IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR FORMATION OF ROADWAYS AND IN APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bell Errington Galloway, of 85, Gracechurch Street,
in the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OR FORMATION OF ROADWAYS AND IN APPLIANCES CONNECTED
THEREWITH
33
Sealed the 24th April 1877, and dated the 4th November 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bell Errington Galloway
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th November 1876.
GEORGE BELL ERRINGTON GALLOWAY, of 85, Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR FORMATION OF
ROADWAYS AND IN APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH.”
This consists in improvements in the construction or formation of roadways and
in appliances connected therewith.
Instead of roadways being constructed with what is termed asphalte, I construct
them with a composition of the following materials:-Pitch, granulated iron slag,
shingle, silicates, in connection with a fibrous material, such as peat torn into
fragmentary parts by machinery, these I mix together in suitable proportions for
combination to suit the nature of the roadway to be constructed.
I also use in some cases wood as cut from the stems, trunks, or branches of trees, in
lengths say from 5 to 9 inches high, and from 2 to 7 inches in diameter, and place
these pieces upright to form the wood pavement upon a foundation which I first level
underneath for the wood.
I employ a wood planking on an iron or a cast metal foundation which will be
of such thickness as will resist the pressure strain of traffic produced by the weight
of wagons or carriages upon the surface of roadways, and thus I make and form the
superstructure for roadways to rest upon the foundation which will be much more
durable than that of other roadways at present in use; and in some cases I produce
ornamentation in roadways by the use of silicates of various colours in the com-
position, especially for foot roadways, and I ornament roadways by various con-
figurations and devices as may be desired.
To form the configurations I bend lead, tin, zinc, brass, or iron, to the forms
required, or I make castings to forms, and lay such configurations upon the found-
[Price 4d.]

page_text: ation herein-before referred to of the suitable thickness of iron or wood, and then
fill in with the various colours required, the objects of the whole being improvements
in roadways as set forth and implied to effect more durabilty and less slipping of
horses and foot traffic.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent med by one
said George Bell Errington Galloway in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th May 1877.
GEORGE BELL ERRINGTON GALLOWAY, of 85, Gracechurch Street, in the City of
London, Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR FORMATION OF
<
ROADWAYS AND IN APPLIANCES CONNECTED THEREWITH."
This consists in improvements in the construction or formation of roadways and
in appliances connected therewith.
Instead of roadways being constructed with what is termed asphalte, I construct
them with a composition of the following materials:-Gas tar, pitch, granulated
iron slag, shingle, silicates in connection with a fibrous material, such as peat torn
into fragmentary parts by machinery; these I mix together in suitable proportions
for combination to suit the nature of the roadway to be constructed.
I also use in some cases wood as cut from the stems, trunks, or branches of trees
in lengths, say from 5 to 9 inches high, and from 2 to 7 inches in diameter, and
place these pieces upright to form the wood pavement upon a foundation which I
. first level underneath for the wood.
I employ
a thick wood planking, 2 inch at least, which will be of such thickness
as will resist the pressure strain of traffic produced by the weight of wagons or
carriages upon the surface of roadways, and thus I make and form the super-
structure for roadways to rest upon the foundation which will be much more
durable than other roadways at present in use; and in some cases I produce orna-
mentation in roadways by the use of silicates of various colours in the composition,
especially for foot roadways; and I ornament roadways by various configurations
and devices as may be desired.
To form the configuratious I bend strips of lead, tin, zinc, brass, or iron, to the
forms required, or make castings to forms, and lay such configurations upon a
foundation of iron or wood for footways, and then fill in with the various colours
required; the objects of the whole being improvements in roadways as set forth and
implied to effect more durability and less slipping of horses and traffic.
The means by which I produce adhesion in the formation of roadways by the
combination of the substances is as follows:-I either mix the various substances in
a dry state in the requisite suitable proportions so as to be able to bear the crushing
strain of the traffic, which usually pass through such streets or roadways by the aid
of tar, which I render more liquid by an admixture of liquid acid, such as hydro-
chloric, or I use hydrochloric acid in the first instance with sawdust or other
suitable cheap fibrous material, such as what is termed waste bark which will
absorb the acid, the refuse from lead or other chemical works, such as what is
called in the north of England "pan," or by water in which a proportion of cement
has been mixed, and thus I combine the materials upon the roadway to be made;
or I in the first instance by heat and rotating machinery mix the fibrous and
bituminous parts of the compound with the requisite other materials herein-before
named, and first make what is termed blocks which will simply require to be
reheated before laying, or the blocks may be laid while cold, and be then bonded
by a liquid bituminous body; or I may mix the materials and have the mixture
heated, and then by the use of heated iron stamps or a heated roller press down the
mixture into a solid form of roadway.
In respect to the foundation for roadways I dispense with the necessity for

page_text: making a concrete foundation as is customary by simply evening the CARVING
dation and laying thick planks of wood thereon, by which the necessary curvature
of the road may be also formed; or instead of wood planks I may lay a bituminous
concrete foundation for the blocks to rest upon, or elastic bitumen may be used.
For my roadways I use any of the varied descriptions of wood, such as ash, birch,
oak, elm, spruce, and other wood, suitable for such purposes, each piece being of
natural growth from the limbs and branches of large trees, and preferably with the
bark on the pieces being of the same length or beight, but laid in irregular order
that few or very narrow intervening spaces are formed, into which when they exist
a liquid binding body is poured to fill up such spaces to ensure an even level
surface, upon which horses and vehicles can move without inconvenience and with-
out the usual tremulous sensation such as is felt by the passengers in vehicles when
travelling over the partitioned or separated ribs of blocks as now laid. The natural
grown blocks with or without the bark have projections, knots, excresences, and
hollows, into which the binding body take to hold the blocks en masse.
By using the natural limbs and branches of trees of moderate diameters, say
from 6 or 7 inches down to 2 inches, I can, by laying them on end upon thick
planks, say 2 inches in thickness, and of any length and width, construct a
substantial roadway of great durability and solidity by the homogenity of the ring
shaped fibrosity of each piece, and the closeness of the rings in relation to the centre
which is the hardest and the better fitted to resist compression due to the weight of
passing traffic. The blocks may be hooped with iron to prevent the edges rounding
off from wear.
In some cases I use the oak and other hard wood, of which ships have been built,
and I cut this wood into lengths of about 6 inches, setting it on end with suitable
divisions between; I also utilize old round poles cut in lengths of about 4 inches
and hoop part of them, or I nail lead or zinc or yellow metal strips round them on
the top. I fill in the spaces with a granulated bituminous mixture, variegated com-
position, or concrete.
I also in some cases lay wood longitudinally and fill in the spaces with the
branches of trees and wood slab cuttings between the branches as a filling up. I
cover such made roadway with the herein-before named mixture as for surfaces and
for filling up spaces. This description of roadway is particularly applicable for
carriage drives, esplanades, and the like.
In case where I take up existing asphalt I use the asphalt with a mixture of
oakum, bark, esparto grass, or peat, as herein-before stated, and I then relay the
road with this. mixture.
In what may be termed the finishing of roadways I cover in some cases with a
mixture of small pebbles and marine sifted substances combined together with
reheated asphalte, the object being to form the road less slippery and noiseless.
As a means to prevent the accumulation of water which has the tendency to
accumulate underneath ordinary wood paving where asphalte or concrete is used I
propose to affix at each side of roadways, longitudinally with the footway, a metal
tube or channel having holes through the bottom part and also the side next the
roadway. This tube or channel will allow the water to collect therein, and by the
tube being continued to a drain connected with the main sewer the water will find
its outlet. And there will be another great advantage by the use of the plan, viz.,
that the noxious vapours which accumulate by and from leakage of gas pipes and
from drains will rise into this pipe or channel, and by connecting such pipes with
gas lamps and furnaces the deleterious vapours can be thus consumed, such vapours
being in their application by pipe connections to street lamps caused it to pass over
or through any liquid carbon, by which it will vapourise some of such carbon, and
thus the gaseous mixture will increase the illuminating power of lamps and reduce
the cost thereof.
I
may also
convey by suitable pipes the accumulated noxious vapours from the
main sewers to gasworks there to be purified and mixed with gas as manufactured,
or made into gas by suitable means, the object being the utilization of noxious

page_text: vapours which at present find their escape into the atmosphere, basements of
dwellings, and foundations to the injury of the health of the inhabitants of localities,
cities, and towns generally.
As the means to utilize more fully gas lamp pillars I propose to fix in connection
with the bottom part of the pillar a regulator which may be connected with the
hydrocarbon tank, and affix on each side of the lamp posts longitudinally (where
space will permit) seats, and at the other end of such seats place a tree within an
ornamental enclosure to protect the tree, and I fix a pillar or banister to support the
ornamental seat referred to, and I may utilize a space below such seat for a tank to
hold the bituminous liquid required and.
In the formation of roadways commonly called footpaths I produce the ornamen-
tation and formation of letters and devices by strips of zinc, brass, iron, or wood,
such as the branches of hedges, and I set such strips upon their edge. And in some
cases I utilize leather cuttings or other materials dissolved for filling up the
divisional spaces. The material may be coloured, either blended in part or separate.
The adhesion of the mixture I effect by the use of alum in a liquid state or other
chemical, by which the mixture is made into a pasty state, or by cement which
causes the colours to set as hard as flagstones.
I also form roadways or footpaths without divisional spaces in various colours
blended or separate, by which I form the appearance of marble or variegated stone
from silicious granulated material, say, felspar; and in some cases I place such
combined or variegated mixture into moulds or frames where it sets hard to forms
required, and then laid down as flags; and I also fill the mixtures in permanent
frames or moulds of cast iron, zinc, or brass polished, thus constituting various
forms of lettering, by which names and businesses, directions, and names of streets,
churches, chapels, halls, and public buildings may be indicated; and I employ or
use such slabs, generally in the formation of floors, halls; churches, chapels, and
buildings connected with streets, roads, and thoroughfares. ·
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bell Errington Galloway, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-seven.
G. B. E. GALLOWAY. (L.S.)