US16692A - Ohakles mettam - Google Patents

Description

o. METTAM. IRON PAVEMENT.

No. 16,692; Patented Peb. 24, 1857.

l l Z" UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES METTAM, OF NEI/V YORK, N. Y.

IRON PAVEMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,692, dated February 24, 1857.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it lmown that I, CHARLES MET'IAM, of

the city, county, and State of New York,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode of Connecting the Blocks or Plates of Iron Pavements; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description 'of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan view showing several blocks or plates united by my improved mode of connection. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention consists in casting each block or plate with a number of hooks projecting laterally from its lower part and turning upward vertically in the form of tenons, and with a corresponding number of mortises in its lower side; the said hooks and mortises being so formed and arranged, that when the blocks or plates are laid, the laterally projecting portions of the hooks of each plate will give support to, and the upturned portions will enter the mortises in, the adjoining plates; and thus the plates will receive mutual support and be locked together in a lateral direction.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawin s.

A, are the blocks or plates, which I prefer to make of hexagonal form, cast with bosses or other projections on their upper surfaces to give a proper foot-hold to horses or pedestrians. One half the sides of each are cast with hooks a, a, and the other with mortises b, b; the hooks being arranged on three adjacent sides, and the mortises on the other three adjacent sides, for the purpose ofenabling the pavement to be laid down and taken up with facility. The hooks a, a, are of rectangular form starting in a horizontal direction from the bottom of the blocks or plates and turning up in the form of vertical tenons. The horizontal portions of the hooks fit close up to the bottom of the adjoining plates, and the vertical tenon-like portions enter the mortises in the same, as is shown in Fig. 2, and in this way the blocks or plates are very securely locked together as well as made mutually supporting.

I do not claim the casting of the blocks or plates with lateral projections on the lower parts to extend under the adjacent blocks or plates; neither do I claim the casting of the blocks or plates with tenons to enter mortises in the adjacent blocks or plates, when such tenons stand out laterally from the sides of the blocks or plates; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

Casting each block or plate with a number of hooks standing out laterally from below the general level of the bottom thereof and turning upward in the form of vertical tenons, and with a corresponding number of mortises in the lower faces, so that when the plates are laid together the vertical tenons of one block or plate enter mortises in adjacent ones, and the mortises receive tenons of adjacent ones while the laterally projecting portions of the blocks or plates make them mutually supporting, substantially as herein described.

CHAS. METTAM. Witnesses:

WILLIAM TUsoH, S. J. COHEN,

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