CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE FACING OF EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR WALLS OF GOTHIC OR OTHER STRUCTURES BUILT OF BRICK OR OTHER MATERIAL WITH STRONG MILLED OR SAWN SLATES, BOUND. AND SECURED BY MOULDINGS, GROOVES, AND TYES OF CAST IRON, IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO HAVE THE APPEARANCE, WHEN SANDED, OF FINELY WROUGHT STONE WORK, IN ORNAMENTAL PANELS OROTHERWISE, WITH CEILINGS OF CORRE- SPONDENT TRACERY, FORM,, AND CHARACTER, OF THE SAME MATERIALS, WHICH MAY BE SUPPORTED BY POINTED ARCHES RISING FROM SINGLE OR CLUSTERED COLUMNS OF OF CAST, IRON.OROTHERWISE, AND IN CAPPING BUTTRESSES IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE, WITH HIGHLY ENRICHED PINNACLES OF CAST IRON ONLY, THE WHICH BEING CON- NECTED BY, METAL, WITH THE SPOUTS ALSO OF METAL, AND CARRIED DOWN TO THE GROUND, FROM CONDUCTORS FOR THE PROTECTION OF
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CRAGG, of Liverpool, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Esquire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the the Third
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth
day of November, in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said John Cragg, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Cragg, my
exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE FACING OF EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR WALLS OF GOTHIC OR OTHER
STRUCTURES BUILT OF BRICK OR OTHER MATERIAL WITH STRONG MILLED OR SAWN
SLATES, BOUND. AND SECURED BY MOULDINGS, GROOVES, AND TYES OF CAST IRON, IN
SUCH A MANNER AS TO HAVE THE APPEARANCE, WHEN SANDED, OF FINELY WROUGHT
STONE WORK, IN ORNAMENTAL PANELS OR OTHERWISE, WITH CEILINGS OF CORRE-
SPONDENT TRACERY, FORM,, AND CHARACTER, OF THE SAME MATERIALS, WHICH MAY BE
SUPPORTED BY POINTED ARCHES RISING FROM SINGLE OR CLUSTERED COLUMNS OF OF
CAST, IRON.OR OTHERWISE, AND IN CAPPING BUTTRESSES IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,
WITH HIGHLY ENRICHED PINNACLES OF CAST IRON ONLY, THE WHICH BEING CON-
NECTED BY, METAL, WITH THE SPOUTS ALSO OF METAL, AND CARRIED DOWN TO THE
GROUND, FROM CONDUCTORS FOR THE PROTECTION OF LOPTY BUILDINGS FROM THE

page_text: EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING; ALSO FOR A SPIRAL STAIR (WHOLLY OF CAST IRON) OF A
LIGHT AND SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION, WHICH MAY BE CARRIED UP OR INSERTED WITHIN
THE CORNER OF A BUTTRESSED TOWER WALL, OR IN THE CYLINDER OF A SMALL
TURRET, BY WHICH MODE OF FACING, ADORING, AND CONSTRUCTING THE SAID
SEVERAL PARTS, CHURCHES, OR OTHER BUILDINGS OF PURE GOTHIC DESIGN, MAY BE
ERECTED OF BRICK, AND FINISHED WITH LIGHT ORNAMENTAL CARVED WORK OF
APPROPRIATE TASTE AND ELEGANCE AT LESS EXPENSE THAN IF WROUGHT OF STONE,
AND IN MATERIALS THAT WILL ENDURE;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Cragg, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
relation being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Cragg, do declare that my said Invention, and the manner in the same
is to be performed, is as follows (that is to say) :-
I form the projecting mouldings of cast iron, with grooves to receive and
hold the edges of such of the slates as may adjoin and connect with them in
the design, by which means the greatest part of the slates so covering or
facing the walls either in the outside of the building or in the interior thereof,
are securely. bound, these mouldings being cramped into the walls, or occa-
sionally still more securely connected with the walls by cramps or bolts of iron
passing through the walls entirely from the outside mouldings or projecting
parts of cast iron to the inside mouldings of cast iron, thus at the same time
binding the slate, the iron frame, and the walls firmly together. The sides or
splays of the windows, arches, architraves, and jambs of doors, as well as the
cornices being also of cast iron, afford in their projections the groove before
described for the binding and clasping of the facing slate, as shewn in. Drawing
No. 2. Such slates, or parts thereof, as do not in the course of a design come
in contact with any of those mouldings or projections of cast iron with grooves
are to be secured to the wall by tyes of cast iron, fixing the square-sawn ends
and parallel-sawn sides or edges of each slate together and to the wall. A
hole being drilled into the sawn-square ends and edges of the slates, the said
tye or cramp catches therein, the points being fixed in the holes drilled in the
thickness of the slates, and the shank or bar of the cramp going into or occa-
sionally through the wall makes secure flash joints at both the ends and
sides of each slate. Such of the slates as are very large and not thick and strong
a the edges may be drilled through the front (countersunk in drilling), and

page_text: an iron spike, with a round flat head, or a cramp so sunk in front as to be
covered and hidden in the surface, may be inserted in the brickwork of the
wall without the use of nogs or wedges of wood, which are apt to decay
from the least dampness reaching them in the course of time from the outside.
The cavity which may remain between the slate and the brick, from their
roughness or inequalities, may be filled up with liquid lime, so as to make a
solid mass of the wall in the usual way.
What I claim as an improvement in the facing of walls with slates is, the
forming of mouldings of every sort, strings, cornices, canopies, pinnacles, sides
and arches of doors and windows, the panneling, and whatever projects.beyond
the face of the wall, of cast iron, and making them binders of the slates to the
wall, and particularly in buildings of Gothic architecture, where a degree of
lightness in those ornaments is characteristic of that style in its greatest purity.
The panneling, as shewn in Drawing No. 3, is formed by the stiles and arched
heads of cast iron being laid upon and catching the edges of the slates covering
the face of the wall, and secured by cramps into the walls as before described,
by which means the inside of a Gothic or other edifice may be highly adorned
and finished without the use of stucco, plaister, or any such material. Pannels
thus produced (the sunk part slate and the projecting and inriched parts of
cast iron) are so protected by the metal as to bear any sort of usage from
carelessness or accident without injury to these inside decorations of walls.
The outside walls are equally protected, and consequently not liable to have
the corners and edges of mouldings snipped, or the sharp and finely-carved
parts of the ornamental work defaced. These adornments which some styles
of Gothic design require to be of the most delicate kind, when constructed of
cast iron, painted soon after they are cast, when they are put up and then
sanded, will have all the effect of the most beautiful carvings of stone, with far
greater durability than the friable stone in common use finely cut, and exposed
to the variations of this climate. The ceiling of cast iron and slate I form. by
casting an additional shelf to the sides of the rafter described in the Specifica-
tion of a Patent granted to me, the said John Cragg, by His Majesty, the
Twenty-first day of November, in the fiftieth year of His reign, for "Certain
Improvements in the. Casting of Iron Roofs for Houses, Warehouses, and
other Buildings, and in Covering the same with Slates;" which Specification
was inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery the Twentieth day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and ten. The
ornamental tracery or mouldings of cast iron being introduced, rest upon the
said additional shelves of the rafter (about three inches lower than the upper
ledge or back of the rafter which bears the outside or roof slate), and the

page_text: .
ceiling, slate, is laid, thereupon, and the joints secured by lime, putty, or
cement, and then floated on the back with lime before the outer or roof. slate
is fixed. The under side, when finished, presents the panneling or ceiling
ornamented according to the design. A ceiling may be formed distinct and
sèpárate from the rafters of the roof either flat or arched in any variety of
design, the figure or ornament being of cast iron, and the slate laid thereupon
as before explained and described, supported by pillars of cast iron or other-
wise. The turrets and buttresses in Gothic architecture I cover and ornament
with: slate and cast iron in the manner described, for facing the walls; the
mouldings go round the same, as shown in Drawing No. 1, and firmly bind
the slates and the walls together, and the stiling or perpendicular mouldings
of the panneling secure the side edges; whilst the caps and pinnacles or pinials
bind, protect, and finish, the summits of the said buttresses or turrets. The
pinnacles are cast, hollow, and have a projecting moulding at the base, in
which is a groove which catches the top of the buttress, and is there fixed in
the firmest and simplest manner, as may appear by reference to the Drawing
No. 2. From the bottom of the pinnacle of cast iron I connect a rod of
wrought iron, which I rivet into the projecting moulding (at the back, so as
not to appear), and carry the said rod to the spout and attach it thereunto in
the same manner, which spout being also of metal, and carried down into the
earth; serves as a conductor to protect the edifice from the effects of lightning,
without additional expence or labor. Of cast iron alone I construct a spiral
staircase of an improved and simple design. The stair is cast as light and
thin as possible; and so formed that one step drops into and fits upon the other,
and requires no further fixing than merely a rest of the outer edge upon the
wall of the tower or turret, and may be carried up to any height upon the
hollow newel; formed and so fitted as described in Drawing No. 5:
"
My improvements in the facing of edifices built of brick or other material
may be carried on and effected either in regular progress along with the walls
or afterwards, apertures being left in the walls at given distances for the
purpose of admitting the cramps and tyes required to unite the whole firmly
together, but the projecting mouldings, windows, and architraves ought to be
built in and along with the walls, and the slates may then afterwards. be
fitted in the grooves formed in the cast iron for that purpose.
mouldings I cast hollow at the back, in order to give bold
recesses to such as ogee base mouldings, cornices, and strings or tablets the
form of masonry, and I fill them with, lime, when put in their places in
building, in order to give them the solidity also. These, together with the
pannelling, ornamental carvings, and slates being sanded with powdered
These principal
projections and

page_text: fragments of good stone, the whole will have the elegance and finish of light
and finely wrought stonework, and in materials that will endure.
Having the various models or patterns already formed and prepared, the
castings may be repeated, and a Gothic structure erected, faced, adorned, and
constructed as aforesaid with more expedition than masonry would admit of
which I deem no inconsiderable part of the value of my improvements, and I
have hereunto annexed Drawings or Sketches of specimens, in order that my
said Inventions may be the more fully understood.
And lastly, I do declare that the forms, dimensions, relative magnitudes, and
other particulars required to carry my improvements into effect are capable of
great variations, and may be modified according to the design and purposes to
be answered, and the circumstances under which the work is to be performed,
but that the said forms and other particulars may, from these descriptions and
explanations which I have given, be determined with facility by any person of
ordinary skill, and fit to be entrusted with the execution thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cragg, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand night hundred and fourtoon