IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Henson Henson, of No. 24, Laurence
Pountney Lane, in the City of London, for the Invention of
" IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS."
Sealed the 22nd July 1873, and dated the 31st May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Henson Henson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 31st May 1873.
I, HENRY HENSON HENSON, of No. 24, Laurence Pountney Lane, in
the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of roadways in such a
manner as to secure solidity and durability and to avoid slipperyness.
In a Provisional Specification filed by me on the 26th May 1873, No.
1891, I described modes of forming roadways in two depths or layers, the
lower layer serving as a foundation for the upper layer which is intended
to receive the traffic.

page_text: My present Invention relates to the construction of such upper or
traffic layer which I prefer to place on a foundation such as I described
in the said Provisional Specification but which may also be placed on
other known kinds of foundation such as concrete.
For the upper or traffic layer to be placed on such foundation I
employ wood blocks which may be of cubical shape placed endways of
the grain, and I prefer that these blocks should be of different kinds
of timber, presenting different degrees of hardness and softness on the
upper surface, whereby the slipperiness of such surface is considerably
diminshed. I prefer also that these blocks, as well as such other pieces
of timber as will be referred to hereafter should undergo a preservative
process before being laid, such process being applied to the separate
pieces and not to the timber in bulk. Or in lieu of such known pre-
servative process I serve the pieces with a coating of oil and charcoal
applied in the manner of a point. Also, the under sides of the pieces
may be charred before they are laid in order the better to preserve them
from decay.
Instead of laying all the blocks of one depth I make them of dif-
ferent depths so that furrows or grooves are presented on the surface,
and I fill in these furrows or grooves with natural or artificial asphalte:
or bituminious compound of like character, which has the effect of
cementing the joint of the blocks in a water-tight manner.
In order still farther to secure that the joints shall be water-tight, in
some cases I shoulder down the blocks all round so that their upper
faces are smaller than their lower surfaces, and I fill in the grooves or
furrows thus presented in the manner described above, the bituminous
filling covering the lower joints of the blocks and resting on their
shoulders.
By either of these methods I am enabled to present a composite road
surface of wood alternating with bituminous paving whereby the
slipperiness found in the latter material when it is used alone is very
much diminished.
Instead of so shouldering down the blocks or interspacing them with
lower blocks, the blocks may be made with grooves or furrows in their
upper surface, which grooves or furrows are filled up with the bituminous
matter, and as circular work, such as turning or boring is generally of
an inexpensive character the grooves or furrows made in the blocks may

page_text: recesses.
When different kinds of wood cannot be conveniently obtained for
the paving, the hardness of the surface may be varied by boring holes
in the blocks and letting pieces of cane or groups of such pieces into
these holes, cementing them therein either with bituminous material or
with marine glue.
As I have above stated it is of great importance to have the road
surface not of one material, such as wood alone or asphalte alone, but of
these or such like materials alternating; with a view to obviate slip-
periness, their combination can be effected in various forms besides those
above described. For example, wood blocks may be laid so as to form
open squares or rectangular cells, which cells are filled with the
bituminous material, or the wood blocks may be laid in rows trans-
versely or obliquely, crossing the roadway, these rows being interspaced
with asphalte or such like bituminous material. And it is obvious that
asphalte pavement already laid may be altered to a combined con-
struction of this kind by cutting out and removing lines or cells of the
asphalte, and laying wood blocks or blocks of other suitable material
in the spaces so cleared, cementing them and making good with
asphalte.
The blocks of wood employed as above described may be of the whole
depth of the upper or traffic layer, or they may be of less depth placed
one above another in several tiers, and in such a construction it is pre-
ferred to lay the tiers so as to break joint, cementing and waterproofing
each as it is laid with bituminous material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Henson Henson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th November 1873.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henry Henson Henson, Her special license
that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Henson Henson, 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADWAYS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Henry Henson Henson, 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 accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the construction of roadways in such a
manner as to secure solidity and durability and to avoid slipperiness.
In the Specification to Letters Patent granted to me on the 26th May
1873, No. 1891, I described modes of forming roadways in two depths
or layers, the lower layer serving as a foundation for the upper layer,
which is intended to receive the traffic.
My present Invention relates to the construction of such upper or
traffic layer which I prefer to place on the foundation which I described
in the said Specification but which may also be placed on other known
kinds of foundation such as concrete.

page_text: For the upper or traffic layer to be placed on such foundation I
employ wood blocks which may be of cubical shape placed endways of
the grain, and I prefer that these blocks should be of different kinds of
timber, presenting different degrees of hardness and softness on the
upper surface, whereby the slipperiness of such surface is considerably
diminished. I prefer also that these blocks as well as such other pieces
of timber as will be referred to hereafter should undergo a preservative
process before being laid, such process being applied to the separate
pieces and not to the timber in bulk. Or in lieu of such known pre-
servative process I serve the pieces with a coating of oil and charcoal
applied in the manner of a paint. Also the under sides of the pieces
may be charred before they are laid in order the better to preserve them
from decay.
Instead of laying all the blocks of one depth I make them of dif-
ferent depths, so that furrows or grooves are presented on the surface,
and I fill in these furrows or grooves with natural or artificial asphalte
or bituminous compound of like character, which has the effect of
cementing the joints of the blocks in a water-tight manner as well as of
presenting a surface of different degrees of hardness.
In order still farther to secure that the joints shall be water-tight, in
some cases I shoulder down the blocks all round, so that their upper
faces are smaller than their lower surfaces, and I fill in the grooves or
furrows thus presented in the manner described above, the bituminous
filling in covering the lower joints of the blocks and resting on their
shoulders.
By either of these methods I am enabled to present a composite
road surface of wood alternating with bituminous navino wherehv the

page_text: When different kinds of wood cannot be conveniently obtained for
the paving the hardness of the surface may be varied by boring holes in
the blocks, and letting pieces of cane or groups of such pieces into these
holes, cementing them therein either with bituminous material or with
marine glue.
As I have above stated it is of great importance to have the road
surface not of one material, such as wood alone or asphalte alone, but
of these or such like materials alternating ;) with a view to obviate slip-
periness; their combination can be effected in various forms besides
those above described. For example wood blocks may be laid so as to
form open squares or rectangular cells, which cells are filled with the
bituminous material, or the wood blocks may be laid in rows trans-
versley or obliquely crossing the roadway, these rows being interspaced
with asphalte or such like bituminous material. And it is obvious that
asphalte pavement already laid may be altered to a combined con-
struction of this kind by cutting out and removing lines or cells of the
asphalte, and laying wood blocks or blocks of other suitable material
in the spaces so cleared, cementing them, and making good with
asphalt.
The blocks of wood employed as above described may be of the whole
depth of the upper or traffic layer or they may be of less depth, placed
one obove another in several tiers, and in such a construction it is pre-
ferred to lay the tiers so as to break joint, cementing and waterproving
each as it is laid with bituminous material.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a section of part of a roadway constructed in the
manner first described above. f is the foundation; b, b, the wooden
blocks of different heights set thereon, and a is the asphalte or bitu-
minous compound filled into the furrows between the higher blocks.
Fig. 2 represents a section of the modification according to which the
blocks 6 are shouldered down so that the bituminous filling in a covers
their joints.
Fig. 3 is a plan of part of a roadway formed of blocks 6 having cylin-
drical hollows (as shewn by the section of one of the blocks Fig. 3") in
their upper faces, such hollows being filled in with the asphalt or bitu-
minous compound a.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a plan of part of a roadway formed of blocks 6 shouldered
down so as to present on their upper sides cylindrical bosses (as shewn by
the side view of one of the blocks Fig. 4) the spaces between the bosses
being filled in with asphalte or bituminous compound a.
Fig. 5 is a plan, and Fig. 5ª a section of a block 6 in the upper part
of which is cut an annular recess filled in with the asphalt or bitu-
minous compound a. It will be observed that blocks treated in the
manner described in reference to Figs. 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, and 5º, can be pre-
pared by circular boring or turning, which is a comparatively inexpen-
sive operation.
b
Fig. 6 is a plan of part of a roadway consisting of rows of wood
blocks alternating with lines of asphalt or bituminous paving a, these
rows being laid either diagonally, as shewn in Fig. 6, or transversely to
the roadway.
Fig. 7 is a plan of part of a roadway where the wood blocks 6 are
laid so as to form between them cells filled in with asphalt or bitu-
minous compound a. It may be readily understood that this arrange-
ment might be modified by employing wood blocks in the spaces marked a
and asphalt in those marked b.
Fig. 8 represents a plan, and Fig. 8° a section of a wood block b in
which are bored holes filled in with pieces of cane c cemented by asphalt
or marine glue.
Fig. 9 represents a section of part of a roadway laid with wooden
blocks in two tiers breaking joint, the joints between the blocks and
between the tiers being cemented and waterproofed with bituminous
material.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The construction of a roadway of wood blocks interspaced
with asphalt or bituminous compound for the purpose of presenting a
waterproof surface of different degrees of hardness, substantially as
herein described.
Second. The use for the interspacing above referred to of blocks of
different heights, having the hollows above the lower blocks filled in
with bituminous material.

page_text: Third. The use for the interspacing above referred to of blocks
shouldered down, having the vacant spaces filled in with bituminous
material, covering the jointings of the blocks.
Fourth. The use of blocks prepared by boring or turning so as to
receive the bituminous filling in above referred to, in circular or annular
hollows formed in the blocks or round cylindrical bosses projecting from
them.
Fifth. The use for a roadway of wood blocks having holes in them
filled in with cane cemented therein, substantially as herein described.
Sixth. The construction of a roadway in two or more tiers of wooden
blocks, laid so as to break joint and cemented and waterproofed with
bituminous material, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Henson Henson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
HENRY H. HENSON. (L.s.)