IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Looker, junior, of Kingston-on-
Thames, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS."
Sealed the 14th January 1854, and dated the 14th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Looker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th July 1853.
I, BENJAMIN LOOKER, junior, of Kingston-on-Thames, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS" to be as follows:-
In building it is often necessary to divide a brick into parts, and the
object of this Invention is to facilitate such dividing of bricks, to save
labour, and as much as may be to prevent waste. And my Invention
consists of making bricks with transverse slits or openings through
them at those parts where it is desired they should be divided.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Looker in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 14th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
BENJAMIN LOOKER, junior, of Kingston-on-Thames, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Looker, Her special licence
that I, the said Benjamin Looker, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Looker, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,, an: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN.
THE MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Benjamin Looker, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and scal, 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 late of the said
Letters Patent.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Looker, 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):
In building it is often necessary to divide à brick into parts, and the
object of this Invention is to facilitate such dividing of bricks, to save
labor, and as much as may be to prevent waste. And my Invention

page_text: consists of making bricks. with transverse slits or openings through
them at those parts where it is desired they, should be divideil..
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same.
:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, is a plan of a brick of the form I prefer to make in order
to facilitate the division of perforated bricks at the lines a, b, c, but it,
will be evident that the form of the openings or perforations at the
lines a, b, c, where a brick is to be cut or divided may be greatly
varied; the object to be attained is that the substance of the bricks at
the lines a, b, c, should be less or more divided than across other
parts
of the bricks, so that a brick at the lines.a, b, c,.will more readily cut
or divide at those lines than at other parts of the bricks. I prefer,
however, that the perforations at the lines a, b, c, should be slits, as is
shewn in the Drawing at Figure 1, but the relative strengths may be
obtained by having larger or more numerous perforations at the
lines a, b, c, than across other parts of a brick. Figure 2, shews a
plan of a brick where the perforations are somewhat larger across the
brick at a, b, c, than those across other parts, by which a like facility is
offered for cutting or dividing a brick; and Figure 3, shows a brick
where the perforations across a brick at the lines a, b, c, are more
numerous than across other parts of the same brick. In making these
bricks I prefer to employ machines which force brick earth through
moulding orifices, using cores suitable to produce perforations such as
are indicated, but I do not confine myself to making such bricks
through moulding orifices, as bricks according to my Invention may be
made by moulding in moulds provided with suitable cores. I wish it,
however, to be understood that I do not claim the making of perforated
bricks, either by forcing clay through moulding orifices, or by moulding
in moulds, except when provision is made for dividing the bricks by
employing cores for the purpose of causing the substance of the bricks
across the lines a, b, c, to be more divided, or in less quantity than
across other parts of the bricks.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is, the manufacture of perforated bricks herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Looker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
RICHARD HOOK.
BENJ* LOOKER, JUN. (L.S.)