An Improved Process of Manufacturing Porous Bricks.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1894-Accepted, 30th June, 1894:
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Manufacturing Porous Bricks.
I, HENRY MAURER, of No. 420 East 23rd Street, New York City, County and
State of New York, United States of America, Manufacturer and Dealer in Bricks,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
The object of my invention is to produce a new and improved porous brick, and
it consists in an improved method or process of making such a brick.
My improved brick is made as follows. To a quantity of clay, a quantity of
dung is added. These two substances are then mixed together, in an ordinary
mill such as is used by brickmakers, or in any other suitable way. The mixture
is then pressed or moulded into bricks or blocks of any desired shape, and these
bricks or blocks are then burned in any manner and by any means suitable to the
manufacture of porous bricks, the dung being consumed during the burning of the
brick. The dung that I use is that of animals that eat straw, hay, grain or
similar vegetable fibrous substances; the clay may be of any kind used in making
bricks, and may be sandy or free from sand.
The mixing, moulding and burning of my materials may be accomplished in the
well known ways and by the usual devices employed in making porous bricks.
The relative proportions of clay and dung used can vary with the kind or
quality of brick desired, thus increasing the proportion of dung used to that of
clay, softens the brick, and decreasing its relative proportion as compared with
clay hardens it. If a soft brick is required more dung should be used or less clay
proportionally, while if a harder brick is required, the proportion of clay should
be increased or that of dung decreased. I do not confine myself to any relative
proportions of these materials as long as a substantial quantity of dung is used.
I find that using equal parts of each makes an excellent hard brick while five parts
of dung to three of clay makes a good soft brick.
Good bricks can, however, be made either harder or softer than those described
above, according to the purpose or use for which they are made.
My improved brick possesses great advantages over ordinary bricks and over
those made from saw-dust or from straw. It is stronger than the latter; nails and
screws can be more readily driven into it, even in the harder bricks wire or other
small nails as well as large ones can be driven in with great ease; they can in fact
be driven in more readily than into many kinds of woods. It has a denser and
firmer texture, and nails and screws hold much more firmly in it. My improved
brick possesses such strength that it can be used for all purposes for which ordinary
bricks are used, although especially adapted for fire-proofing and interior use
and in places where nails and screws are needed.
The effect of mastication and digestion upon the vegetable fibres seems to be
to comminute those fibres and otherwise prepare them in an especially thorough
and suitable manner for forming, when mixed with clay and treated as described,
the required porous brick. The pores in my brick are not as large as those
made from sawdust or straw. Not only is there a difference between the
material used in my process, to wit, dung, and the materials heretofore used,
such as sawdust, in respect to the comminution referred to, but the character
of the material itself as regards chemical composition is also different. As a
result of this latter difference the action of the dung in rendering the brick porous
is different both in its nature and effectiveness from that of sawdust.

page_text: My improved brick is also much cheaper and moreover its manufacture furnishes
a means of disposing of an article that is noxious and offensive and often a
nuisance.
It can be made either hollow or solid or in any shape in which ordinary or
porous bricks are made.
Having now particularly described and ascertained my nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. An improved process of manufacturing porous bricks, which consists in mixing
clay with a substantial quantity of dung and then moulding and burning the
mixture, substantially as described.
2. An improved process of manufacturing porous bricks, which consists in mixing
clay with a substantial quantity of the dung of animals that eat hay, straw, grain
or similar vegetable fibrous substances, and then moulding and burning the mixture,
substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of May 1894.
HENRY MAURER.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.