IMPROVEMENTS IN ASPHALTE ROads and PavemENTS IN COMBINATION WITH WOOD
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Probert, of Hatfield, in the County of
Herts, Clerk in Holy Orders, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ASPHALTE ROads and PavemENTS IN COMBINATION WITH WOOD."
Sealed the 11th February 1873, and dated the 12th August 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Probert at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1872.
I, EDWARD PROBERT, of Hatfield, in the County of Herts, Clerk in
Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ASPHALTE ROADS AND PAVEMENTS IN COMBINATION WITH
WOOD," to be as follows:-
The foundation of the roadway or pavement is first laid in the ordinary
manner, consisting of concrete or other suitable material, upon this is
> spread a coating of asphalte or asphaltic mastic of a thickness to be
determined by the nature of the service required, upon this while still
in a soft or semi-fluid condition blocks of wood of any convenient size

page_text: and shape, previously saturated with some bituminous substance, such
as oil of schiste, dead oil, or naphtha, are placed at such a distance apart
as will be found convenient for running in a sufficient quantity of
asphaltic mastic to coment the whole into a compact floor, or the blocks
after being saturated may when about to be laid be thickly coated
with asphaltic mastic by dipping them into a cauldron of this substance
and then arranged while hot on the bed of asphalte previously described
and thus made to adhere to it and to each other. Or the blocks may
be used without any preliminary treatment, the essential condition in
laying them being that they should be embedded in and surrounded
by asphalte, the saturation only tending to preserve the wood and
exclude moisture, finally the surface of the blocks when in position may
have a coating of finely reduced granite or gravel pressed into it to
improve still further the foothold.
A roadway or pavement thus formed will possess all the peculiar
advantages of the asphalte pavements proper, viz., elasticity, durability,
noiselessness, cleanliness, impermeability to moisture, while a frictional
surface of wood will be secured adapted for steep gradients where
asphalte alone cannot be laid.
A further advantage possessed by this pavement is simplicity of con-
struction and of repair, the latter being effected without breaking up
the bedding of the roadway.
The characteristic distinction between this and other wooden pave-
ments proper is, that the blocks require no tenons, grooves, or bolts to
keep them in position, but are held together by the asphaltic mastic
alone, and resting on a bed of the same material a certain degree of
clasticity is attained very favourable to the durability of the roadway.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Probert in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
PROBERT, of Hatfield, in the County of Herts, Clerk in Holy Orders,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Probert, Her special licence that
I, the said Edward Probert, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edward Probert, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 ASPHALTE ROADS AND
PAVEMENTS IN COMBINATION WITH WOOD," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Probert, 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

page_text: the wood and exclude moisture, finally the surface of the blocks when
in position may have a coating of finely reduced granite or gravel pressed
into it to improve still further the foothold.
A roadway or pavement thus formed will possess all the peculiar
advantages of the asphalte pavements proper, viz., clasticity, durability,
noiselessness, cleanliness, and impermeability to moisture, while a
frictional surface of wood will be secured adapted for steep gradients
where asphalte alone cannot be laid.
A further advantage possessed by this pavement is simplicity of con-
struction and of repair, the latter being effected without breaking up i
the bedding of the roadway.
The characteristic distinction between this and other wooden pave-
ments proper is that the blocks require no tenons, grooves, or bolts to
keep them in position, but are held together by the asphaltic mastic
alone, and resting on a bed of the same material a certain degree of 1
clasticity is attained very favourable to the durability of the roadway.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect,
I declaro that what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the improvements in asphalte
roads and pavements in combination with wood, substantially as herein-
before described, or any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Probert, have hereunto sct
my hand and scal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
BOW ADD DRADEDA