IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES AND TESSERE AND OTHER WALL COVERINGS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Digby Wyatt, of Guildford Street, Russell
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Architect, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES AND TESSERE AND OTHER WALL COVERINGS, AND
Sealed the 14th June 1859, and dated the 31st December 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Digby Wyatt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st December 1858.
I, MATTHEW DIGBY WYATT, of Guildford Street, Russell Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES AND TESSERAE AND OTHER WALL
COVERINGS, AND IN THE MEANS OF SECURING THE SAME TO WALLS AND BUILDINGS,"
to be as follows:-
Ornamental tiles and tesserae are now generally attached to brick walls by
means of cements, but are very apt to become loose from the action of the
weather or from any slight settlement in the building. It has been pro-
posed to construct the tiles with their upper edges bent at right angles, and
to build them into the courses of the brickwork, but this plan requires the
tiles to correspond in height with the courses of the brickwork, which is
exceedingly inconvenient, owing to the great variation in the thickness of the
bricks in ordinary use. In some cases one row of tiles is fixed by pegs or

page_text: nails and several other rows are hung to it, the tiles being made of such
form as to hook on to each other.
The present Invention provides a secure fixing for the tile or other covering,
which may be of any convenient size or height. I make the tile with a project-
ing piece of a dovetail form at the upper part, which piece may project about
three and a half or four inches or a little more than the height of the thickest
.course of ordinary brickwork. Thus at whatever part of the wall the tile may
be applied the dovetail piece will cross a course of the mortar between the
bricks; a nail is driven into the mortar on each side of the dovetail, and the
tile is thus secured. The next tile is made to lap over and hide the dovetail,
which is set back in a different plane from the face of the tile; instead of a
dovetail a projection with a triangular hole through it may be used in a similar
manner. I also employ a rod or wire or strip of metal of an angular form,
and having a hook or hooks which enter cavities in the back of the tile, and
I drive the two nails into the mortar at the points where the metal crosses
the joint, or in some cases I employ thin sheet zinc or other suitable metal,
and I drive a nail or nails through the metal into the mortar of the joint.
The metal passes into or through a hole or cavity in the back or upper edge
of the tile, and may be farther secured if necessary by bending. it over the
edge, or by passing a pin or nail down a hole in the top edge and through the
piece of metal. Or I attach a wire or wires to the tile, and I wind the ends
of the wires round nails driven into the mortar; in lieu of a plain dovetail or
angular hole or wire, a. piece or projection having two or more dovetails or
angular holes, or both, may be used. In setting the tiles or tesserae cement
or mortar may be placed behind them rather to bring the wall to a smooth
and even surface than to secure the tiles or tesserae which are sufficiently
secured as above described. The edges of the tiles may be made to lap or
notch into each other so as the more effectually to exclude the weather. In
fixing lozenge shaped tiles, or tiles of other shapes which by tapering towards
the bottom present a suitable form, I sometimes dispense with the dovetail
piece, and I drive the nails into the mortar on each side of the inclined sides
of the tile itself, which is made to cover the heads of the nails. By these
means I am enabled to attach tiles or tesserae, and other coverings to brick
walls in a secure manner, and without the necessity of making the height of
the tiles correspond with the height of the courses of brickwork or with some
multiple thereof. The tiles or tesserae or other coverings may be made of
terra cotta, porcelain, stone, marble, slag, earthenware, glass, cast or wrought
iron or other metal or material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Digby Wyatt in the Great Seal Patent. Office on
the 29th June 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
DIGBY WYATT, of Guildford Street, Russell Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Matthew Digby Wyatt, Her special licence that I, the said Matthew
Digby Wyatt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Matthew Digby Wyatt, 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 AND TESSARE AND OTHER WALL COVERINGS, AND IN
THE MEANS OF SECURING THE SAME TO WALLS AND BUILDINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Matthew Digby Wyatt, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly 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 Matthew Digby Wyatt, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:―
Ornamental tiles and tesserce are now generally attached to brick walls by.
means of cements, but are very apt to become loose from the action of the
weather or from any slight settlement in the building. It has been proposed
to construct the tiles with their upper edges bent át right angles, and to build
them into the courses of the brickwork, but this. plan requires the tiles to
correspond in height with the courses of the brickwork, which is exceedingly
inconvenient, owing to the great variation of the thickness of the bricks in
ordinary use. In some cases.one row of tiles is fixed by pegs or nails, and '

page_text: several other rows are hung to it, the tiles being made of such form as to hook
on to each other. Tiles have sometimes been fixed without regard to the
height of the courses of brickwork by driving nails through holes in the tiles
into the bricks themselves. The nails are thus frequently bent or broken and
the wall injured, and the tiles very insecurely fixed and often broken in the
process of fixing, which is expensive, wasteful, and tedious.
The present Invention provides a secure fixing for the tile or other covering,
which may be of any convenient size or height. I make the tile with a
projecting piece of a dovetail form at the upper part, which piece may project
'about three and a half or four inches, or a little more than the height of the
thickest course of ordinary brickwork. Thus at whatever part of the wall the
tile may be applied, the dovetail piece will cross a course of the mortar between
the bricks. A nail is driven into the mortar on each side of the dovetail, and
the tile is thus secured. The next tile is made to lap over, and hide the dove-
tail, which is set back in a different plane from the face of the tile. Instead
of a dovetail, a projection with a triangular hole through it may be used in a
similar manner. I also employ a rod or wire or strip of metal of an angular
form, and having a hook or hooks which enter cavities in the back of the tile,
and I drive the two nails into the mortar at the points where the metal crosses
the joint; or in some cases I employ thin sheet zinc or other suitable metal,
and I drive a nail or nails through the metal into the mortar of the joint. The
metal passes into or through a hole or cavity in the back or upper edge of the
tile, and may be farther secured if necessary by bending it over the edge, or
by passing a pin or nail down a hole in the top edge and through the piece of
metal; or I attach a wire or wires to the tile, and I wind the ends of the wires
round nails driven into the mortar. In lieu of a plain dovetail or angular hole
or wire, a piece or projection having two or more dovetails or angular holes, or
both, may be used. In setting the tiles or tesseræ, cement or mortar may be
placed behind them rather to bring the wall to a smooth and even surface than
to secure the tiles or tesseræ, which are sufficiently secured as above described.
The edges of the tiles may be made to lap or notch into each other so as the
more effectually to exclude the weather. In fixing lozenge-shaped tiles, or
tiles of other shapes which by tapering towards the bottom present a suitable
form, I sometimes dispense with the dovetail piece, and I drive the nails into
the mortar on each side of the inclined sides of the tile itself, which is made to
cover the heads of the nails. By these means I am enabled to attach tiles or
tesseræ and other coverings to brick walls in a secure manner, and without the
necessity of making the height of the tiles correspond with the height of the
courses of brickwork, or with some multiple thereof. The tiles or tesseræ or

page_text: other coverings may be made of terra cotta, porcelain, stone, marble, slag,
earthenware, glass, cast or wrought iron, or other metal or material.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is an elevation or front view of a
portion of a brick wall with one row of tiles or tessaræ constructed and secured
to the wall according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a vertical section of the
same. The same letters refer to similar parts in each Figure.
A, A, A, are the tiles or tessaræ, each of which has a dovetail projection a,
which is set back in a different plane from the square part of the tile, and is
covered by the tile above it; B, B, are the bricks; and b, b, the courses of
mortar. The lowest tile is first placed in its proper position, and it will be
found that some part of the dovetail a crosses a course of mortar, the dovetail
piece a being of somewhat greater height than the greatest height between any
two courses of mortar. A nail c, with a broad flat head is then driven into the
course of mortar on each side of the dovetail a, and the tile is thus secured.
The next tile is then placed above the first so as to cover the nails and dove-
tails, and is secured by two nails in a similar manner, and so on; thus, some
of the tiles will be held by the narrow part of the dovetail, and some by the
broader part, but in any case they will be securely held by the two nails,. and
each tile will have its own independent support.
Figure 3 is a front view of a tile or tessera A, having a projection a with an
angular hole, within and at each side of which the two nails are driven into
the course of mortar. Figure 4 is a front view of a tile or tessara A, having
a projection a with several dovetails. The two nails are driven into the course
of mortar at each side of the dovetail which crosses it; these projections form
one piece with the tile or tessera, but they may be separate pieces connected
or hooked to the tiles or tessaræ, if preferred.
Figure 5 is an elevation, and Figure 6 is a section of a portion of wall with
a row of tiles or tessaræ A, A, each of which is secured by two nails c, which
are driven into the course of mortar within and on each side of a rod, or wire,
or strip of metal a of an angular form, and having hooks at its lower ends
which enter cavities or holes in the tile; thus, all the rods or wires may be
of the same shape and size notwithstanding the variation in the height of the
courses of brickwork: The rod, or wire, or strip of metal may be bent or
made of a dovetail form, and secured by the two nails driven,into the mortar
outside the dovetail wire instead of within it.
Figure 7 is an elevation, and Figure 8 is a section of a portion of wall with
a row of tiles or tessaræ, each of which is furnished with two strips of thin
sheet zinc, or copper, or other suitable material & passed through holes in the
tile, and bent over to fix them firmly. Two nails c are driven through these

page_text: strips at the points where they cross a course of mortar; the strips are made
of greater length than the greatest height between the courses, so that some
part of each strip must necessarily cross a course of mortar. In lieu of these
strips of metal I sometimes employ pieces of wire. The tile is placed in its
proper position, and each piece of wire is then bent double or bent into an eye
at the point where it crosses a course of mortar, and the nail is driven through
the loop or eye; or the nails may be first driven in, and the wires may then
be bent round them. The wires, rods, or strips of metal may be attached to
the tiles by wooden plugs passing through loops or holes in the metal, and into
cavities at the back of the tile, instead of being hooked into it, as shewn in the
Drawing.
Figure 9 is a front view, and Figure 10 is a back view, and Figure 11 is a
plan of a tile having the dovetail projection a on its back; this projection is
undercut a little, as shewn in the Figures. Having ascertained what part of
the dovetail is crossed by the course of mortar, the two nails are driven into
the course at the proper distance apart, and the tile is then placed against the
wall, and slipped down until it rests on the nails, whose heads enter the groove
or undercut part, and secure the tile.
Figure 12 is a front view, and Figure 13 is a back view, and Figure 14 is
an edge view of a lozenge-shaped tile, having an undercut recess at each of its
lower edges, and a fillet or projection at each of its upper edges. The two
lower nails being driven into the course of mortar, the tile is placed upon
them, and the two upper nails are driven into another course of mortar. The
bottom row of tiles being thus secured, the tiles of the next row are placed
upon them, and are held by the heads of the nails entering the undercut parts
of their lower edges. Two nails are then driven into a course of mortar
crossed by the upper part of each tile of the second row, and the third row of
tiles is placed upon these, and so on. In this way every tile is supported by
two nails, and held against the wall by four nails, as each nail has a hold on
two tiles. The laps formed by the shape of the tiles cover the beads of the nails.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,
First, constructing tiles and tessaræ and similar wall coverings with dove-
tails or angular openings formed in or on the articles themselves, or in or on
pieces of metal or other suitable material attached to them, and adapted for
being secured to walls in manner herein-before described.
Second, the modes or means herein-before described of securing tiles and
tessaræ and similar wall coverings to walls and buildings.

page_text: Third, constructing tiles and tessaræ and similar wall coverings with laps
and undercut grooves, and securing them to walls and buildings as herein-
before described in reference to Figures 12, 13, and 14.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Digby Wyatt, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
MATTHEW DIGBY WYATT. (L.S.)