IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CALCAREOUS BRICKS OR ARTIFICIAL STONES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Gedge at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
September 1866.-A communication from abroad by Alfred François
Osselin, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, Architect.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, of No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CALCAREOUS BRICKS OR ARTIFICIAL STONES," a communication
to me from abroad by Alfred François Osselin, of 39, Faubourg St. Martin,
Paris, France, Architect, to be as follows:-
These calcareous bricks or stones are materials of variable dimensions, the
basis of which is lime and sand with the addition of the detritus or waste of
other materials, such as stone or brick. They are made on the spot of any
dimensions in blocks of any shape, hollow or solid, for walls, partitions,
vaulted roofs, and other constructions, they may be matched according to
plan, bear rabbets or mouldings, and by means of ochre receive any required
color. They may be manufactured by two different methods.
The first consists in submitting the bricks to centrifugal force, and for this
purpose a horizontal plate or bed is encompassed with moulds open on the
sido towards the centro of this plate and closed on the opposite face by a
door which can be opened at will. The mixture of materials of which the
bricks are to be made is placed on the plate to which a rapid rotary motion is
given by any available motor, and the matter precipitates itself into the

page_text: At the
moulds and there compressing gets rid of any excess of water.
expiration of a few minutes the outer door of the moulds is opened by a
catch lift and the brick is driven out on to a fixed plate. In submarine work
or river embankments the bricks or stones which are then of large dimensions
are projected directly over the spot where they are required, and the apparatus
is then carried on a boat or barge.
The second method consists of a lever working vertically round its centre,
which is its fulcrum on the one and the other side of this point, and at an
equal distance from it is suspended a series of moulds filled with the matter
of which the brick or stone is to be made, open at the top placed one
above the other and held right and left by two guides; a man is posted at
each end of this lever, and his work consists in first lifting and then allowing
it to fall sharply with the moulds, by theso reiterated shocks produced on a fixed
bed plate the matter is compressed and the brick formed. In a few seconds
the boxes which form the moulds are removed, and by placing them upside
down on the ground or on the work in progress, the bricks are turned out.
These calcareous bricks or stones may be laid or set either on a thin layer of
wet sand which forms a mortar joint in combining with the lime white which
exudes or sweats from the brick or directly without any sort of layer of plaster.
These bricks or stones may furnish materials of various degrees of hardness
according to the nature of the lime, cements, and sands employed, and according
to the duration of the manufacture.
This Invention offers several advantages, amongst which are economy in
building, the facility of having building materials in districts whero they do
not abound, rapid work, an easy checking of the employment of the labourers
time, and a rapid drying of the walls.