IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Wise Conway, of Warcham, in tho
County of Dorset, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES FOR
BUILDING PURPOSES."
Scaled the 28th September 1875, and dated the 9th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Wise Conway
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th April 1875.
I, THOMAS WISE CONWAY, of Wareham, in the County of Dorset, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TILES FOR BUILDING PURPOSES," to be as follows.-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tiles for building
purposes.
In making tiles for facing concrete, mud, brick, wood, and other
buildings I give them such a form as to make them dovetail the one into
the other at top and bottom, so as to firmly secure the courses one
to the other.

page_text: The dovetail may be of various forms according to the material of
which the wall to be covered is made, and the manner in which the tiles
are proposed to be fixed to it.
When the tiles are fixed in this
The tiles are fixed to walls in various ways; the wall may be built
with horizontal planks of wood or bond timbers projecting at intervals
from its face; on to these the courses of tiles at the various levels are
screwed or nailed, the other courses between the bond timbers being
unsupported except by cach other, in this way an air space is left
between the wall and its facing of tile.
way by screwing or nailing, the wing of the dovetail next the wall is:
made rather longer and thinner than the other wing, and is perforated
with holes for the screws or nails. Or the tiles may be fixed in a similar
way on bond timbers which do not project from the face of tho wall;
in this case the tiles will be in contact with the wall and may be bedded
on its face with cement. Or again, the screwing or nailing may-in some
cases be omitted, and the tiles be fixed to the wall with cement only;
in this case the inner wing of the dovetail need not be longer than the
other, as this is only necessary to allow the bead of the screw or nail
through the inner wing to be got at.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Wise Conway in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WISE CONWAY, of Wareham, m the County of Dorset, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Ier reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Wisc Conway, Her special
license that I, the said Thomas Wise Conway, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Wise

page_text: Conway, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES FOR BUILDING PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Wisc
Conway, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Wisc Conway, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say .-
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tilos for building
purposes.
In making tiles for facing concrete, mud, brick, wood, and other
buildings I give them such a form as to make them dovetail the one
into the other at top and bottom so as to firmly secure the courses one
to the other.
The dovetail may be of various forms, according to the material of
which the wall to be covered is made, and the manner in which the tiles
are proposed to be fixed to it.
The tiles are fixed to walls in various ways; the wall may be built
with horizontal planks of wood or bond timbers projecting at intervals
from its face, on to these the courses of tiles at the various levels are
screwed or nailed, the other courses between the bond timbers being
unsupported except by each other; in this way an air space is left
between the wall and its facing of tile. When the tiles are fixed in
this way by screwing or nailing, the wing of the dovetail next the wall
is made rather longer and thinner than the other wing and is perforated
with holes for the screws or nails. Or the tiles may be fixed in a similar
way or bond timbers which do not project from the face of the wall;

page_text: in this case the tiles will be in contact with the wall and may be bedded
on its face with cement. Or again, the screwing or nailing may in some
cases be omitted and the tiles be fixed to the wall with cement only. In
this case the inner wing of the dovetail need not be longer than the
other, as thus is only necessary to allow the head of the screw or nail 5
through the inner wing to be got at.
The grooves of the dovetail may in all cases be partially filled with
cement so as the more firmly to bind the course of tiles together.
Figure 1 is a section, and Figure 2 is a front elevation, of a concrete
or other wall faced with tiles made in accordance with my Invention.
a, a, is the concrete or other wall; b, b, arc pieces of wood built into the
wall and projecting from its face; c are the dovetailed tiles, they are set
together with cement and attached to the wood at intervals by screws or-
nails inserted through the holes c¹, c', in the tiles.
The ends of the tiles may butt joint together or they may be notchied
to interlock as is shown in plan in Figure 3, the tiles may also be set
close against the face of the wall and cemented to it without leaving an
air space is shown between the tiles and the wall. To fix the tiles to a
brick wall I let into the wall iron ties one end of which are embedded in
the wall, and the other passing between two tiles are bent round into¸
the dovetails and thus hold the tiles.
Figure 4 shows a roofing tile, and Figure 5 shows tiles very similar to
those seen in the other Figures, but set with the inclines in the opposite
direction, this arrangement is also used for roofing. The nail holes in
this tile are made through the projecting part where it interlocks with
the next.

page_text: I claim the construction of tiles for building purposes, substantially
as described and shown in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wise Conway, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.