Improvements in or appertaining to the Manufacture of certain kinds of Bricks and Fire-clay Substitutes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 1st Nov., 1890--Accepted, 6th Dec., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to the Manufacture of certain
kinds of Bricks and Fire-clay Substitutes.
I, CHARLES HAWTHORNE EDWARDS of 70 Mere Lane, Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object the utilisation of the waste sand which is thrown
out in enormous quantities from plate glass works.
I take the clay shale so largely found in coal pits and known as pit warrants and
mix this, finely ground, with the sand and sufficient water to bind the whole together,
the proportions being (omitting the water) from about 15 to clay, remainder sand..
The mixture is then made into bricks and burned in the usual manner. In some cases,
I add to the mixture, before burning, a quantity of old fire-brick or burnt clay.
pounded up. On either plan, I get an excellent fire-brick. If wanted to stand a
continuous intense heat, as much sand as possible is used, but if a very varying
temperature be used, much fire-clay material, burnt and unburnt, must be added. The
mixture forms an excellent fire-clay substitute. Almost any clay, poor in iron, lime
and alkali, can be used instead of fire-clay or pit warrants. My bricks mustbe well
burned, and require, as a rule, a greater heat than ordinary ones.
Dated this 12th day of February 1890.
✔
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to the Manufacture of certain
kinds of Bricks and Fire-clay Substitutes.
I, CHARLES HAWTHORNE EDWARDS of 70 Mere Lane, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the utilisation of the waste sand which is thrown
out in enormous quantities from plate-glass works. This sand is not pure silica, but
on the contrary has a very considerable amount of powdered glass mixed with it, as
well as smaller quantities of iron, chlorides of sodium, magnesium, potassium and
An analysis of a good average sample of this sand is as follows:-
emery.
Great difficulties have been experienced in getting rid of or utilising this sand, and
large areas are wasted in the neighbourhood of plate-glass works in heaping up this
sand to the great annoyance of the neighbourhood, as, when dry, it blows about. Great
numbers of attempts have been made to make bricks of it. It can be mixed with
cement or with soluble silicates, and made into bricks, but these bricks are far too

page_text: expensive for ordinary use. It can even, with great care, be made into bricks by
itself in the plastic condition, these bricks are then very slowly dried, very slowly
heated to the maximum heat required, and then as slowly cooled, when a hard brittle
brick is formed. The process however is impracticable, as the raw bricks are so
fragile that they cannot be piled one upon the other in a kiln ; and also a brick thus
formed is apt to fly to pieces with comparatively slight differences of temperature.
Now I find that this sand, if mixed with aluminous material, such as non-ferruginous
clay or ground aluminous shale, such as is found so commonly in contiguity with coal
seams, in the proportions of sand to clay, or half sand and half clay, or any
intermediate mixture, will make a very good fire-brick. Where very great and
uniform heat is required to be withstood and the brick is not to come in contact with
molten glass or the like, o clay is all that is requisite. Where however great
variations of temperature are required to be experienced, it is necessary to have about
one fire-clay to one sand.
In manufacturing my bricks, the sand, coming from the works in a sort of mud, is
well dried. The clay (shale) is ground in its ordinary natural semi-dry or nearly
dry state in a pan having a perforated bottom and the sand is introduced into the
mill while the said shale is being ground. I sometimes add also from 20 to 25 per cent.
of ground old fire-brick. The mixture is then brought in a Jacob's ladder or elevator
of any description to the brick machine, where, by heavy pressure, hydraulic or
otherwise, it is pressed into shape. Usually the small amount of water which is
present in the clay is sufficient to cause the material to agglomerate sufficiently, but
in some cases, especially when the clay is particularly dry, a slight sprinkling of water
is required before it enters the brick machine. The nearly dry blocks formed by the
brick machine are now kilned in the same manner as ordinary fire-bricks by the
semi-dry process, any manufacturer of fire-bricks being able, from his own experience,
to manufacture these from this, point on.
Where the aluminous material is very, plastic and in large proportion, the
ingredients can be mixed and moulded in the wet plastic state, especially when they
are mixed in an open mixer where the amount of water can be regulated by eye.
The advantages of these fire-bricks are these :-
The sand and shale now utilised were hitherto waste materials, the small quantity
of glass present in the material forms, after the fire-brick has been in use some time
in the furnace, an impervious glaze all over the outside of the brick; the very slight
amount of moisture or organic matter present in the brick, or the admixture with the
fresh materials above described of about 20 to 25 per cent. of ground up old fire-bricks,
which I usually add in making fire-bricks to withstand great variations in temperature,
appears to make the bricks slightly porous, consequently, they are much poorer
conductors of heat than if there were no pores in them, while, at the same time, the
sand, owing to the trituration it has had in the glass works, is composed of rounded
grains and consequently packs more closely than ordinary sand. The result is a
remarkably hard, compact, non-heat-conducting, refractory brick admirably adapted
for furnace use.
It will be obvious that a similar glazing effect in the furnace would be caused if the
materials, which are used with silica to form glass, (alkali and oxides) were added to
ordinary silicious sand instead of using glass makers' waste sand, but the effect would
probably be not quite as good and more costly.
The mixed glass makers' sand and ground aluminous materials afore described for
brick-making purposes are admirable as a fire-clay substitute, but care must be taken
in using this to have a large admixture of aluminous material and old fire-brick ground
up in its composition when it is likely to be exposed to great variations of temperature
or to the action of molten glass or alkalies.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The manufacture of refractory bricks or fira alay nhatituta from macta

page_text: makers' sand bound with finely comminuted aluminous materials, substantially as
described.
Dated this 31st day of October 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents.

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 1st Nov, 1890-Accepted, 6th Dec., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to the Manufacture of certain
kinds of Bricks.
I, CHARLES HAWTHORNE EDWARDS, of 70 Mere Lane, Liverpool in the County. of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object the utilisation of sea sand and other ordinary sand
for brickmaking.
I take the clay shale so largely found in coal pits and known as pit warrants and
nix this, finely ground, with the sand and sufficient water to bind the whole together,
the proportions being (omitting the water) from about to clay, remainder sand.
The mixture is then made into bricks and burned in the usual manner. In some cases,
I add to the mixture, before burning, a quantity of old brick or burnt clay
pounded up.
Almost any
with the sand.
[.
kind of clay can be used instead of pit warrants, if intimately mixed
My bricks must be well burned, and require, as a rule, a somewhat greater heat than
ordinary ones to burn them.
Dated this 29th day of April 1890
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or appertaining to the Manufacture of certain
kinds of Bricks.
I, CHARLES HAWTHORNE EDWARDS of 70 Mere Lane, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the utilisation of sea sand and other ordinary sand
for brickmaking.
Numerous attempts have been made to utilise sand as a building material, the
most successful being those in which the sand is made into artificial stone by mixing it,
together with fragments of rock, with silicate of soda, drying the same, and then
steeping it in chloride of calcium solution.
This is altogether too expensive for ordinary brickmaking. It has also been pro-
posed to agglomerate the sand with various chemicals, more especially soluble glass,
form it into bricks and kiln in the ordinary way-but again the cost of the chemicals
has always stood in the way of success in such processes.
Now by my invention, I use common waste or cheap material, usually found in the
neighbourhood of the sand, for agglomerating purposes: for this purpose almost any
rock or earth rich in alumina will do, iron, hydrated sesqui-oxide, to some exent will
take the place of alumina, but is not as good. The best materials for this purpose
are good rich clay, clay shale or what is known as pit warrants in coal mines, and
the like.
In carrying out my invention the sand is first dried. It is then mixed with about
its own weight of the clay or pit warrants in their natural damp condition. The
quantity of the aluminous material can however, if desired, be decreased till only
about one part of clay to nine of sand is used. The mixture is ground together under
гр

page_text: edge runners in a perforated pan and the fine granular resultant mixture is taken to
a semi-dry brick machine of any ordinary construction and pressed into bricks. These
are then calcined in the usual manner but require a little stronger heat than ordinary
bricks, in fact more nearly the amount of burning required for fire-brick. It is
impossible to give exact particulars, as these will differ for every mixture, but any
practical brickmaker accustomed to making fire-bricks will have no difficulty in
adjusting the heat to the requisite degree.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The manufacture of bricks from sea or other sand bound with aluminous materials,
substantia
described.
ally as IGLGUI UGNCUCUR
ed this 31st day of October 1890.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, and London, Patent Agents..