IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKS OR BRICKS FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Craufurd, of the Kinson Clay Pottery,
near Poole, in the County of Dorset, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKS OR BRICKS FOR BUILDING PURPOSES."
Sealed the 27th September 1860, and dated the 27th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Craufurd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
27th March 1860.
the
I, MATTHEW CRAUFURD. of the Kinson Clay Pottery. near Poole, in the
County of Dorset, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKS OR BRICKS FOR BUILDING PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
It is proposed to form these blocks from clay or any other suitable material
by pressure from dies of any size or shape required, or. by moulds or other
method according to circumstances, the improvement claimed consisting in the
general principle upon which these blocks shall be constructed, viz, that every
block of whatever shape or size shall have an internal aperture or apertures.
so formed that while all the blocks butt up against and break joint in the usual
manner, other blocks of any required shape or size may be inserted into these
apertures so arranged as to intersect every course, and thus prevent any longi-
tudinal or transverse motion of one course over another. This principle is
applicable to every variety of construction either straight, curved, or irregular
[Price 8d.]

page_text: in outline; but for illustration of the method of forming and using these
blocks I annex a Drawing, which would be suitable for a wall of a straight
and another of a circular building. For each there are three blocks used, the
lower course may be composed of those marked A, upon which are placed
those marked B. breaking joint equally upon the lower ones, and the aperture
in B corresponds with that formed by the junction of two of the blocks
marked A, into which is inserted the block C, each end of which is in the
middle of a course, thus preventing any motion of one block upon the other.
The aperture in A will also correspond with that formed by the junction of
two of the blocks marked B. and may at pleasure be filled with a corre-
sponding block, or with concrete or other material or left vacant. It is
evident that the shape and size of all these blocks and apertures may be
infinitely varied to suit different circumstances, of which these Drawings are
only an illustration.
pursuance or
01
Letter Tatent, men
by the said Matthew Craufurd in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
CRAUFURD, of the Kinson Clay Pottery, near Poole, in the County of Dorset,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Matthew Craufurd, Her special licence that I, the said Matthew
Craufurd, my executors, administrators. and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Matthew Craufurd, 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN BLOCKS OR BRICKS FOR BUILDING PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Matthew Craufurd, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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

page_text: 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 1, the said Matthew Craufurd, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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:
To explain the nature and object of this Invention I would remark that the
stability of most buildings, as at present constructed. depends upon the amount
of surface bearing of pieces of stone or burnt clay called bricks laid one upon
the other, and the use of an adhesive mortar or cement placed between them
to resist more effectually the effect of any force tending to displace them. As
it is perfectly well known that a large proportion of material may be removed
from a solid body without a corresponding loss of strength, if what remains is
left in the form of a column or tube. I propose to form the pieces of which a
building is composed, of any superficial shape or area that may be required,
but in a tubular form, the thickness of the sides being proportioned to the
pressure to be sustained, whereby the amount of surface bearing would be
obtained with a great saving of the material employed, and instead of trusting,
as at present, to that and the use of mortar to prevent any slipping of one
piece over another, I make openings in the inner sides of these tubular pieces,
into which other pieces of any convenient size or shape may be inserted and
arranged always to intersect the junction of two or more of the external
pieces, so that it will be impossible to move one of these from the other
without taking out or breaking the inner tic or ties. This arrangement can
easily be obtained in any of the materials now used as substitutes for stone by
any of the known methods of moulding, casting, or pressing through dies.
The advantages of it are obvious, the whole of the walls or arches of which a
building may be composed would be formed of a series of horizontal and
perpendicular tubes crossing and intersecting each other, which from the
reduction in weight would be easily moved and placed in their position, while
it would be entirely at the option of the builder to vary the weight of any
part of a structure by filling up any portion of the interstices with any cheap
and easily obtained material, or to use any of the internal tubes for venti-
lating or other purposes; the advantage of thus accommodating the weight to
different heights of a building, or adjusting the equilibrium of arches is evi-
dent, while the external parts, which are to resist the action of the atmosphere
may be more easily obtained of a substance perfectly imperishable. As an
example of one way of carrying out this arrangement, I annex Drawings of
tubes I have used of hard burnt clay, commonly known as stoneware, made

page_text: in the ordinary way by pressure through a die of the required shape, and for
the sake of simplicity of illustration, adapted for building an ordinary wall,
though by altering the shape of the die or mould used, the same arrangement
can be applied to pieces of any convenient size or shape either for strength or
ornament.
Figure 1 is the plan or bed of one of the tubes with two circular openings,
into which short pipes or columns of the same material are inserted: Figure 2
is an elevation of the same, with the pipes or columns inserted; Figure 3
shows the arrangement of them in the shape of a piece of wall. In this
example the pieces are two feet long and nine inches square, the sides of the
tubes being an inch and a quarter in thickness: the intersecting pieces are
ordinary four-inch pipes of the same material; Figure 4 shows a method of
forming a quoin by uniting two pieces to form the required angle before being
burnt in the usual way of forming junctions in sewage pipes: Figure 5. in
the same way, shows a junction suitable for connecting a wall of one size with
another, say, an external wall of nine inches with an internal or partition
wall of six inches. I would remark in place of circular passages or openings
and cylindrical pipes being used, square or other sections may be employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Craufurd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
M. CRAUFURD. (L.S.)