IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS, AND IN MATERIALS AND MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN AND THEREFOR
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Matthew Allen at the Office of
the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th July
1861.
I, MATTHEW ALLEN, of No. 14, Worship Street, Finsbury, in the County
of Middlesex, Builder, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS, AND IN MATERIALS AND
MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN AND THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing private houses, public buildings,
and other structures in a new and improved manner, and in the application
of materials not heretofore employed in combination therein and therefor, and
also machinery; that is to say, I propose to construct staircases in such a
manner as to economize the space they usually occupy, and to render the same
fire-proof by insulating them from every internal portion of the building.
This I propose to accomplish by arranging the stairs in a semicircular or other
recess in the outer wall of a building extending from its foundation to the
roof, and having no openings whatever. on its inner side; this recess is made
with openings as doorways on its outer face, through which the stairs may be
approached on one floor and terminate on the other floors by doorways or
openings leading to balconies running along that part of the building in which
the stairs are placed, and by means of which access is obtained to the several
floors or flats; each floor or flat by these means, and the improvements herein-
after described, being thus made totally distinct from and independent of that
one below or above it, so far as regards any direct communication therewith.

page_text: As regards the improved materials above referred to, they consist of burnt clay,
cinders, slags, coke, culm, or clinkers, and other calcined substances of
similar character thereto, and possessing an irregular, uneven, or porous
surface, mixed with Portland or other cement, or lime, in the proportion of
about one part thereof to three parts of any of the other substances, the whole
being mixed together to a consistence fit for pouring or casting the same into
moulds. As regards the machinery above referred to, it consists of a machine
made in the following manner, for the better mixing and incorporating
together the aforesaid materials, or any other materials used in building:
I take a box or vessel, the under side of which is moveable, in which I
arrange horizontally a revolving shaft, having a number of knives, pegs, or
rakes inserted or fixed therein; the materials to be mixed are thrown into
the said box or vessel, and the shaft driven round until the whole of the
materials have become thoroughly mixed together; the lower part of the box
or vessel is then opened, and its contents allowed to flow out ready for use.
This machine is intended to be worked by hand, and as a substitute for the
horse pug mill in ordinary use.
Another feature in this Invention consists in casting the cornices and
mouldings, or other external or internal parts or decorations of buildings
generally in the following manner:-I propose, instead of running the same
with rules and moulds, as at present practised, to form moulds in shapes
corresponding to those of the parts required to be produced, and to face or
line with zinc, or other suitable metal, the whole of the inner surface of the
moulds in which the cornices, mouldings, or other parts of the building are
intended to be cast or poured. The above-mentioned improved combined
material can also be used with advantage in the construction of any other
parts of buildings, and when used for floors, roofs, lintels, and the like, may
be strengthened by the addition of iron placed and arranged edgeways.