Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-06-27
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TUESDAY, JUNE ~, 1854.

IRoN HousEs.--We attended, yesterday eve.
ming, an informal meeting of business men,
at the auction rooms Of NJ. N. Croft, Couri
street, Brooklyn, at which Mr.. Sexton, the
inventor of a new plan Of iron buildings, ex-
planned his system. He constructs the frame
work of his buildings entirely Of cast iron, in
sections, which are made to interlock by very
close-titting and ingenious joints, secured by
KEYS. This method of building avoids the
labor of drilling and boiling, which has been
a great inconvenience of iron buildings. 1t
also allows the house to be taken down in Sec
tons, and removed at very little expense.
He covers the frame wark on the outside with
plates of iron, by similar system Of inter-
locking, without any bolts or other fastenings,
the joints being packed with gutta-percha, SO
as to exclude water under hydraulic pressure.
To finish the dovetailing of the joints, he has
invented a machine that can perform the
work of forty men. The walls are made hol-
low and the enclosed space is filed in with
non-conducting composition of beach sand
and other substances, so that, as Mr.. S. OBJ
served, his house becomes, when finished, q
perfect fre-proof safe.
The roofs and floors are made of cast-iron
frames, resembling heavy window sashes, the
interstioes being occupied, as in the case of
windows, with plates Of glass, of any required
bn1CkueSS anu transparency. 1ue glass; ubcA
is not our common glass, but is in itself new
and valuable invention, being called matlea6te
glass, from its wonderful property of tough
ness allowing it to bend freely without break
ing. 1t can be drawn out into threads of any
fneness, and so strong and flexible that they
are said to be commencing the manufacture OF
piano and violin strings from this materiaL--
Mr.. S. handed round a piece of tins glass
string for inspection. 1t was as small as the
E string of a violin, and could be bent around
the finger, or tied in knot apparently like
catgut.
Plates of this glass being let into the frame
work of the floors, the whole is then covered
over with peculiar transparent cement OF
Mr.. SIS invention, which makes the whole
floor look like one solid plate of glass. The
cost of roofing with this material, is rs cents
per square foot. The walls inside can be
covered with plaster, or finished with iron
or glass, at the option Of the builder. All
the interior ornamentation, such as Inantel-
pieces, panels, &C., may be Of malleable
glass.
The advantages claimed for this style Of
building are, first, its great cheapness, and the
rapdity which it allows in construction. 1t
effects a saving of one third i'll cost and three
fourths in labor, over every other METHOD
Mr.. S. stated that he could complete an Or
binary dwelling house in forty days. Second
the variety of style and finish that can be OBJ
tanned at small cost, by different combinations
of the same pattern. The inventor remarked
that in the construction of the whole Crystal
Palace, but six different patterns were re-
quired. Third, the facility with which such
a building can be taken down and removed.
Fourth its security from damage by fire or
hghtning-thus saving all the expenses Of in
surance. Other incidental advantages are its
durability, freedom from vermin, &C.
1t is proposed to form a company for the
manufacture Of these houses, with capital
Of $3.50, 000.-N. Y. Leader.