IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVING ROADS AND SUCH LIKE WAYS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
RAMEE, of Paris, but now of No. 3, Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of July, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto unto me, the said Daniel
Rameé, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Daniel Rameé, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Daniel Rameé, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the termi
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PAVING ROADS AND SUCH LIKE WAYS," COm-
municated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Daniel Rameé, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Daniel Rameé, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention to consist

page_text: in binding together the materials of which the surface of the road or way is
to be formed in masses, by means of frames or ligatures, and wedging the said
masses together when so bound by means of wedge-formed material of the
same or a similar kind as that which forms the said surface of the road or
way; as also in forming communication between the atmosphere and the gas
or water pipes made below the surface of the said road or way, through the
materials forming the said road or way.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Daniel Rameé,
do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to be per-
formed, by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Draw-
ing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 13, 13, and 14, represent, in perspective elevation
and in a plan, the forms into which I prefer the material (which for the
purposes of this explanation I will suppose to be granite) should be cut,
preparatory to its being formed into masses by means of the said frames
or ligatures, while Figures 6, 10, 11, and 12 represent the various wedging
stones, which will be required to wedge the said masses together. Figures 15,
16, and 17 represent the separate parts of such a frame as I propose to use,
to hold one of my said masses of stones together. It will be seen at once by
these Figures that it is a wedging frame capable of being contracted by means
of its wedges appropriately applied, as shewn at Figure 18; and it is evident
that these frames may be made of any required shape to suit the locality to be
paved, thus, for instance, Figure 19 shews a cross section, an elevation, and a
plan of the frame, Figure 18, filled with stones, forming one of my said
masses, being composed of four corner stones of the shape No. 4, four side
stones of the shape No. 7, and one centre wedging stone of the shape No. 6.
Figure 20 represents the plan of a triangular mass of stones, in a triangular
frame, the mass being composed of one corner stone, No. 4, two side stones
No. 3, one corner triangular stone, No. 13, one triangular stone, No. 13*, and
one side triangular stone, No. 14. Figure 21 represents the plan of a square
mass of stones in a square frame, the said mass being composed of four corner
stones, No. 4, four side stones, No. 3, and one centre stone, No. 1. Figure 22
is a plan of an oblong mass of stones, in an oblong frame, the said mass being
composed of four corner stones, No. 4, and four side stones, No. 3. When
the masses of stones are arranged in the frames, as aforesaid, the wedges must
be driven up tight, and the masses ready for use, as herein-after explained.
Having now described my mode of forming the said masses by means of

page_text: frames, I will proceed to describe my mode of forming the said masses by
means of ligatures. I place four stones of the shape No. 8 together, as shewn
in Figure 26, and bind them fast by a rope, wire, or ligature, as shewn at
Figures 23, 24, and 25, passed round them, in the horizontal groove g, g, cut
to receive it. I then drive wedges into the vertical grooves b, b, to tighten
the ligature as much as possible, and the masses is ready to be used, as herein-
after described.
Having now described the nature of forming the said masses both by means
of frames and of ligatures, I will proceed to describe the manner of laying
them on the ground and wedging them together, to form the surface of a road
or way. The extent in width of carriage-way being determined upon, the
ground should be prepared as shewn at Figure 28, and stones No. 1, either
as cubes or of any convenient length, should be first laid on its whole length,
and then stones No. 2, with the perpendicular sides next to the stones No. 1,
then the masses, either with frames or with ligatures, and surrounding or
between each mass suitable wedging stones, selected from Nos. 10, 11, and 12
should be driven, to keep the masses together firmly: Figures 29, 30, 31, 32,
33, and 35 shew specimens of my road surface, the masses colored blue being
those formed by ligatures, and those colored pink, the masses formed by
frames, while the stones colored purple shew the wedging border stones, in
both cases between the masses.
Figure 36 shows a pierced wedging border stone, with a pipe or tube let
into and through it, and these stones I propose to employ when gas or
water pipes are laid beneath the stones, as shown in Figure 37, in order to
facilitate the discovery of the point of escape of any gas or water; and in
order to make these pierced stones available in the best manner for this.
purpose, I recommend the gas or water pipe to be surrounded by a brick
tunnel C, C, with divisions D, D, at every ten or twelve feet, or other
distance agreed upon, such tunnel and divisions being cemented so as to be
air and water tight, and then the space B, B, between the pipe and the
tunnel, and into which the pierced stone pipe should enter, as shown in
the Drawing, to be filled with sand, so that any of the gas or water escaping
at any of the pierced stone pipes, the point of escape in the main pipe will be
sure to be somewhere between the two divisions in the tunnel between which
the pierced stone pipe enters.
Now, whereas I claim as the said Invention the following improvements
(that is to say), first, binding together the material of which the surface of the
road or way is to be formed in masses, with wedging frames or ligatures and
wedges, as herein-before described.

page_text: Secondly, in wedging those masses together with wedge-formed border
stones, as herein-before described.
And, thirdly, in using pierced stones, provided with tubes or pipes, to form
a communication with the atmosphere above the surface of the road or way
and the gas or water pipes below the surface of the road or way, as herein-
before also described.
And such Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely:
new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said Dominion of
Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specifica-
tion doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the
proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the said
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Rameé, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, One thousand eight