IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVING OR COVERING THE SURFACES OF ROADS, STREETS, OR WAYS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Moses Poole, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PAVING OR COVERING THE SURFACES OF ROADS, STREETS, OR WAYS." -A
communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
May 1854.
I, MOSES POOLE, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PAVING OR COVERING THE SURFACES OF ROADS, STREETS, OR WAYS" to be as
follows:-
The nature of the Invention consists in covering the surface of a road, street;
or way with boxes made of iron, of a circular or other convenient form and
size, divided into sections (which sections are to be so small as not to admit
the hoof of a horse between them) by compartments of iron, which are so
arranged as to strengthen the whole, and, together with the rim of the boxes,
are grooved in such a manner as will most effectually prevent the feet of horses
or wheels of carriages from slipping. The boxes are keyed or linked together,
and the interstices or sections are to be filled with any composition which may
be procurable in the section of country where the pavement may be used, and
which may be found suitable to the purpose. Among the compositions which
may be used I name asphaltum, and a composition made of stone and shells,
broken small and mixed with hydraulic or other cement.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
September 1854:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MOSES
POOLE, of the Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by-Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Moses Poole, Her special licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses
Poole, 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 PAVING OR
COVERING THE SURFACES OF ROADS, STREETS, OR WAYS," (communicated to me
from abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Moses
Poole, 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 Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Moses Poole, 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 (that is to say):-
The nature of the Invention consists in covering the surface of a street or
way with boxes inade of iron, of a circular or other convenient form and size,
divided into sections, which sections are to be so small as not to admit the
hoof of a horse between them, by compartments of iron, which are so arranged
as to strengthen the whole, and, together with the rim of the boxes, are grooved
in such a manner as will most effectually prevent the feet of horses or.wheels
of carriages from slipping. The boxes are keyed or linked together, as shown
in Figure 1 of the Drawings annexed, and the interstices or sections are to be
filled with any composition which may be procurable in the section of country
where the pavement may be used, and which may be found suitable to the

page_text: purpose. Among the compositions which may be used I name asphaltum, and
a composition made of stone and shells, broken small and mixed with hydraulic
or other cement.
To enable persons skilled in the art to manufacture and make use of this
Invention, I now proceed to describe the manner of its construction and its
operation, reference being had to the annexed Drawings, making a part of this
Specification, in which Figure 1 is a bird's eye view of a portion of the pave-
ment, as it appears when laid and ready to be filled with the cement or com-
position; Figure 2 shows that part of a box that rests upon the earth; Figure
3 is a transverse section; Figure 4, a longitudinal elevation; and Figure 5,, a
perspective view. The form and size, I believe, may combine the greatest
advantages with the fewest disadvantages, is that represented by the annexed
Drawings. It consists of a circle of cast iron (a), five inches in height, about
one inch in thickness at the top, and twelve inches in diameter, enclosing a
smaller circle (b) of the same height and thickness, and five inches in diameter;
the intermediate space between the outer and inner circles is divided into six
sections (c.) by as many compartments of cast iron; every part of the boxes
preserves the same thickness as at the top for the distance of about one inch
below the surface, then gradually diminishes in thickness to the bottom. The
whole surface of the box is grooved, as is shown in Figure 5 at (d, d,) of the
annexed Drawings, in order to make the pavement, when laid, rough and
unlikely to cause slipping. At equidistant points in the outer edge of the box
are three keys (e), supported by shoulders, and set off in such a manner as to
prevent the rims of the boxes from coming in immediate contact with each
other. At equidistant points on the outer edge of the box are also three
commessures (ff.) for a key from each of the adjoining boxes to lay in. These
keys and commessures are so arranged around the box that when laid the
several keys of each box rest each in the commessure of one of their adjoining
boxes, while its commessures in turn support cach a key from one of three
other boxes laid between the first three, and connected in the same manner
with them. Thus, every box rests upon the ground, and is also supported by
three others, while it in turn is held down and firm in its place by three other
boxes, which it also aids in supporting. Thus, the whole pavement is firmly
linked together, and it becomes impossible for any one box or more to rise
above or settle lower than those around it.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing shows a number of the boxes thus con-
nected. Each box is cast entire from a wooden model, one of which castings
is represented in Figure 5, which is a perspective view, shewing the manner in
which the keys, commessures, and compartments are arranged; Figure 4 is a

page_text: longitudinal elevation, shewing the depth of the box; Figure 3 is a transverse
section; and Figure 2, the reverse or bottom of a box looking through, and
both serve to show the manner in which the thickness of the iron diminishes
towards the bottom.
A. modification of this block is shewn in Figure 6, in which the outer and
inner portions are about one inch thick on the top, and continuing about the
same thickness for about three quarters of an inch down; they then diminish
by an ogee curve down to one fourth of an inch, from which point they
gradually taper to the extreme depth of about five and a half inches more
or less. When its thickness is only one tenth of an inch within the outer
rim, there are compartments dividing the space into cells, there being three
semicircles with their ends joined to the outer rim, which are connected by a
short straight piece" with the inner circle; and in addition thereto, there are
straight radial cross partitions between the circular ones, connecting across from
the outer to the inner rim; these partitions are all of the same figure in their
cross sections as the rims above described, but being concaved on the under
side, two inches in the centre forming an arch. The upper edge of the various
parts are cut out on their surface in notchies, leaving portions of the iron flush
with the surface about one inch square. The outer circle or rim has projections
of a quarter of an inch thick at their point of contact or connection with the
other blocks; on this circle the iron is cut away or displaced, so as to permit
the ear of connection to turn out of the commessure or opening
For a railroad track upon this pavement, as shown in Figure 7, there is a
rail formed, by being cast in about the centre of the surface of the boxes, and
even therewith, connecting three boxes together. The surface of the rail is
about one and a half inches wide, and one and a quarter inches thick or deep
on the inner-side, with a flange turning lengthwise with the rail, and on the
inner edge about one and a half inches deep and half an inch thick. The
groove for the flange of the ear wheels is cut out of the boxes. The rails
are connected at the ends by means of hooks cast on the ends of the rails, and
all the blocks comprising the track may be connected in the same manner.
The switches or turn-outs may be constructed by cutting out the projecting
surface of iron on the boxes, making it level on the surface, so that the rails
may move backwards and forwards. "In wide streets, if necessary. to sustain
the arch formed by the pavement, blocks of stone may be placed in the centre
at intervals of about six feet.
Having thus described 'the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that wliat I claim in the above
described improvements is, first, the manner of using iron in the pavement of

page_text: streets by means of boxes constructed thereof, connected by flanches, or keys
and commessures, and divided into small sections, which leave small interstices
or openings between them of any convenient figure, as described and repre-
sented, or in any other form, to fill the space within the circumference of the
outer rim, and form a sufficient surface for horses and carriages to conveniently
pass over; the spaces being filled with any composition which may be best
adapted to the purpose, and most convenient; using for this purpose boxes of
any form, and divided in any manner that may produce the intended effect. I
also claim a series of blocks or boxes, as above named, with sections of rails
formed thereon in form like ordinary street rails, as clearly shown in Figure 3,
by which a street railway is formed in connection with the iron pavement, as
herein fully set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)