IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATERIALS FOR AND IN CONSTRUCTING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Palmer, of Brighton, in the County of
Sussex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
MATERIALS FOR AND IN CONSTRUCTING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Palmer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
January 1854.
I, WILLIAM PALMER, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MATERIALS FOR AND IN CONSTRUCTING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of tubes or hollow forms
of earthenware or brick earth suitable for constructing and in the con-
struction of houses and other buildings with tubular or hollow forms of
earthenware or brick earth. For this purpose tubular or hollow forms of
earthenware or brick earth are produced by expressing such material through
dies, the tubular or hollow forms for the walls being made suitable for standing
upright side by side, either in one or more rows according to the size of the
separate parts, and the thickness of the walls desired. Some of the hollow
or tubular forms are made suitable for the chimneys and flues, and for

page_text: ventilation; and round the windows and doorways, the parts are made with
or without ornamental surfaces, and so as to go together conveniently with
the uprights constituting the walls. Suitable horizontal plates are made to
receive the ends of the parts constituting the walls. The floors and ceilings
are made of hollow or tubular forms of earthenware or brick earth, and are
made suitable for being supported by their ends, and for lyeing side by side in
a horizontal position. In constructing the roofs tubular or hollow forms of
carthenware. or brick carth are also used, made suitable at one end to step on
to and fix on a wall plate, and at the other to fix to or combine with suitable
ridges of earthenware or brick earth, or the parts may be made curved. The
tubular or hollow forms used for the floors may, when desired, be coated with
cement or be boarded over, and the parts where the wood or other frames of
windows and doors come are formed suitable for receiving the same. The
upright and other parts may be, and where occasion requires it, are, made with
grooves or other forms for receiving cement to make them weather-tight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Palmer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Palmer, Her special licence that I, the said William Palmer,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Palmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrec
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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MATERIALS FOR AND IN CONSTRUCTING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Palmer, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Palmer, 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
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of tubes or hollow forms
of earthenware or brick carth suitable for constructing and in the construc-
tion of houses and other buildings, with tubular or hollow forms of carthen-
ware or brick earth. For this purpose tubular or hollow forms of earthen-
ware or brick earth are produced by expressing such material through dies,
the tubular or hollow forms for the walls being made suitable for standing
upright side by side, either in one or more rows, according to the size of the
separate parts and the thickness of the walls desired. Some of the hollow or
tubular forms are made suitable for the chimnies and flues, and for ventilation;
and round the windows and doorways the parts are made with or without
ornamental surfaces, and so as to go together conveniently with the uprights
constituting the walls; suitable horizontal plates are made to receive the ends
of the parts constituting the walls. The floors and ceilings are made of
hollow tubular forms of earthenware or brick carth, and are made suitable for
being supported by their ends, and for laying side by side in a horizontal
position. In constructing the roofs tubular or hollow forms of earthenware
or brick earth are also used, made suitable at one end to step on to and fix on
a wall plate, and at the other to fix to or combine with suitable ridges of
earthenware or brick earth, or the parts may be made curved. The tubular
or hollow forms used for the floors may, when desired, be coated with cement
or be boarded over; and the parts where the wood or other frames of windows
and doors come are formed suitable for receiving the same. The upright and
other parts may be, and where occasion requires it, are, made with grooves or
other forms for receiving cement to make them weather-tight.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews the front of a house built with tubular forms according to
my Invention; Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof; Figure 3 is a ground
plan in section; Figure 4 shews a plan in section of part of a wall of a house
or building on a larger scale than the previous Figures, by which the putting

page_text: view in elevation of the parts shewn at Figure 4. These Figures shew several
square sectioned tubes of clay or brick earth, such as are shewn at Figure 6,
and they are combined into lengths by the aid of cylindrical tubes, such as are
shewn in section in Figure 4 and Figure 7; and where a door or window
comes, tubes such as are shewn in section at Figure 8 are used, properly
formed to receive wood framing, as indicated by this section. Figure 9 shews
a section of parts of tubes used in making a wall and horizontal floor, and
Figure 10 shews a section of the tubes used for floors when they are to be
boarded, the horizontal tubes in such case being made with projections outside,
as shewn, so as to receive fillets of wood on which the boards are to be nailed.
The arrangement and construction of parts shewn are made with reference to
buildings where the walls are to consist each of only one row of tubes side by
side, and they are made weather-tight where they come together, by having
grooves to receive cement, as shewn in Figure 4 and Figure 6. The manner
of making tubes for various purposes of brick earth being well understood, it
will not be necessary to enter into a description of the machinery used for
such manufactures, and it will only be necessary to state that the tubes for the
purposes of
my Invention are preferred to be of the forms shown, though
the forms may be varied, and they should be made of well worked brick earth,
and so as to be as solid and free from irregularities and sponginess. as possible,
and as lengths of tubes cannot with convenience be made of any considerable
lengths, and yet retain truth of form, the desired lengths are made by com-
bining several shorter lengths by the aid of inner tubes and cement, by which
any desired length of tubes may be produced, whether to be used in an upright
position for the walls, or in a horizontal position for the floors, roofs, and other
parts. And I would state, that where the walls are to consist of more than one
row of vertical tubes, then they should be set up and fixed so as to break joint,
in which case they may or may not have grooves to receive cement for making
the wall weather-tight. When desired, the tubes may be made of a curved
form, such as for roofs and other parts of buildings, in which cases each of
the parts of the square sectioned tubes, as well as the internal cylindrical ones,
are before being fired to be bent and formed to the desired curve. In the
Drawing I have not thought it necessary to show any ornamental tubes for
the openings for the windows or doors, or for the string courses or wall plates,
or other parts where mouldings are desired, but it will be evident, that the
tubes formed for these parts may be made with any desired mouldings, by
employing dies accordingly, and the mouldings for the upper parts of the
walls under the ceilings of rooms, may be formed on the tubular wall plates,
laid horizontally to receive the ends of the horizontal tubes of which the floors

page_text: and ceilings are constructed, all which will be arranged according to the
judgment and taste of the architect or builder. The roof shewn in the Drawing
is a flat roof, or with only such slight inclination as to ensure the rain water
running off, but inclined roofs may be made by combinations of tubes meeting
in a ridge tube at top, and on the wall plates at their lower ends, the hollow
wall plates and ridge tubes being made to receive the ends of the inclined
tubes of the roof. In putting the parts together, the interior tubes a, a, may
be of greater length than the outer or square section tubes b, so as to be
received by two or more square tubes, but I believe it will be found better to
have the interior tubes about the same length as the square ones, and to fix
them into the square ones by cement in such manner that the interior tubes
project partly into two square tubes; and the manner in which I perform this
part of the building, or putting together the parts, is as follows:-The
foundation having been made level, by preference of concrete, the lower course
of square tubes are set correctly side by side and fluid cement run into the
grooves, when grooves are employed, or the tubes may be made with grooves
and projections to fit each other; or where two or more rows of tubes are used
in constructing a wall, the spaces between the rows and between the neigh-
bouring tubes are to be run in with fluid cement. The first course of square
tubes b being set or placed, there is to be placed in them the interior tubes a,
in such manner as to protrude above the square one's, and fluid cement is to
be run in between the spaces to fix the cylindrical tubes within the square
section tubes. The next course of square tubes are then placed in position
on the lower row or course and over the protruding portions of the interior
tubes, and fluid cement is to be run into the grooves, when grooves are used,
further interior tubes are then to be placed in the second course of square
section tubes, which will descend down and rest on the previous interior tubes,
and the spaces are to be filled with fluid cement, and in this manner are walls
of buildings to be constructed, terminating with the exterior and interior tubes
flush. In making floors or roofs of buildings, proper lengths of tubes are to
be constructed one on the other in the manner above described, and then lifted
into their places and fixed, and a convenient manner of doing so is shewn at
Figure 9, where the interior tube has a closed end and a projecting flanch
at a', so that when the series of horizontal tubes necessary for forming a floor
are fixed in their place, there will be a projecting course, which may be plain
or ornamental according as the flanch is made plain or with a moulding.
The exterior of the building may be, when desired, cemented over outside,
and ceiled, plastered, or cemented on the inside, according to the nature of
the house or building. e, e, Figure 10, shews the manner of applying wood

page_text: for receiving wood floors, and the same Figure also shows the form of the
horizontal tube that is preferred when boarded floors are to be used, but the
floors may be coated with cement, in which case similar square section tubes,
such as those shewn for the walls, may be used. I do not, however, confine
myself to any precise form of tubes, whether for the walls, floors, or roofs, or
for the interior ones, but the forms shown, it is believed, will be found to be
those most convenient for the purposes. In constructing chimneys and flues,
the same may be by building them as shown at f, f, Figure 8, or special and
larger tubes may be employed and made to bond in with the walls, or to be made
separate from the walls, and simply rest against or be in contact with the walls;
and it will be evident that any desired degree of ventilation may be obtained
by openings made near the floors and ceilings of a room into the tubular walls,
as cach upright would act in such case as a flue, up which air from the upper
parts of rooms may be allowed to pass off, and these openings may, when
desired, be masked or hid by the cornices.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood, that I do not confine myself
to the details herein described, nor do I claim the cylindrical tubes herein
described, but what I claim is, the construction of tubes suitable for being
placed together as herein described, and combining them into houses and other
buildings as herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palmer have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO ALCOCK.
WM PALMER. (L.S.)