IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CONCRETE TO SAND HARDER AND FOUNDATIONS FOR THE SAME. ALSO TO COFFERDAMS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James William Butler, of Stonebridge Park,
Willesden, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CONCRETE TO
SAND HARDER AND FOUNDATIONS FOR THE SAME. ALSO TO COFFERDAMS.”
Sealed the 17th March 1871, and dated the 21st November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James William Butler
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st November 1870.
I, JAMES WILLIAM BUTLER, of Stonebridge Park, Willesden, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF CONCRETE TO
STRUCTURES AND FOUNDATIONS FOR THE SAME, ALSO TO COFFERDAMs," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to sea walls, piers, bridges, and other like
structures, and to foundations for the same, also to coffredams, and
consists in the application and use to and in such or other like structures

page_text: or purposes of moulded concrete in the form of hollow blocks of
cylindrical or other configuration, or of segments thereof, such hollow
blocks, cylinders, or segments being made to answer the purpose of the
more costly iron cylinders, brickwork, or other material at present
employed, the cost of the moulded concrete being less than one-half of
the cost of the materials heretofore employed for the above purposes.
The moulding may be effected in wooden or metal moulds (by preference
wooden moulds lined with zinc) the core being made in segments
temporarily held together whilst the concrete is being moulded and the
said core is withdrawn from the mould in separate parts or segments,
When a number of moulded concrete cylinders are required to be placed
´one on another, as for example in coffredams, it is proposed to secure
them at their points of junction by means of fish pieces bolted or other-
wise held in position. A hollow metal shoe made in segments is to be
fitted to the bottom cylinder to facilitate the sinking of the same into the
ground,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James William Butler in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 20th May 1871,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLIAM BUTLER, of Stonebridge Park, Willesden, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her leirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James William Butler, Her
special license that I, the said James William Butler, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
William Butler, my executors, administrators, or 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 THE APPLICATION OF CONCRETE TO STRUCTURES

page_text: AND FOUNDATIONS FOR THE SAME, ALSO TO COFFERDAMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James William Butler, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 James William Butler, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to sea walls, piers, groins, bridges, and other
like structures, and to foundations for the same, also to cofferdams, and
may be employed in well sinking.
It consists in the application and use to and in such or other like
structures or purposes of moulded artificial stone or concrete in the form
of hollow blocks of cylindrical or other configuration, or of segments
thereof, such hollow blocks, cylinders, or segments being made to answer
the purpose of the more costly iron cylinders, brickwork, or other material
at present employed, the cost of the moulded concrete or artificial stone
being less than one-half of the cost of the materials heretofore employed
for the above purposes. The moulding may be effected in wooden or
metal moulds, the core being made in segments temporarily held together
whilst the concrete is being moulded, and the said core is withdrawn
from the mould in separate parts or segments. When a number of
moulded concrete cylinders are required to be placed one on another, as
for example in cofferdams, it is proposed to secure them at their points
of junction by means of fish pieces bolted or otherwise held in position.
A hollow metal shoe made in segments is to be fitted to the bottom
cylinder to facilitate the sinking of the same into the ground..
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.

page_text: Figure 1 of my Drawings represents an elevation, partly in section, of
a bridge pier constructed of hollow, rectangular, moulded concrete or
artificial stone blocks, and Figure 2 is a sectional plan of the same.
A, A, are a series of hollow or cellular concrete blocks placed one
above another and sunk into the ground to any desired depth the lowest.
blocks being provided with metal shoes a to facilitate their penetration
into the ground. These shoes are by preference made in pieces or
segments, and when the blocks are required to join close up to each other
laterally they should be received at the part where they receive the shoes,
as shewn in Figure 1, in order that the latter may present a flush surface
with the side of the block, but where close proximity of the blocks is not
an object the shoes may be fitted on to them without their being recessed
as shown in Figure 3, which arrangement will tend to facilitate the
penetration of the blocks as it will afford a certain amount of clearance
by the projection of the shoe. Any number of these, blocks are piled one
above the other according to the desired height of the structure and each
vertical row or column is tied to its neighbour by a wooden dowel pile B
by preference of a double dovetailed section, as shewn in Figure 2, which
fits into corresponding shaped slots, grooves, or channels moulded or
otherwise formed up the sides of the several blocks, the said dowel pile B
descending along with the concrete blocks.
Figures 4 and 5 represent respectively a vertical section and plan of a
portion of a cofferdam constructed of my improved hollow moulded
concrete or artificial stone blocks. A, A, are the moulded blocks which
are here represented of a cylindrical form and of about the same height
as their diameter, but I do not restrict myself to any dimensions. I may
observe however that for piers and cofferdams and such like structures
the said blocks, whether rectangular, polygonal, cylindrical, or oval, may
be about seven or eight fect diameter and the same in height. When
several of these hollow blocks are piled one upon another as shewn it is
advisable in order to ensure their maintaining their proper places to employ
fish pieces b, b, (Figures 4 and 5), at the several joints consisting of pieces
of timber bolted close up to the outer and inner surfaces of the blocks
and extending equally across the joint These fishes may be countersunk
if preferred so as to be flush with the surface by suitably recessing the
blocks at the parts where they are to be applied. B, B, are the wooden
piles introduced between the several adjoining columns of blocks sunk

page_text: along with them, and a, a, are the shoes. C, C, are horizontal beams or
walings extending along the series of columns so as tie them together
and to admit of their being further supported by being bolted to the row
of wooden piles D, D, as shewn. Boarding c, c, (Figure 5), may or may
not be secured to the walings and the space behind being filled in with
puddled clay as shewn. Hollow piles or columns of moulded concrete or
artificial stone may either be composed of a number of short lengths or
sections, each separately moulded, and then deposited one on another, as
herein-before described, or they may be moulded in one continuous length
by means of an inner and outer frame E, F, (Figure 6), between which
the material is rammed the frames being moved up higher as the work
progresses, as is well known in reference to certain modes of building.
Figures 7 and 8 represent a vertical section and plan of a mould for
moulding the hollow sections or short lengths of hollow concrete blocks.
G is the outer portion of the mould made to be divided in two or more
segments or parts and of an internal shape corresponding to the desired
external shape of the block. This is fitted on a base or floor H and has
a moveable core I situate in the centre thereof, also made in two or
more parts for the facility of withdrawal. The segments of the core I
and mould G may both be held together by hoops or otherwise, but I
prefer to employ segment fish picces e, e, which cross the joints and are
bolted to flanges or projections on the parts to be held together as shewn
in my Drawings. Clamps f, f, or other suitable means may be employed
for maintaining the central core in its place during the operation of
ramming in the concrete. When the concrete has become set or hardened
sufficiently to be withdrawn the walls of the mould and of the core are
removed in segments, having first disconnected the segments by
removing the metal fish pieces e, e.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The application and use to and for the several purposes hercin
named or for other purposes of a like nature of moulded cellular or
hollow blocks of concrete, artificial stone, or other equivalent materials,
substantially in the manner hercin-before described.

page_text: :
Second. The manufacture of moulded cellular or hollow blocks of
concrete, artificial stone, or other like materials, substantially as and for
the purposes herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James William Butler, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of 5
May, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
JAMES WILLIAM BUTLER. (L.S.)