IMPROVE- MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE BUILDINGS."
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bird, of the Vineyard, Uxbridge, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE BUILDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bird at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd May 1871.
.
I, HENRY BIRD, of the Vineyard, Uxbridge, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE BUILDINGS," to be as
follows:-
Buildings are at the present time frequently constructed in concreté
by filling concrete into a mould, which mould is removed when the
concrete has set, leaving the concrete standing as a wall.
According to my Invention I form the mould (or part thereof) of
slabs or plates or ornamental or plain pieces of glass opaque or trans-
parent; the concrete is filled into this mould, but the slabs or plates

page_text: are not removed, and are left as a permanent facing to the wall. The
slabs or plates are moulded to the forms required with such ornament
as may be required, and with the aid of scaffolding they are erected so
as to form the outer and inner faces of the wall. The space between
them is then filled with concrete, which sets and adheres very firmly to
the slabs or plates of glass. Other slabs or plates are then similarly
erected over the first, and concrete is put in to fill the space between
them.
For pillasters, buttresses, and arches the glass or other vitreous
material is moulded to a trough-like form. These pieces are set up in
their places and concreto is put in to form with them a solid wall, as
already described.
For arches the glass or vitreous material is moulded to a trough-like
form and curved to the contour of the arch. The concrete is filled in
over these pieces when they have been set up in their places.
=
Columns also are constructed in a similar manner, the glass or
vitreous material being moulded to a tubular form and in convenient
lengths is erected one length over the other in the position in which the
column is required and filled with concrete. I make the door heads,
window heads, string courses, mouldings, and ornaments in glass or
vitreous material. It is moulded to a trough-like form and erected and
built up with concrete in the manner already described. The glass may
be transparent and ornamented on the inner surface or it may be opaque.
To prevent contact and adhesion between the concrete and the moulds,
frames, and centres employed in its erection I interpose paper between
the concrete and the moulds, frames, and centres; the paper afterwards
is cleaned off the work. I also cover the outside of glass and material
used in concrete buildings with paper to prevent any concrete or cement
spots from disfiguring the same. Such paper is afterwards removed.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Bird, Her special license that I, the
said Henry Bird, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry Bird, 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 CONSTRUCTING CONCRETE.
BUILDINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Bird, 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 Henry Bird, 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 :—
Buildings are at the present time constructed with concrete by filling
concrete into a mould, which mould is removed when the concrete has
set, leaving the concrete standing as a wall; also by first forming blocks
or pieces of concrete, and building with them as with blocks or pieces
of stone.
According to my Invention I form a mould (or part thereof) with
slabs or plates or pieces of glass or other vitreous material; concrete
is filled into this mould, and remains firmly united to it; the slabs,
plates, or pieces remain so united as permanent facings.
I construct walls and other parts of all kinds and classes of buildings
with such moulds filled with concrete.
I also construct walls and other parts of all kinds and classes of
buildings with moulds formed with such slabs or plates or pieces which
remain united as aforesaid on one side only, and brick, stone,, or other

page_text: material or moveable apparatus on the other side at pleasure, and in
cases of more than two sides to any part, as, for example, at the angles
or corners of a building, any one or more of such sides may, according
to design, taste, or fancy, be of glass or other vitreous material so per-
manently united to the concrete as aforesaid, and the other or remaining
side or sides may be of brick, stone, or other material to remain
permanently, or formed with the aid of a moveable mould or side or
moveable moulds or sides to be removed after the concrete is set, and
may be left plain concrete or be covered and ornamented according to
design, taste, or fancy.
Moveable moulds or sides such as are now used for forming concrete
buildings may also be employed for retaining the slabs or plates of glass
or vitreous material during the time that concrete is being filled in
behind them, or such slabs or plates of glass or vitreous material may
be set in their places with cement applied to them at the back, and
allowed to set before filling in behind them with the concrete filling, or
they may be otherwise held in place during this time, I also--form
blocks or pieces of concrete faced either on one side or each of more
than one side with a slab, plate, or piece of glass or other vitreous
material, and on the remaining side or sides with any other material or
These blocks or
of plain concrete formed with a moveable mould.
pieces so formed are built with or used as parts of buildings in the same
manner as blocks of stone are commonly used.
I construct pilasters, buttresses, and arches in several ways:-
First. The glass or other vitreous material is moulded either entire
or in sections, segments, or parts to a trough-like form, these being set
up in their places (in the case of arches according to and to form the
contour of the arch) are filled with concrete, which forms with them a
solid pilaster, buttress, or arch.
.
Secondly. Each section, segment, or part is filled with concrete
separately before erection, and then put in its place in the same manner
as a block of stone.
Thirdly. The several faces of the pilasters, buttresses, or arches are
prepared or formed either entire or in pieces or parts in the shape of
plates, which are set up and filled with concrete, or first filled with
concrete and afterwards set up as above mentioned.

page_text: The faces or either face of any pilaster, buttress, or arch arc or is
according to design, taste, or fancy formed of plates, picces, or parts
separately by way of panel (plain or ornamented), and stiles with or
without plain or ornamental moulding or other design or ornament,
and in case either face is preferred without glass or other vitreous
material, any other material or a moveable mould may be used on
that face or side.
Columns and insulated pilasters are constructed in similar ways.
The glass or vitreous material is moulded to a tubular form, either
round, oval, squarc, octagonal, or irregular, or any or cither of the
forms now used in architecture or otherwise, as taste or fancy may
suggest, in convenient lengths, and gradually filled with concrete, first
one length, then another, one length upon another, either in situ before
the concrete is put in or in lengths not in situ; when not in situ they
arc crected in the same manner as a column of stone, length upon
length.
If a column or insulated pilaster be of large diameter the glass or
vitreous material is moulded or formed in segments, staves, plates,
or picces, which are cemented, bound, or otherwise secured together
either in situ or not and filled with concrete.
In some cases I insert a core, and remove it after the concrete is
sufficiently set to leave a hollow down the centre or middle of a column
or insulated pilaster to admit atmospheric air.
I make door heads, frames, and sills, and window heads, frames, and
sills, string courses, copings, entablatures, capitals, bases, mouldings,
and ornaments and other parts of buildings in a similar manner to that
and those before mentioned, namely, of glass or other vitreous material
moulded either to a trough-like, cylindrical, or tubular form (the mould-
ings of bases being formed in rings or parts of rings), or in slabs, plates,
segments, sections, or picces fitted together, and in either case filled
with concrete either in situ or not as before mentioned.
I also make columns, floors, ceilings, facings, and ornaments of glass
or other vitreous material, either hollow or solid, and set them up with
concrete.
Door frames and window frames have suitable blocks or plugs of
wood or hollow metal inserted to provide for hanging doors, windows,
casements, and shutters, if required. If preferred openings and hollow

page_text: walls are left, and the doors, windows, casements, and shutters slide
into and out of them. The mould being formed as herein described is
erected in situ and filled with concrete course upon course. In erecting
the same I use any of the scaffolding, centreing, and apparatus now in
use for building purposes. The concrete adheres very firmly to the
glass or other vitreous material and forms a strong wall or arch. In
some cases for safety keys are formed inside the slabs, plates, or pieces.
In order to prevent cement concrete expanding or contracting it is
necessary that the cement should be in proper condition, not hot, and
in most cases the moulds must not be filled up wholly at once, but
gradually, a shallow course at a time, until each shallow course is
properly set, so that ample contact with the atmosphere may be
facilitated.
In some cases it is necessary to exclude sand and make the concrete
wholly of washed stones or particles of stone or grit, none of less size
than a small pin's head, so that the atmosphere may permeate the mass
of concrete large or small.
In some cases, particularly large columns, capitals, arches, and-
generally where elaborate ornaments are used, I unite and fix the
different parts of a mould together with cement, which I allow to set
and harden before I put in concrete.
The glass or other vitreous material is made of any color or colors,
and either with a flat even face or with any design or pattern raised
on or sunk in it, and either opaque or transparent, or partly opaque and
partly transparent, or with the inner or outer surface or both surfaces
ground, engraved, or cut, or partly engraved or ground or cut, by or
with either revolving wheels, emery, sand, sand blast, acid, or any
other known means; or gilded, silvered, or colored, or ornamented with
metal or metallic substances, either wholly or partly, or in combination
with metal, according to any design, taste, pattern, or fancy. The
colored glass or vitreous material may be of any desired shape or
design and be set in metal similar to jewellery, and be made up into
plates or slabs and be used as facings, either internally or externally,
for the walls of buildings; slabs or plates of glass or vitreous material
may likewise be employed as a facing for the interior of wards and
rooms in hospitals and sanatoriums, not only for the walls but also for
the floors and ceilings.

page_text: In some cases I leave a slight space between the courses of glass or
vitreous material and ultimately erect concrete rather higher than the
top of the upper course of glass or other vitreous material, or I bed in
or place upon the top of the concrete plates of iron in order that the
concrete walls, columns, &c., and not the facings, may sustain the
weight and pressure of the buildings and structures and of the roof. I
also insert plugs of wood or hollow metal, or both, for fixtures and
hangings of every kind, such as cupboards, closets, gas and other
fittings, curtains, upholstery, pictures, and so forth, and pipes for all
usual purposes are introduced into the walls, &c.
To prevent contact and adhesion between the concrete and the moulds,
frames, and centres employed in the erection of concrete buildings, I
interpose paper wherever necessary or desirable between the concrete
and the moulds, frames, or centres. I also cover with paper the outside
part or parts of the slabs or plates of glass or vitreous material to
prevent spots of concrete or cement from contact therewith and from
disfiguring the same; the paper is afterwards removed. The employ-
ment of paper in the manner above described forms an important
improvement in the construction of concrete buildings.
Parts of concrete buildings may likewise be faced with marble or
granite or other stone, whilst other parts are faced with glass or vitreous
material as above described, and thus highly ornamental effects may be
produced. In exposed situations the lower portions of buildings may
be thus faced with marble or granite or other stone, or with brick or
otherwise, whilst the upper portion only is faced with slabs or plates of
glass or other vitreous material as above described.
The spouting and pipes for rain water may likewise be formed of
glass, the spouting being made of a trough-like form, and both spouting
and pipes in convenient lengths, united with cement, and occasionally
by fusion of glass in situ.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,—
1. The employment of glass or vitreous material in the construction
of concrete buildings, substantially as herein described.

page_text: 2. The employment of paper in the construction of concrete buildings,
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bird, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-onc.