IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CAST IRON TO BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Chaplin, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE APPLICATION OF CAST IRON TO BUILDING PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Chaplin at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th April 1854.
I, ALEXANDER CHAPLIN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CAST IRON TO BUILDING PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the construction of dwelling-houses and other
buildings of cast iron, in such manner as to resemble stone or brick structures
as at present erected. To this end the metal is cast in rectangular blocks
with back flanges for bolting together into a solid mass, and with strengthen-
ing ribs, each separate detail being made in the shape of ashlar, hewn
stone, or brick. The pieces may be of various sizes and shapes, all when
erected running in level courses, and each detail being numbered in corre-
spondence with its size and special form. In this way a solid cast-iron wall is
easily erected, the numbering system very much facilitating the ordering and
putting together of the pieces. The junctions may be effected in various ways,
and, if desired, a single plate may be made to resemble two or more stones by
being suitably marked. An internal air space or non-conducting section also.
may be formed by an inner lining of wood, lath and plaster, or other material,

page_text: and the chimneys and flues may be carried along in this space, as in stone
or brick erections. By this system an entire house of large size may be
erected, with very few, perhaps four or five, varieties of size and shapes, of cast-
iron pieces or factitious stones. No lintels are necessary for the windows or
doors, as, by bolting and connecting together the vertical and horizontal flanges
of the pieces at the doors and windows, due support can be given, without
involving the use of long pieces. When painted or suitably coloured, such
structures may be made to resemble any desired style of building in the
closest manner. Instead of mere plates with edge and back flanges, the cast-
iron pieces may be formed as hollow cubes, such pieces being capable of
building securely up together without bolting.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Chaplin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS. SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
CHAPLIN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alexander Chaplin, Her special license that I, the said Alex-
ander Chaplin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alexander Chaplin, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION-OF-CAST IRON. TO BUILDING PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Chaplin, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Alexander Chaplin, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the construction of dwelling-houses and other
buildings of cast iron, in such manner as to resemble stone or brick structures
as at present erected. To this end the metal is cast in rectangular blocks,
with back flanges for bolting together into a solid mass, and in some cases
with strengthening ribs, each separate detail being made in the shape of
ashlar, hewn stone, or brick. The pieces may be of various sizes and shapes,
all when erected running in level courses, and each detail being numbered in
correspondence with its size and special form. In this way a solid cast-
iron wall is easily erected, the numbering system very much facilitating the
ordering and putting together of the pieces. The junctions may be effected
in various ways, and, if desired, a single plate may be made to resemble two or
more stones, by being suitably marked. An internal air space or non-con-
ducting section also may be formed by an inner lining of wood, lath and
plaster, or other material, and the chimneys and flues may be carried along in
this space as in stone or brick erections. By this system an entire house of
large size may be erected with very few, perhaps four or five, varieties of sizes
and shapes of cast-iron pieces or factitious stones. No lintels are necessary
for the windows or doors, as by bolting or connecting together the vertical and
horizontal flanges of the pieces at the doors and windows, due support can be
given, without involving the use of long pieces. When painted or suitably
coloured, such structures may be made to resemble any desired style of build-
ing in the closest manner. Instead of mere plates with edge and back flanges,
the cast-iron pieces may be formed as hollow cubes, such pieces being capable
of building securely up together without bolting. This system of imitative
cast-iron erections may also be combined with ordinary stone, brick, or rubble
work; in which case cast-iron plates of less strength and thickness may be
employed for the facing or outside of the walls, the inner part consisting
of stone, brick, or rubble work of an ordinary description, whilst the whole
is bound up together by transverse bolts. By adopting this combination, walls
of all the requisite strength may be erected at a very low cost.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to describe the several explanatory Figures on the Sheet of
Drawings hereunto attached.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a front elevation of a house built
according to my Invention; Figures 2, 3, and 4 are transverse vertical sections
of three slightly modified. forms of cast-iron plate, to be employed in the

page_text: erection of the walls of houses; and Figure 5 is a back view of a portion of a
wall composed of plates of this description; Figure 6 is a transverse vertical
section of a portion of a wall, composed of hollow, box-shaped, iron castings,
open at the back or towards the interior of the building; Figure 7 is a transverse
vertical section of a portion of a wall, composed of similar hollow,-box-shaped,
iron castings, open at one or both sides, but closed at the back; Figure 8 is a
section similar to Figure 7, but shewing the manner of forming the fire-place
and flue in the thickness of the wall; Figure 9 is a back view of a portion of a
wall composed of blocks, such as are represented in Figure 6; Figures 10 and
11 are transverse vertical sections of portions of composite walls, consisting of
thin' iron plates, combined with rubble work or other material of small cost.
The plates A may be shaped externally to resemble single blocks of stone, or
each piece may be made to resemble several blocks of stone or portions of
brickwork, and the edges of either the single or compound blocks
may be
shaped to shew a mere crevice or line at the joinings, as in Figure 2; or they
may be bevilled off, as in Figures 3 and 4. The plates are cast with flanges B
on their several sides, for the purpose of uniting them in compact masses, and
the fastenings may be effected in various ways. The modifications, represented
in Figures 2, 3, and 5, are shewn bolted together, the bolt holes C being so placed
in each plate as to be opposite to those in the adjacent plates above, below,
and at the sides, the upper and lower plates being arranged to break joint,
as in ordinary brickwork. The plates have numbers cast upon their insides, as
at D, in Figure 5. In Figure 1 the numbers corresponding to the different sizes
of blocks are indicated in red; thus, the largest size employed is numbered 1,
the next 2, the next 3, and so on. Only two blocks, numbered 1, are seen in
the Figure, number 2 being the size most used. Blocks of the size number 3
are used for the pillars E on each side of the large basement windows. These
pillars may be composed either of separate blocks or of large blocks, each
made to resemble two or more of the single blocks. Some blocks of the size
number 3 are also used at the ends of the alternate courses immediately above
the door, and at the ends-of-the-single complete course_above_the_upper
windows. The blocks are set to a vertical line on their outer face, and made
perfectly plumb and square to each other, by means of wedges driven in from
behind between their adjacent flanges. Such wedges are represented in the
act of being driven in at F, in Figures 2 and 3. In the modification of plate
represented in Figure 4, the flanges or turned-in edges G are made to overlap,
and they are fastened by bolts, the heads of which are countersunk on the out-
side. Walls composed of the kind of plates herein-before described may be
lined internally by wood, or by lath and plaster, as at H in Figure 2, and it is

page_text: preferred to cause this lining to stand off a slight distance from the inner edges
of the flanges B to admit of the free passage of air across the flanges from
one part of the wall to another. The forms of blocks represented in Figures 6,
7, and 8, are to be employed where a greater thickness and strength of wall is
required. The blocks represented in Figure 6 being open at the back, can be
bolted together in the manner already herein-before described; but this cannot
readily be effected with the blocks represented in Figures 7 and 8, and which
are closed at the back; in this latter case, the contrivance represented in
Figure 9 being employed to insure the accurate fitting of the pieces together
and to prevent their shifting laterally. The contrivance consists in casting
pins and sockets as at 1, on the upper and under sides of the blocks respec-
tively, the pins of one block entering the sockets of the blocks above. These
pins and sockets are suitably situated upon the blocks, so as to be opposite to
each. other when the blocks are arranged in courses, as represented in Figure 9,
each course breaking joint with the adjacent courses above and below. The
wall is set up to a truly vertical line by means of wedges, as at J; these being
represented as driven home and dressed off flush with the inner ends of the
flanges or sides of the blocks. When fire-places and flues are to be formed
in the wall, as at K and L, in Figure 8, the blocks are cast with, portions of
their sides wanting where the fire-place K is to be inserted, and with apertures
for the passage upwards of the flue pipe L. The arrangement of blocks,
represented in Figure 6, may be taken advantage of for the construction of
small cupboards, or drawers may be fitted into them; and where larger
cupboards are required, several blocks may be merged into one casting,
omitting the flanges, except at the sides of the cupboard. In like manner,
when pillars E, or similar portions of erections, are formed of single or of
but two or three large castings, these castings may be shaped with a view
to their conversion into cupboards or receptacles, thereby effecting a great
saving or utilization of space. When iron plates are combined with ordinary
stone, brick, or rubble work, as in Figures 10 and 11, they are of course much
thinner and lighter than when the wall is composed of plates alone. These
plates M may be arranged to present the external appearance of any know
description of stone or brick wall work. The body N of the wall may consist
of stone or brickwork of any suitable cheap description, the iron plates being
secured to the face thereof, and the whole being firmly bound together by the
bolts O. The heads of these bolts are countersunk into the plates, so as not
to project externally, and they are passed through iron or wooden stringers P,
which are let into the wall at the back, and up against which the nuts of the

page_text: bolts are screwed, the whole being covered internally by a lining of plaster or
wood Q.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,—
First, the general arrangement, and construction of the component parts of
cast-iron erections or buildings, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of casting various sizes of iron building blocks
or plates, with distinctive numbers or marks, of facilitate their arrangement
during erection, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of causing cast-iron erections to resemble those
of ordinary stone or brick work, laid in courses, by employing castings, cach
made to resemble a single block of stone, or two or more blocks of stone, or a
mass of brickwork, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the system or mode of combining iron plates with walls of inferior
stone, brick, or rubble work, so as to give them increased strength, together
with an external appearance resembling any style of building that may be
desired, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Chaplin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
ALEXANDER CHAPLIN. (L.S.)