CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRICKS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
WELCH, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirtieth day of September, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Welch, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Edward Welch, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Edward Welch, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRICKS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Edward
Welch, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edward Welch, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of peculiarly constructed bricks which are chiefly
applicable to flues, furnaces, &c. which, with these bricks, may be built of
a circular form, which will. bind or tie with the adjacent brickwork in all its
parts, both in the upright and in the leading or gathering parts of the flues,
giving the most perfect facility of sweeping with machinery, and also the
advantage of a good draught with little opportunity for the lodging of soot.
To understand the construction of these bricks, look, for example, at a couple
of such bricks as are used ordinarily in building, and from one brick let the
entire surface of its inner side be curved or scooped away in a segment of a
circle, this gives the form of the central bricks; from the other brick let. only
a portion of the surface of its inner side and of its end be scooped away in a
smaller segment of the same circle, this scoop or curve cutting off the angle,
and this will give the form of the brick used at the angles, the above circle
being that to which the flue should be built. Six of these bricks placed level
together form a perfect circular flue (its outside being a parrallelogram), that
is, two of those having the entire side curved, or the central bricks are placed
opposite to each other, and four of those having the angle cut off; or the angle
bricks are placed in pairs opposite each other, each pair having their curved
ends abutting, so as to complete the circle. By varying the arrangement of
the above, so as to cross the joints in the next layer, a perfect bind is obtained;
then, in order to tie the work well together with the surrounding brickwork,
there should be used alternately with the above a layer in which none of the
angle bricks should be used, but which layer should consist of four of the
central bricks placed exactly opposite each other, making a circle, and the
corners or spaces between these bricks filled in with common bricks, which by
their projecting ends tie in with the surrounding building or brickwork. Two
moulds are required to produce these bricks, which are to be used in simple
upright flues, but where the flue is required to deviate from the perpendicular,
I form the bricks as follows, that is to say:-In these last-mentioned bricks
there must be (exactly at those parts in which the variations above described
from the common bricks occur) the following variations, namely, the curved
sides (constituting when combined the circle of the flue) are bevilled to what-
ever angle the flue is desired to be led out of the perpendicular, towards the
horizontal. To make these last-mentioned bricks, three moulds are required;
the central bricks require but one mould, because being used opposite to each
other, by turning up the larger surface of the one and the smaller surface of
the other, the level of one runs true or parallel to the other. The angle bricks

page_text: require two moulds, that is, one for each of those bricks between which the
central brick is placed, a similar turning up or reversal of these two last-
mentioned bricks furnishing the two bricks for the opposite side corresponding
in bevil.
I claim as my Invention, first, the construction of bricks which are herein-
before described as being applicable to upright flues.
And, secondly, the construction of bricks herein-before described as being
applicable to flues, led or gathered out of the upright.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Welch, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight bundred and forty-two.