
protected from injury when picking up and repairing the main portion
of the road. In laying the artificial blocks it is proposed to join them
end to end by a tongue and groove joint, a projection on the end of one
block entering a corresponding recess or notch in the adjoining end of
the next block.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the corresponding Figures.
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the accompanying Drawings shew one mode of
applying this Invention to curb stones. The outer corner which is most
exposed to the action of the vehicles is covered with a plating of cast
iron or steel which is secured to the artificial stone block by means of
metal holdfasts around which the beton is carefully agglomerated so
that the holdfasts cannot be withdrawn without breaking the block.
Bolts passing through the blocks and nuts may however be substituted
for the holdfasts, in which case perforations are left at the time of
moulding for the reception of the bolts. A is the metal plating, B the
block of beton, and C the holdfasts. In order to obtain these plated
blocks the metal plating with its holdfasts is introduced into the mould
in which the beton or other plastic material is agglomerated. A thin
layer of beton is then sprinkled as in the ordinary way which is properly
agglomerated roun the plating, and its holdfats and other layers of
beton are then added until the mould is full, after which the latter is
taken asunder. The artificial stone block thus united by the holdfasts
to the plating is then allowed to harden according to the well known

page_text: aw of mortar and concrete. In the case of tramways plates covering the
urface of the blocks are substituted for the angle pieces at the corner,
which plates constituting the protective covering are made of various
orms with grooves or ribs to admit of the passage of the wheels of
ehicles along them, as in the American tramways, so that the wheels of
rdinary vehicles are prevented from coming in contact with the sleeper
law of mortar and concrete.
In the case of tramways plates covering the
urface of the blocks are substituted for the angle pieces at the corner,
which plates constituting the protective covering are made of various
forms with grooves or ribs to admit of the passage of the wheels of
ehicles along them, as in the American tramways, so that the wheels of
ordinary vehicles are prevented from coming in contact with the sleeper
of agglomerated beton.
Figure 4 is a cross section of the beton block or sleeper A.
Figure 5 represents this sleeper as covered with an iron plate B, pro-
vided with a centre rib, and with small flanges to protect the corners
of the stone.
Figure 6 shews another sleeper A with an iron plate C grooved for the
passage of the wheels of vehicles. These sleepers may be securely
connected together at their adjoining ends by means of projections d, and
recesses e, as shewn in Figure 7.
Figures 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 shew an arrangement which may be
adopted with advantage for tramways. In this case in lieu of stones or
blocks of a prismatic form there are employed blocks, the arrangement of
which admits of one or two rows of paving stones being inserted, which
protect the plated sleeper from being injured by the macadam and
from the various defects which generally result from the difference in
level of the sleeper and macadamized road which is necessarily pro-
duced in the course of time by the passage of vehicles.
Bolts d, d,
passing through the bloeks of agglomerated beton with countersunk
heads may also be employed in this arrangement to secure the combined
plating and rail thereto. The paving stones B rest on the block A in
the recesses formed for that purpose, which paving stones serve as an
intermedium between the macadam and the rail to prevent the action
of the wheels of vehicles and render repairs almost unnecessary. In any
system necessitating the use of a central rail, more particularly a rail
gripped by rollers so as to utilize the whole power of the engine and
support the whole weight of the vehicles, these sleepers or blocks of
plated beton may be employed in order to afford to the central rail a
better support and resistance to the traction than that obtained from
wooden sleepers. The rail will be of the form shewn in Figure 10. The
principal rail C will be disposed as a plating on the sleeper B, and
maintained by the bolts d, d.
:

page_text: Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the.
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to.me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is-
First. The plating of blocks of artificial stone, substantially as and for
the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by Figures 1, 2
and 3.
Second. The application of plated stones or blocks to the manufacture
of curb stones (whether straight or curved), flights of steps, staircases
and the like.
Third. The construction and use of sleepers composed of beton pro-
tected by plates, such plates being provided with a rib or groove to
render them suitable for tramways, substantially as herein-before
described.
Fourth. The construction and use of sleepers composed of plated stones
or blocks with recesses for the purpose of supporting one or two rows of
paving stones which serve as an intermedium between the macadam and the
sleeper, substantially as herein-before described.
Fifth. The application and use of plated sleepers of agglomerated
beton provided with side recesses for the purpose of carrying the central
rail of what is known as the American system of railway, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated by Figure 10 of the Drawings
annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of
September One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)