IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND WAYS, AND IN THE MODE OR MEANS or DRAINING SUCH ROADS OR WAYS, AND THE LANDS AND HOUSES ADJACENT THERETO.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Chadwick, of East Sheen, Mortlake, in
the County of Surrey, C.B., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND WAYS, AND IN THE MODE OR MEANS or
DRAINING SUCH ROADS OR WAYS, AND THE LANDS AND HOUSES ADJACENT
THERETO.
"
Sealed the 4th June 1872, and dated the 19th February 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Chadwick at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th February 1872.
I, EDWIN CHADWICK, of East Sheen, Mortlake, in the County of
Surrey, C.B., do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND WAYS, AND IN THE MODE OR
MEANS OF DRAINING SUCH ROADS OR WAYS, AND THE LANDS AND HOUSES ADJACENT
THERETO," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object to construct roads or ways of such
materials and in such a manner that a hard smooth surface may be

page_text: prepared for the wheels of carriages to run on, so that the tractive power
required will be considerably reduced, and the expense of repairs
diminished.
In conjunction with the improved mode of forming the surfaces of
roads and ways, I employ a novel mode of constructing the drains, so
that the roads and the lands and houses adjacent may be kept
thoroughly drained, and all surface water and detritus may be properly
carried off, and the roads or ways thus be kept in proper order.
to use
For constructing the surfaces of the roads or ways I
propose
Val de Travers asphalte or other asphaltes or analogous hard material.
This asphalte is laid upon a foundation of concrete composed of Portland
cement or of selenitic lime. The use of the more expensive materials such
as Portland cement is confined to an area sufficient in width for the
ordinary wheel tracks, the parts of the road or way between the wheel
tracks being made of a rougher and cheaper material. The horse tracks
or spaces between the wheel tracks so covered with the hardest material
I propose to cover with a concrete of Portland cement or selenetic lime,
or gas tar, with broken stone or gravel, or such other material as may be
most readily available near the spot. This part of the concrete for the
horse traffic may be of a greatly reduced thickness, and of less expense
as compared with that of the foundation and surface of the wheel tracks,
and may at the same time serve to give the horses a better foothold,
especially for steep gradients, than can be afforded by smooth surfaces.
As I proportion the harder material to the space for its greater need
I cover less than half the road space with it on the deeper foundation,
and I proportionately reduce the expense.
The roads constructed as I propose would have to a great extent the
benefits of the same reduction of horse power as iron tramways, at a
greatly reduced expense, and without the inconvenience resulting from
the use of iron tramways, for the hardened surface of the wheel track
ways are made flush with the horse track surface, so as to enable carts,
and carriages to cross them, or get off of them to make way for other.
· carriages. My improved tracks would therefore in that respect have the
same convenience as wide granite stone tramways, only at a less expense.
I moreover construct a more even track, and one which is more readily
altered or repaired when required.
+

page_text: The chief use of the proposed improved construction of roads and ways
would be for suburban roads and roadways of secondary traffic, where
there will not be the same need of smooth surface over the whole
roadway. It will also be found well adapted for frequent surface
cleansing by water.
As the proper maintenance of roadways is very much dependent on
the arrangements for its drainage, I propose to reduce the expense of
the present very defective system of drainage by means of side ditches,
as also the expense of subsoil drainage by the use of permeable pipe
drains. These drains are to be made of concrete or selenitic lime, and
they may be formed with more exactitude of shape and at less expense
than the usual burnt clay agricultural drains. The concrete drains
should be made oval or egg-shaped, with side apertures to admit the
subsoil water from the land adjacent to the roadway as well as from the
subsoil of the road itself. I prefer for facility and cheapness of con-
struction to use concrete pipes of the egg-shape form. The gulley shoots,
cess pits, and man-holes may also be made of concrete, instead of brick,
and a great economy will be thereby effected.
Inasmuch as the dung and other organic matters discharged from
roadway surfaces into old sewers of deposit is frequently detained there
and accumulates in combination with the refuse matter discharged from;
houses, and gives rise to noxious decomposition, and the evolution of,
the gaseous products into the streets and houses to the great injury of the
public health, and inasmuch as an improved surface cleansing of smooth
street surfaces may be attended with the continued evil of the retention
of stagnant deposit, I propose as a cheap and efficient means of obviating
this evil to employ concrete channels of the egg-shaped form as proposed
for road drains, and I place these on the bottoms of the ordinary sewers.
The size of these inner concrete channels should be sufficient to
concentrate the flow of the water discharged from the street surfaces, as
well as the waste water and the sewerage from the houses, so as to make
these channels self-cleansing, and by the rush of water therein to carry
away any solid deposit. The surface water from roads or streets is
conducted through the gulley shoots and also the waste water from house
drains into the sewer channel, by means of small troughs fitted to the
apertures of the gulley shoots and of the house drains. These small
troughs and shoots may in most cases be most cheaply made of concrete..
By these means the runs of waste water may be most cheaply and>

page_text: efficiently concentrated, so as to make the channels self-cleansing and to
prevent stagnant deposit, and to remove dung liquefied by rain and
ordure from beneath the sites of towns before it can enter into noxious
stages of decomposition. By this means I render unnecessary expensive
systems of ventilation shafts, as there will be no noxious emanations to
ventilate or carry off. For the most perfect attainment of this end in
large man-sized sewers, it is proposed as a practice in those places where jets
of water are in use or available for the surface cleansing of the roadway,
to have men to descend through man-holes from time to time, and
with the jet to cleanse the troughs from any daub, film, scum, or other
And for the
matter arising from irregular flow or condensations.
purpose of such cleansing the surface of the troughs should be made as
smooth and as non-absorbent as possible. For the purpose of such
cleansing where the road drains near houses are not made large enough
for a man, access for cleansing by means of a jet may be given to them
by openings or man-holes through which the nozzle of the water jet
may be introduced.
The construction of the roads and of the drains beneath them for the
removal of surface water and subsoil water, and house refuse and
sewerage are works required to be connected or carried out in com-
bination, for the sake of economy and efficiency in construction and
action, and must therefore be regarded as one piece of machinery for
cleansing and sanitary purposes as well as for transit.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Chadwick in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 19th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
CHADWICK, of East Sheen, Mortlake, in the County of Surrey, C.B.,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 8
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edwin Chadwick, Her

page_text: special licence that I, the said Edwin Chadwick, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edwin Chadwick, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND WAYS, AND IN THE MODE OR MEANS OF
DRAINING SUCH ROADS OR WAYS, AND THE LANDS AND HOUSES ADJACENT THERETO,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Chadwick,
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 Edwin Chadwick, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
My Invention has for its object to construct roads or ways of such
materials and in such a manner that a hard smooth surface may be
prepared for the wheels of carriages to run on, so that the tractive
power required will be considerably reduced and the expense of repairs
diminished.
In conjunction with the improved mode of forming the surfaces of
roads and ways, I employ a novel mode of constructing the drains so that
the roads, and the lands, and houses adjacent may be kept thoroughly
drained, and all surface water and detritus may be properly carried off,
and the roads or ways thus be kept in proper order.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn various views of roads.
or ways formed according to my Invention, and also my improved mode
of constructing drains or sewers, and in order that my improvements
may be more clearly understood and distinguished from the present.
mode of constructing or forming roads, and the drains or sewers beneath

page_text: the same, I have also shown various views of the present plan of
forming suburban roads and drains.
Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a suburban road constructed according to
my Invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a suburban road formed on
the old plan with open ditches to receive the drainage; Fig. 3 is a
similar view of a road constructed on the improved plan without open
ditches, but with drains formed below the surface.
For constructing the surfaces of roads and ways I propose to use Val
de Travers' asphalte or other asphaltes or analogous hard material. This
asphalte is only used to form the wheel tracks as at a, a, Figures 1
and 3, and is laid upon a foundation of concrete 6 composed of Portland
cement, or of selenitic lime mixed with gravel, broken stone, or other
hard material. The use of the more expensive materials such as Port-
land cement is confined to an area sufficient in width for the ordinary
wheel tracks as at b, b, the parts of the roads or way between the wheel
tracks a, a, being made of a rougher and cheaper material. The horse
tracks or spaces c between the wheel tracks a, a, so covered with the
hardest material are to be covered with a concrete of Portland cement
or selenitic lime, or gas tar, with broken stone or gravel, or such other
material as may be most readily available near the spot. This part of
the concrete for the horse traffic may be of a greatly reduced thickness
and of less costly materials as compared with that of the foundation and
surface of the wheel tracks, and is placed upon a bed of common lime
concrete. It may at the same time serve to give the horses a better
foothold, especially for steep gradients, than can be afforded by smooth
surfaces.
As I apply the harder material only to the space where there is the
greatest need of it, I cover less than half the road space with it, and I
proportionately reduce the expense.
The roads constructed in the manner shewn and described would to a
great extent effect the same economy of horse power as iron tramways
but at a greatly reduced expense, and without the inconvenience result-
ing from the use of iron tramways, for the hardened surface of the wheel
track ways are made flush with the horse track surface so as to enable
carts and carriages to cross them or to get off them in order to made
way for other carriages. My improved tracks would therefore in that
respect have the same convenience as wide granite stone tramways, only

page_text: at a less expense. I moreover construct a more even track and one
which can be more readily altered or repaired when required.
The chief use of the proposed improved construction of roads and
ways would be for suburban roads and roadways of secondary traffic,
3 where there will not be the same need of smooth surfaces over the
whole roadway, but it may with equal advantage be employed in towns
as shewn at Fig. 5, which represents a section of a street with asphalted
wheel tracks a, a, and concrete horse tracks c, the remainder of the road
being constructed of concrete or paved in the ordinary manner.
If con-
structed of concrete so as to present an uniform surface, it will be found
well adapted for frequent surface cleansing by means of water. Fig. 4
is a section of a street with the entire surface covered with asphalte on
a concrete bottom, as now adopted. By using so large a quantity of
asphalte the cost of construction is considerably increased, so as to
render it too expensive to use in many places where however it might
be used but for the expense.
As the proper maintenance of roadways is very much dependent on
the arrangements for their drainage, I propose to reduce the expense of
the present very defective system of drainage by means of side ditches,
as also the expense of subsoil drainage. This object I effect by the use
of permeable pipe drains which are to be made of concrete composed of
selenitic lime and fine gravel or rough sand. These pipes may be formed
with more exactitude of shape and at less expense than the usual burnt-
clay agricultural drain pipes. The concrete drain pipes should be made
oval or egg-shaped with side apertures to admit the subsoil water from
the land adjacent to the roadway as well as from the subsoil of the road
itself. I prefer for facility and cheapness of construction to use con-
crete pipes of the egg-shape form with the top part cut off, as shewn at
Fig. 3, and also at Fig. 6. The gulley shoots, cess pits, and man-holes
may also be made of concrete instead of brick, and a great economy will
be thereby effected.
The dung and other organic matters discharged from roadway surfaces
into old sewers of deposit are frequently detained there, and accumulate in
combination with the refuse matter discharged from houses, as shewn at
Fig. 7, which represents a section of an old sewer. The accumulated
deposits give rise to noxious decomposition and the evolution of the gaseous
products into the streets and houses to the great injury of the public
health. As an improved surface cleansing of smooth street surfaces

page_text: may also be attended with a continuous and even an aggravation of
the evil arising from the retention of stagnant deposit, I propose as a
cheap and efficient means of obviating this evil, to employ concrete
channels of the egg-shaped form as proposed for road drains, and I
place these on the bottoms of the ordinary sewers as shewn at d, Fig. 8.
The size of these inner concrete channels which are shewn detached at
Figures 9 and 10, should be sufficient to concentrate the flow of the
water discharged from the street surfaces, as well as the waste water
and the sewerage of the houses, so as to make these channels self-
cleansing by the rush of water therein, which will carry away any solid
deposit. The surface water from roads or streets may be conducted
through the gulley shoots, and also the waste water and sewage from
house drains into the sewer channel d by means of small troughs or
pipes e, e, Fig. 9, fitted to the apertures of the gulley shoots or of the
house drains as shewn at Fig. 8. These small troughs and shoots e may
in most cases be made of concrete. By these means the runs of waste
water may be most cheaply and efficiently concentrated, so as to make
the channels self-cleansing and to prevent the accumulation of stagnant
deposits, and to remove ordure and dung liquefied by rain from beneath
the sites of towns before it can enter into noxious stages of decomposition.
By these means I render unnecessary expensive systems of vetilation
shafts, as there will be no noxious emanations to ventilate or carry off.
For the most perfect attainment of this end in large man-sized sewers,
it is proposed (as a practice in those places where jets of water are in
use or available for the surface cleansing of the roadway) to cause men
to descend through man-holes from time to time, and (with the jet) to
cleanse the troughs from any daub, film, scum, or other matter arising
from irregular flow or condensations, and which may adhere to the
surface of the drains. To facilitate such cleansing, the surfaces of the
troughs & should be made as smooth and as non-absorbent as possible.
When the road drains (near houses) are not made large enough to allow
a man to enter them, access for cleansing by means of a jet may be
given to them by making holes or openings through which the nozzle
of the water jet may be introduced.
The construction of the roads and of the drains beneath them for the
removal of surface water and subsoil water, and house refuse, and
sewerage, are works which require to be connected or carried out in
annatmentin

page_text: and action, and must therefore be regarded as one piece of machinery
for cleansing and sanitary purposes, as well as for transit.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in the con-
struction of roads and ways, and in the mode or means of draining
such roads or ways, and the lands and houses adjacent thereto,
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,
constructing roads and ways with wheel tracks made of asphalte or
other analogous material in combination with horse tracks, and other
parts of the road or way constructed of a hard but cheaper material, as
herein set forth.
Second. I claim constructing and arranging sewers or drains for
draining the roads or ways and the houses and lands adjacent thereto,
in the manner herein set forth; I also claim adapting to old sewers
separate concrete channels which are placed along the bottom of the old
sewer, and are connected with the house drain by means of troughs, as
herein set forth and shewn at Fig. 8.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Chadwick, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
M. H. COULTRUB,
hir Grand Hotel.
EDWIN CHADWICK. (L.S.)