AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PAVE- MENTS, ROOFING, & OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rodney Croskey, of No. 27, Blomfield
St., Upper Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, in the
ounty of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PAVE-
MENTS, ROOFING, & OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."-A communication from
abroad by Andrew McKinley, of No. 59 & 61, Liberty Street, New
York, United States of America.
Sealed the 29th December 1871, and dated the 14th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rodney Croskey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th July 1871.
I, JOSEPH RODNEY CROSKEY, of No. 27, Blomfield St., Upper
Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION
FOR PAVEMENTS, ROOFING, & OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," a communication to me
from abroad by Andrew McKinley, of No. 59 & 61, Liberty Street,
New York, United States of America, to be as follows:-
The nature of the said Invention consists of the combination by
means of heat of the following substances, viz. :-First, bitumen or
bituminous substances; second, refuse gas house lime or its equivalent,

page_text: or gypsum or sulphur combined with lime; third, dried or burnt clay or
other argilaceous carth; fourth, pulverized limestone, chalk, ground.
oyster or other shells or other calcareous earths or substances in various
proportions according to the quality or purity of each ingredient and
according to the nature of the work for which the composition is to
be used.
For some purposes the use of calcarcous carths and substances other
than gas house lime may be omitted. Trinidad bitumen or asphalt is to
be preferred to coal tar pitch.
In carrying out or performing this Invention I may take equal parts
in weight of bitumen, of refuse gas house lime, and of dry clay, having
previously boiled the lime in water for half an hour, thoroughly dried,
finely pulverized, & sifted it, and also having previously thoroughly
dried or burned and pulverized & sifted the clay. The bitumen is
then heated in a suitable vessel till it acquires upwards of 300 degrees
of Fahrenheit, when the sifted lime is to be thoroughly stirred in, the
heat remaining the same for one hour, and then the prepared clay is
gradually and by slow degrees stirred into this mixture until it acquires
the consistency of mortar. If it be required at any time to make the
composition more liquid or less stiff the residuum of petroleum after the
volatile oils have been extracted can be added in preference to coal tar
or vegetable oils. The composition being then ready for use it can be
immediately applied in its heated state or it can be run into moulds and
pressed (the greater the pressure the better the result), and, after being
cooled, reserved for subsequent use by being again brought back by
heat to a liquid state, or being moulded in convenient blocks. It can be
used in such form for pavements, the blocks being cemented together
by the use of some more of the composition in its heated state.
If the use of other calcareous earths or substances be adopted they
must be made thoroughly dry and pulverized and heated before admix-
ture, and the proportion of clay may be reduced accordingly, or the
consumption of the residuum of petroleum increased.
This composition is useful also for the manufacture of drain pipes,
subaqueous walls, foundations, and wells, and vats, for the insulation.
of telegraph wires, and other similar purposes, as well as for pavements
and roofing.
For pavements it can be used either with or without being combined
with sand, gravel, or broken stones or flint stones, but if so combined

page_text: these substances should be heated previously in order to effect a perfect
combination. When the composition is used by itself without the above
combination there should be a substratum of lime concrete, which must
be perfectly dry before the composition is laid thereon in its heated
state, or the earth should be well rammed with a layer of hot sand laid
thereon, mixed with lime so as to destroy all' aqueous exhalation.
But
it will be found preferable in all cases to form a concrete of the com-
position itself and broken stones, which will set directly it is cool &. be
perfectly dry.
In paving the composition will be much improved by pressure,
whether it be combined or not with other material as above mentioned,
and the rolling of the same when in a semi-plastic state will be found
highly efficacious.
23
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Rodney Croskey in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
RODNEY CROSKEY, of No. 27, Blomfield Strect, Upper Westbourne
Terrace, Paddington, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Rodney Croskey, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Rodney Croskey, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Rodney Croskey, 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 "AN IMPROVED COM-
POSITION FOR PAVEMENTS, ROOFING, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," the same
being a communication to me from abroad by Andrew M°Kinley, of

page_text: No. 59 & 61, Liberty Street, New York, United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Rodney
Croskey, my executors or 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 Joseph Rodney Croskey, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same 1
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The nature of the said Invention consists of the combination by
means of heat of the following substances, viz. :-First, bitumen or
bituminous substances; second, refuse gas house lime, or gypsum or 1
sulphur combined with lime; third, burnt or dried clay or other
argillaceous earths; fourth, pulverized limestone, chalk, ground oyster
or other shells, or other calcareous earths or substances in various
proportions according to the quality or purity of each ingredient and
according to the nature of the work for which the composition is to be a
used.
For some purposes the use of calcareous earths' or substances other
than gas house lime may be omitted. Trinidad bitumen or asphalte is
to be preferred to coal tar pitch.
In carrying out or performing this Invention I may take equal parts
in weight of bitumen, of refuse gas house lime, and of dry clay, having
previously boiled the lime in water for half an hour, thoroughly dried,
pulverized, and finely sifted it, and also having previously dried or
burned and pulverized and sifted the clay; the bitumen is then heated
in a suitable vessel until it acquires upwards of three hundred degrees of
Fahrenheit, when the sifted lime is to be thoroughly stirred in, the
heat remaining the same for one hour, and then the prepared clay is
gradually and by slow degrees stirred into this mixture until it acquires
the consistency of mortar. If it be required at any time to make the
composition more liquid or less stiff the residuum of petroleum, after
the volatile oils have been extracted, can be added in preference to coal
tar or vegetable oils. The composition being thus ready for use it can

page_text: be immediately applied in its heated state or it can be run into moulds
and pressed (the greater the pressure the better the result), and, after
being cooled, reserved for subsequent use by bringing it back by heat to
a liquid state, or being moulded in convenient blocks. It can be used.
in such form for pavements, the blocks being cemented together by the
use of some more of the composition in its heated state.
If the use of other calcareous carths or substances be adopted they
must be made thoroughly dry and pulverized and heated before admix-
ture, and the proportion of clay may be reduced accordingly or the
consumption of the residuum of petroleum increased.
This composition is useful also for the manufacture of drain pipes,
subaqueous walls, and foundations, and for wells & vats, for the
insulation of telegraph wires and other similar purposes, as well as for
pavements and roofing.
For pavements it can be used with or without being combined with
sand, gravel, or broken stones or flint stones, but if so combined these
substances should be heated previously in order to effect a perfect com-
bination. When the composition is used by itself without the above
combination there should be a substratum of lime concrete which must
be perfectly dry before the composition is laid thereon in its heated
state, or the earth should be well rammed with a layer of hot sand laid
thereon mixed with lime so as to destroy all aqueous exhalation; but it
will be found preferable in all cases to form concrete of the composi-
tion itself and broken stones, which will set directly it is cool and be
perfectly dry.
In paving the composition will be much improved by pressure,
whether it be combined or not with other material as above mentioned,
and the rolling of the same when in a semi-plastic state will be found
highly efficacious.
In roofing the composition should be laid upon felt previously attached
to the roof.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be conveniently carried into practice, I would
have it understood, that I do not confine myself to the exact proportions
herein stated, nor do I claim the exclusive use of the materials or pro-
cesses employed in compounding the same, except when the same be

page_text: used for the purposes of this Invention as described and ascertained in
the foregoing statement.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rodney Croskey, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.,
JOS. RODNEY CROSKEY. (L.S.)