IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUILDING MATERIALS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pidding, of Putney, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BUILDING MATERIALS."
Sealed the 18th September 1855, and dated the 17th July 1855.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Pidding at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 17th July 1855, pursuant to the 9th Section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PIDDING, of Putney, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BUILDING MATERIALS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
grant unto me, my executors, administrators, or assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn declaration that I verily believe
myself to be the first and true Inventor thereof:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Pidding, do hereby declare
that the following complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed. that is to say:-:

page_text: The first part of my Invention consists in cementing together large or small
pieces of coke, or that material pulverized, or pummice stone, stone, porcelains,
stone-ware, glass, shells, bones, '(the whole pulverized), sand, earthy or metallic
matters, with a cement formed of pulverized silica, dissolved in a strong or
highly concentrated alkaline solution, rendered caustic with lime, and com-
bined or cemented to or with the above materials by powerful pressure. In
cementing, I use about one-fourth of the cement, to three-fourths of the
materials to be combined. I place the materials and cement in moulds of any
desired form, and after powerful compression therein, so as to assure the
formation of the mass to the form of the mould, I place the moulded com-
position in the open air to partially dry, for a period varying from twelve to
twenty-four hours, according to the state of the atmosphere or the size of the
moulded articles, which I afterwards subject to a gradual heating process in
an oven, the caloric not being allowed to exceed that point at which water
boils. The coke may be used alone, or in combination with any or all of the
other substances.
The second part of my Invention has reference to making pipes for carrying
off rain water, for drainage, or other purposes. These I make of slate, glass,
or other material in lengths, and I make them in any desirable form in the
interior, but in preference the angular form or shape, from the saving or
economy in the price, and space occupied by such shaped pipe. I am aware
there would be no novelty in simply putting lengths of slate, glass, metal, or
other material together, cementing their edges and ends with the ordinary
cements, or fastening the pieces with screw bolts and nuts; but my improve-
ment consists in luting, filling, or cementing the edges and ends of the several
portions or pieces forming the angular pipe with caoutchouc, gutta percha, or
a combination of both, during the putting together of the various pieces,
securing by this means the entirety of the pipe, and quite preventing the
escape of gas, air, or water therefrom; the ends and other portions of the
pipes to be connected together (with the exception of the caoutchouc, gutta
percha, or combination of botli,) in the ordinary manner as for wood or metal
piping.
.
The third portion of my Invention relates to the formation or making of
building materials, by compressing into moulds, after they are coated with
papier maché pulp; the following substances, either separately or combined,
and cemented together (when desirable) by any known or ordinary cement
appropriate for the purpose:-Coke, peat (charred or otherwise), wood, char-
coal, pummice stone, cinders, pieces of wood, or sticks; after the material or

page_text: materials so coated with papier maché are duly compressed to the required
orm in moulds, they are baked in an oven, or otherwise dried till they attain
ufficient hardness and solidity. Or I compress peat alone in moulds, or peat
n combination with the above-named materials (coke, cinders, scoriæ, etcetra,)
by a powerful pressure, and then carbonize the whole while in the moulds.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, have hereunto affixed
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM BARBER,
No. 7, Earl Street,
London Road, Southwark.
WILLIAM PIDDING. (L.S.)