Improvements in Hollow Walls, and the Method of Constructing them, and in Hollow, Tubular, or Perforated Bricks therefor, which Bricks are also applicable for various other purposes, and in the Application thereof for Ventilating, Heating, and Warming Purposes.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Aug., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 13th May, 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hollow Walls, and the Method of Constructing
them, and in Hollow, Tubular, or Perforated Bricks therefor,
which Bricks are also applicable for various other purposes, and
in the Application thereof for Ventilating, Heating, and Warming
Purposes.
I, WILLIAM BUCK, of 60 West Street, Horsham, in the County of Sussex,
Architect, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to hollow walls and the method of constructing them, and
to hollow that is to say, tubular or perforated bricks, to be used in the building
such walls, and the application of such hollow walls, or the hollows or channels
therein for the purpose of ventilation, heating and warming, and to facilitate
compliance with the rules now generally adopted by the rural district councils and
other like authorities, more particularly in respect of dwelling houses of moderate
rental.
The system generally heretofore employed in building hollow walls is to build
two walls, say for example each of 4 inch work with an intervening space of say
2 inches, (or for of other dimensions according to the height and other require-
ments of the building). The two walls being tied together with iron, or earthenware
wall ties.
In actual practice it is found that the internal faces of such walls are generally
left very rough with the joints, insufficiently flushed so that the walls themselves
are very imperfect and the whole construction of a paltry character such as does
no credit to the builder and gives little satisfaction to the owner.
Openings are generally specified to be left at the bottom of such hollow walls in
order to enable the builder to rake out the loose matter with which the cavity
becomes partly choked during the building, and these openings are often left
unstopped after the wall is finished, and the air bricks which are fixed in the outer
wall for ventilating under the floors admit the cold external air into the cavity of
the hollow walls from which it flows through every crevice forming draughts all
over the house and producing much discomfort in cold, or damp weather.
Moreover the ends of the floor joists rest on the inner wall and transmit sound
from one room to another this being most objectionable and in case of fire the
hollow space forms a kind of flue encircling the house-and favours the formation.
of a draught causing the heat and flame to consume the timber and wood plugs
inserted in the walls more completely than is the case with solid walls thus making
such dwellings specially subject to increased risk of loss of life in case of fire.
To prevent the damp penetrating from the outer to the inner wall they are
usually kept separate at the reveals of the windows and doorways and consequently
the shrinkage of the wooden casings and linings creates crevices and openings
through which draughts penetrate causing much discomfort to the occupiers.
Besides these defects, if the wall is being built in wintry weather, both sides of
each of the walls being exposed to the elements during construction the work is
apt to become rotten and it is difficult to continue building operations
satisfactorily.

page_text: Now my invention is intended to avoid, or mitigate, all of these disadvantages
of the present method of construction.
Instead of building two separate walls with a vacuous space between I use a
specially constructed brick hereinafter described to form the central portion of the
wall, the inner and outer portions of the wall being farther apart than has been
usual for hollow walls, and the whole forming a solid construction with the central
portion formed of tubular or perforated bricks which form a series of separate
channels generally from the top to the bottom of the wall.
I prefer to make the upper end of such channels open under the roof.
I may form such openings as may be proper in cach case near the ceilings of the
rooms through the inner portion of the wall into such channel thereby forming
outlets through which the vitiated air from the upper part of the room is drawn
off and discharged under the roof.
The inlets for fresh air may be made either directly into the rooms with suitable
arrangements for preventing the formation of a draught or may communicate with
the space beneath the floors, or both, and are so formed as to pass through the
entire wall without communicating with the intra-mural channels, and I prefer to
so form them that the passages through the inner and outer portions of the wall
are not opposite each other.
Some of the channels, or similar channels formed for the purpose, in chimney
breasts or other walls or parts, may be employed for the admission of warm air
from fireplaces or from heating chambers and which may be carried with suitable
outlets so as to diffuse the warm air to the rooms, passages and other parts of the
building.
I construct bricks for the purpose of forming the central part of the wall of
glazed stone-ware or other non-porous or waterproof material and form each brick
with one or more, preferably one, perforation of such size as to remove, all the
central portion of the brick leaving only a quadrangular shell of parallelopiped
form and I form cavities in each end of such bricks preferably extending quite
through from top to bottom which cavities may be filled with liquid cement or
otherwise as the wall is being built and I may form grooves on the upper and
under surfaces, or one of them, of the brick in which the wrought iron or other
wall ties may be placed-and these as well as the vertical spaces, or cavities, may
be filled in with cement.
I may also use these bricks in the construction of underground tanks, basements,
areas, vaults, hearths of fireplaces, and for the construction of fireproof floors and
ceilings, as may be applicable.
Houses with walls constructed as above described will possess all, or nearly all,
the advantages both of hollow and of solid walls without the principal disadvantages
of either. They offer less facilities for the builder, or workmen, to scamp the
work to the detriment of the owner, and the floor joists and timbers are entirely
cut off from the air channels.
The system renders thorough ventilation easy and facilitates compliance with
the requisitions now usual in the bye laws of district councils and other like
authorities as to the thickness of walls in two and three storey and other dwellings,
and buildings, as the walls by this construction are made considerably thicker than
when the common vacant space is left.
Dated the Thirteenth day of August 1895.
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Hollow Walls, and the Method of Constructing
them, and in Hollow, Tubular, or Perforated Bricks therefor,
which Bricks are also applicable for various other purposes, and
in the Application thereof for Ventilating, Heating, and Warming
Purposes.
I, WILLIAM BUCK, of 60 West Street, Horsham, in the County of Sussex,
Architect, 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 :-
My invention relates to hollow walls and the method of constructing them, and
to hollow, that is to say, tubular or perforated bricks, to be used in building such
walls, and the application of such hollow walls, or the hollows, or channels therein
for the purpose of ventilating, heating and warming purposes, and to facilitate
compliance with the rules now generally accepted by the rural district councils and
other like authorities, more particularly in respect of dwelling houses of moderate.
rental.
The system generally heretofore employed in building hollow walls is to build.
two walls, say, for example, each of four inch work with an intervening space of
say two and a half inches (or of other dimensions according to the height and
other requirements of the building). The two walls being tied together with iron,
or earthenware ties.
In actual practice it is found that the internal faces of such walls are generally
left very rough, with the joints insufficiently flushed, so that the walls themselves
are very imperfect and the whole construction of a paltry character such as does
no credit to the builder and gives little satisfaction to the owner.
Openings are generally specified to be left at the bottom of such hollow walls in
order to enable the builder to rake out the loose matter with which the cavity
partly becomes choked during the building, and these openings are often left
unstopped after the wall is finished, and the air bricks which are fixed in the outer
wall for ventilating under the floors admit the cold external air into the cavity of
the hollow walls from which it flows through every crevice, forming draughts all
over the house and producing much discomfort in cold and damp weather.
Moreover the ends of the floor joists rest on the inner wall and transmit sound
from one room to another, this being most objectionable, and in case of fire the
hollow space forms a kind of a flue encircling the house, and favours the formation
of a draught, causing the heat and flames to consume the timber and wooden plugs
inserted in the wall more completely than is the case with solid walls, thus making
such dwellings specially subject to increased risk of loss of life in case of fire.
To prevent the damp penetrating from the outer to the inner wall they are
usually kept separate at the reveals of the windows and doorways and consequently
the shrinkage of the wooden casings and linings creates crevices and openings
through which draughts penetrate causing much discomfort to the occupiers.
Besides these defects, if the wall is being built in wintry weather, both sides of
each of the walls being exposed to the elements during construction, the work is
apt to become rotten and it is difficult to continue building operations
satisfactorily.
Now my invention is intended to avoid or mitigate all these disadvantages of
the present method of construction.
Instead of building two walls with a vacuous space between I use a specially
constructed brick, hereinafter described, to form the central portion of the wall,
the inner and outer portions of the wall being farther apart than has been usual for

page_text: hollow walls, and the whole forms an integral construction with the central portion
formed of tubular or perforated bricks which form a series of separate channels
generally from the top to the bottom of the wall.
I prefer to make the upper end of such channels open under the roof.
I may form such openings, as may be proper in each case, near the ceilings of
the rooms through the inner portion of the wall into such channel, thereby forming
outlets through which the vitiated air from the upper part of the room is drawn
off and discharged under the roof.
The inlets for fresh air may be made either directly into the roomie with suitable
arrangements for preventing the formation of a draught or they may communicate
with the space beneath the floors, or both, and may be so formed as to pass through
the entire wall without communicating with the intramural channels or certain of
the intramural channels may be utilized for the introduction of fresh air, an
opening from them to the external air, as well as an opening into the room, or floor,
being provided for that purpose, and in either case I prefer to so form them that
the passages through the inner and outer portions of the wall are not opposite
each other.
Some of the channels, or similar channels formed for the purpose in chimney
breasts, or other walls or parts may be employed for the transmission of warm air
from fireplaces or from heating chambers in connection with fireplaces or otherwise
and may be carried with suitable outlets so as to diffuse the warm air into the
rooms, passages and other parts of the building.
I construct my improved bricks for the purpose of forming the central part of
such walls of glazed stoneware or other non-porous or waterproof material and
form each brick with one or more, preferably one, perforation of such size as to
remove all the central portion of the brick leaving only a quadrangular shell of
parallelopiped form, and I form cavities in each end of such bricks preferably
extending quite through from top to bottom, which cavities may be filled with
liquid cement, or otherwise, as the wall is being built and I may form grooves on
the upper and under surfaces, or one of them, of the brick, in which the wrought
iron or other wall ties may be placed-and these as well as the vertical spaces, or
cavities, may be filled in with cement.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a plan of one of my said bricks, Fig. 2 is a plan of a similar brick but
with side projections provided for the purpose of bonding, Fig. 3 is a perspective
representation of two bricks, laid end to end, one with and one without the bonding
projections. In these A is the perforation destined to form the intramural
channels. B, B, are the cavities at each end of the brick, intended to be ultimately
filled in with cement or the like; c, c, are grooves for the reception of wall ties.
D, D, are projecting pieces provided on some of the bricks for the purpose of
bonding with the inner and outer portions of the wall, and e, e, are perforations
through such side pieces which are intended to be filled in with mortar, or cement,
but which may be otherwise treated or made use of as required.
Fig. 4 is a plan of part of a house built according to my invention with my
improved bricks.
Fig. 5 is a section of part of another house showing an example of the manner
of arranging the air passages and other details. In these figures A indicates the
channels formed by the perforations A of the bricks; B the cavities intended to
be filled with cement, at the ends of the bricks; D, D, are the bonding portions of
bricks placed at suitable interval. f, f, are chambers within the chimney breasts
provided for the purpose of warming the air therein which is led through certain
of the channels A appropriated for that purpose to the bed rooms, or rooms, or
passages, in upper or other part of the house."
:
In Fig. 5 is a damp-proof course beneath which the channels A do not
extend is an air opening under the floor communicating directly with the outer
air; i and are channels Å adapted and appropriated to the purpose of carrying
warm air from the chamber finto other rooms, that marked i carrying it into an

page_text: adjoining room, and that marked into a room on the floor above: j, j, are fresh
air inlets passing quite through the wall without communicating with any of the
channels A, but certain of the channels A may be appropriated to the inlet
service if desired; k is an outlet for vitiated air from the interior of the rooms
into the channels A and thence conducting such vitiated air into the roof or as
shown in the drawings, into shafts leading up to a ventilating cupola.
It will be seen on reference to Figs. 4 and that the wood work and frames of
the windows and doors, as also the ends of the floor joists are not in contact with
any air conducting hollow or passage in the walls, the draughts usually arising
from this being therefore entirely avoided even when the woodwork has shrunk ;
and in case of fire the joists are not fanned by air from the wall cavities.
I may also use my said bricks in the construction of underground tanks, base-
ments, areas, vaults, hearths, fire places, and for the construction of fire-proof floors
and ceilings, as may be applicable.
Houses with walls constructed as above described will possess all, or nearly all,
the advantages both of hollow and of solid walls without the principal disadvantages
of either.
They offer less facilities for the builder, or workman, to scamp the work to the
detriment of the owner, and the floor joists and timbers are entirely cut off from
the air channels.
The systein renders thorough ventilation easy and facilitates compliance with
the requisitions now usual: in the bye-laws of district councils and other like
authorities as to the thickness of walls in two and three story and other buildings,
and dwellings, as the walls, by this construction, are made considerably thicker
than when the usual vacant space if left.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is.
1. Improvements in hollow walls and the method of constructing them sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
2. Improvements in hollow, tubular, or perforated bricks for use in the
building of hollow walls as in the first claim mentioned substantially as herein-
before described.
3. Bricks adapted for use in the interior of walls, with a vertical perforation
intended to form air-channels in the wall substantially as described.
4. Perforated bricks intended to be used in the interior of walls constructel
substantially as hereinbefore described shown in the drawings.
5. Constructing the walls of dwelling houses and other buildings of bricks
such as in the form claims mentioned with air channels ventilating and
warming arrangements or one or more of these substantially in the manner
exemplified in Figs. 4 and 5.
6. Constructing tanks, basements, areas, vaults, hearths of fire-places and fire-
proof floors and ceilings of bricks herein before described and claimed and for the
purposes set forth.
Dated the 13th day of May 1896.
NEWNHAM BROWNE,
Agent for the Applicant.