AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR BUILDING TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR BRICK AND STONE, AND AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WALLS AND ROOFS FOR HOUSES AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Standfast, of Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, Builder, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION
FOR BUILDING TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR BRICK AND STONE, AND AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WALLS AND ROOFS FOR HOUSES AND
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 3rd December 1861, and dated the 4th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Standfast at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
June 1861.
I, SAMUEL STANDFAST, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Builder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ax IMPROVED
COMPOSITION FOR BUILDING TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR BRICK AND STONE, AND
AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WALLS AND ROOPS FOR HOUSES AND OTHER
PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My improved composition, which may be used in substitution for brick and
stone, is formed by running into blocks the following ingredients:-Burnt
clay or loam, iron dust, brick rubbish, gravel, hoop iron, wire, lime, cement,
vegetable fibre, and sand.
My improved method of constructing walls and roofs consists in the
employment of hollow frames or moulds formed of wood or metal, between
which the above-named ingredients are run or placed in a loose state;
the material for forming the outer face of the wall or roof being first applied
against the inside of the material forming the outside of the frame or mould..
The materials form one solid, compact, and jointless body. After they have
become set and solidified, the frames or moulds may be removed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Standfast in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
STANDFAST, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord-
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Standfast, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel Standfast, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Standfast, 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 "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR
BUILDING TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION FOR BRICK AND STONE, AND AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING WALLS AND ROOFS FOR HOUSES AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Standfast, 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 Samuel Standfast, 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
thereof, that is to say: .
My said composition is formed by first mixing up burnt clay or loam, iron
dust, brick rubbish, gravel, lime, cement, and vegetable fibre, animal hair,
and sand in proportions which may be varied according to circumstances.
The ingredients, are reduced to a proper consistence with water, and are run
into blocks of any given size or shape. When this composition is run in the

page_text: block mould, iron hooping and wire are introduced into the body of the com-
position in order to form, in addition to the fibre, a key to the whole mass,
which in the course of a short time becomes hard and sufficiently impervious
for building purposes.
My improved method of constructing walls and roofs with this composition
consists in the employment of hollow frames or moulds formed of wood or
metal, so constructed as to suit any style of building, and which are raised
as the building proceeds. Into these moulds or frames the materials, prepared
as above stated, but before being allowed to set, are run or placed in a loose
state, and at intervals as the work proceeds iron hooping and wire are intro-
duced to form a solid, compact, and jointless body. After the materials have
become set and solidified, the frames or moulds may be removed.
In the formation of dwelling houses according to my Invention, I let into
the composition, as the building rises, glazed earthenware pipes to serve as
chimneys and flues. I find such flues do not allow of the ready accumulation
of soot, while they materially assist the draught.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself in all
localities to the use of all the ingredients enumerated, as the same may be
varied without departing from my said Invention. For example, although I
prefer using brick rubbish and sand in my composition, yet they are not
necessary to the hardness thereof; since additional proportions of the other
ingredients may be made to compensate for their absence, and so of other
ingredients, and particularly since the special part of my Invention, viz., the
frames or moulds are indispensable, whatever proportions or selections of
materials may be used. Moreover, my composition should be varied in the
proportions of its ingredients according to the thickness, height, and position of
the walls to be erected. On removing the frames or moulds from walls con-
structed as herein-before described, I produce a finish to them by some of the
ingredients enumerated in my composition, or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Standfast, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
SAMUEL STANDFAST. (L.S.)