IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS, FLOORINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Russell Crampton, of Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Russell Crampton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th October 1865.
I, THOMAS RUSSELL CRAMPTON, of Great George Street, Westminster, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS, FLOORINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES," to be
as follows:-
The improvements consist in making a series of beams or corrugations of
cast or wrought iron or other suitable material in such a manner that when
put together they form one piece of the size required, so that any weight or
force acting on one beam is communicated to its neighboring beams through
straight angular lines of metal, or as nearly so as practicable, and not in curved
lines as in the ordinary corrugated iron of commerce; this may be effected by
stamping, pressing, or rolling from a plate of convenient size, a series of beams
and putting such a series together to make up the dimensions required, or
they may be cast in convenient sizes, and put together for important structures,
such as roadways for bridges and floorings.

page_text: A convenient mode will be to roll, stamp, or press the metal of the whole
length required, and of convenient width, and to rivet together this whole
length. Several sections are shown marked 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which will give
a sufficient indication of what is meant.
It is obvious that there are innumerable forms which will effect the object,
but in all cases the angle of the sides connecting the top and bottom must be
such that the weight when applied on the top or bottom of any girder or
corrugation will have the least tendency to bend or buckle these sides; at the
same time it is desirable to make them as flat as possible, so as to spread over
the largest area. The angle I found in practice to be extremely good is 45
to 60 degrees to the horizontal, but I do not confine myself to that angle.
The depth of the girders (A) and the width and thickness of the tops and
bottoms (B, B,) must be of such dimensions as may be required for the
particular circumstances to which they are to be applied.
Figures 6 and 7 show a mode in which a system may be applied to a bridge
of the ordinary iron construction, in which it will be seen that the girders are
made in pieces of the extreme width of the bridge and the footways, and that
the ballast is placed on the top of the whole structure. It may be observed
in extreme cases, it will not be convenient to roll, stamp, or press the whole
length required, but in such cases all joints should be avoided between any
points of support.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Russell Crampton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RUSSELL CRAMPTON, of Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Russell Crampton, Her special license that I, the
said Thomas Russell Crampton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Russell Crampton, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein

page_text: ог
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 CONSTRUCTION OF
ROADWAYS, FLOORINGS, AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition. (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Russell Crampton, my executors
administrators, 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.
:.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Russell Crampton, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The Invention consists in certain modes hereafter described of forming ridge-
and-furrow beams, the furrows being composed of inclined straight lines, whilst
the parts between the furrows and the tops of the furrows are horizontal.
It is preferred to employ sheet iron or steel for these purposes rivetted
together, or to flat plates placed at the horizontal parts; these sheets of iron
or steel come to the tops of the ridges, and to the bottoms of the furrows.
Similar parts of cast iron or steel may be employed in like manner, but put
together by screw bolts and nuts.
Figure 1 shows end views of several plates producing any desired length of
ridge-and-furrow beams formed and fixed together at the tops of the ridges
and at the bottoms of the furrows. Each plate is similarly formed, and where
they come together and overlap they form the tops of the ridges and the
bottoms of the furrows. These parts which overlap at the tops of the ridges
and the bottoms of the furrows are connected by one or two rows of rivets,
preferring two rows, and if the plates are not long enough for the span to be
bridged over by the combined beams, then I lengthen the plates by other
similar plates, taking care to break joint where such parts are joined together
by rivets, and I use strengthening or covering plates at the joints.
Figure 2 shows a section of another construction, which differs from the
other, inasmuch, as in this case the two sides and top of each furrow is formed
in one piece, giving extra thickness of metal at the top of the ridges, as shown

page_text: whilst the bottoms of the furrows are formed and put together, as shown and
described in respect to Figure 1 or the positions of the tops of the ridges and
the bottoms of the furrows of Figure 2 may be reversed.
Figure 3 shows another form wherein flat horizontal plates are used at the
bottoms of the furrows, whilst the tops of the ridges are formed as in Figure 2.
The parts of the plates which form the sides of the ridges, which come to the
bottoms of the furrows do not overlap as in Figure 1, but these parts are com-
bined by a horizontal flat plate at the bottom of each of the furrows. In this
arrangement as in Figure 2, the position of the parts may be reversed, and
the flat horizontal plates be made the tops of the ridges.
Figure 4 shows an arrangement and combination of parts where flat
horizontal plates are used, both at the tops and bottoms of the plates, which
form the sides of the ridges. The angle of inclination of the sides of the ridges
should be confined within a range of 45° to 60°.
Figures 6 and 7 shew part of a side view and a transverse section of a
bridge constructed according to my Invention when using either of the
arrangements of combined ridge-and-furrow beams above described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim the combined
constructions of beams described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, of the
Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Russell Crampton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
T. R. CRAMPTON. (L.S.)