IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Tall, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford,
Builder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
Sealed the 6th June 1865, and dated the 23rd March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Tall at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd March
1865.
I, JOSEPH TALL, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Builder, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF WALLS, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to effect an economy in building cottages
and dwelling-houses, garden walls, and other erections in concrete, combined
with brick rubbish or other hard durable substance in place of employing costly
brickwork.
In carrying out this Invention, say for building a cottage, I lay an ordinary
concrete foundation and set up on edge upon the foundation horizontal boards
or frames lined with zinc or other metal. These frames will represent the
outer and inner faces of the walls to be built, and they will together form a
kind of trough for receiving the concrete; they may be secured at the angles
to angular pillars or supports, to which they may be temporarily connected by

page_text: means of thumbscrews, gauge couplings may also be used to connect the
frames together and keep them from bulging. As the concrete sets the
frames are to be shifted higher up the pillars and again attached, and a further
supply of concrete is laid in the raised trough. When arrived at a level
for the doorway the door frame is set up in the trough at the part where it is
required to be fixed, and a second frame acting as a core forms the required
reveal in the wall. In like manner the openings for the windows are formed.
To allow of the flooring joists bedding into the walls cores are used represent-
ing the ends of the joists; these are slightly tapered and covered with zinc and
placed in the trough and concreted over. When the concrete is set these
cores may be withdrawn and the recesses will be provided for receiving the
ends of the joists.
For chimney flues, where they occur, I change the inner frame and supply
one with a suitable angular internal projection, and the flues I make by
inserting tubes 9 inches in diameter as hollow cores; these I draw up higher
and higher as the wall rises. A suitable core is also provided for forming the
fire-places and connecting them with the flues. To form the roof I make a
rough flooring of joists and boards, then apply concrete, covering the joist
ends and floor; I next lay over this a latticework of hoop iron (or woodwork
may be used) which will overlie a half thickness of the walls; this I cover
with concrete, giving the upper surface a suitable inclination to throw off the
rain; or I may make an arched roof by applying concrete over an ordinary
centre or arched framework covered with zinc, which enables me to produce a
smooth surface.
For forming cornices for the windows and doorways I employ moulds, which,
whether applied at the time of building up the walls or afterwards, admit of
the cornice being cast in position by running the concrete into the mould.
The walls may in some localities be formed partly with rough stones, set, say
in the middle of the wall, and buried in the concrete.
For forming the ground floors of cottages and warehouses I cover the ground
with concrète, and I lay upon this concrete a latticework of wood of square
or other pattern and the spaces I fill with concrete, leaving the woodwork
exposed. I would remark that instead of using the angular pillars above
mentioned the frames may at the commencement of the work be connected
together at the angles by angle pieces equal in depth to the width of the
frames, and along their length the frames forming the opposite sides of the
trough may be connected together by two lines of cross tie bolts. As the'
wall is formed the bolts are withdrawn to allow of the frames being raised,
and the lower series of bolts are again to be applied to the frames, but this'

page_text: time they will be passed through the holes in the concrete formed by the
upper series; in this way the work will serve to support the frames, and the
angular pillars will not be required. It will be obvious that chimney shafts
may be erected in a similar manner to the wall building above described. In
proceeding with such erections I may avoid the use of expensive scaffolding
by coring out openings for the "pudlocks" or supporting timbers which carry
the stages for the workmen.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Tall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joseph.
TALL, of Bedford, in the County of Bedford, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord.
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Tall, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Tall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Joseph Tall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS, HOUSES, AND OTHER BUILDINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Tall, 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 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 Joseph Tall, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to effect an economy in building dwelling-

page_text: houses, cottages, garden walls, and other erections by forming such structures
in concrete, combined with brick rubbish or other hard durable, substance, in
place of employing costly brickwork or masonry as is now the case.
The mode in which I propose to carry out this Invention, say for building
a cottage or small house, is shewn in the accompanying Drawings, and may
be thus described. I lay an ordinary concrete foundation and set up on edge
upon the foundation horizontal frames constructed of boards lined with zinc
or other metal. These frames, which are shewn in plan at Fig. 1, and in side
elevation at Fig. 2, will form the outer and inner faces of the walls to be built,
and the two sides a, a, of the frames will together form a kind of trough b,
for receiving the concrete and other matters of which the wall is to be com-
posed. The walls or boards of the frame are secured at the angles to angular
pillars or supports c, c, to which they may be temporarily connected by means
of thumbscrews c¹, c', as seen in the Drawing. Gauge couplings d, d, may
also be used to connect the sides a, a, of the frames together and keep them
from bulging. As the concrete in the trough 6 sets, the frames are to be
shifted higher up the pillars c, c, and again attached or secured by the thumb-
screws c¹, and a further supply of concrete and other materials is laid in the
raised trough b. When the wall has been raised to a level for the doorway,
the door frame is set up as at e, Figs. 1 and 2, in the trough at the part
where the door is required to be fixed, and a second frame f acting as a core
forms the required reveal in the wall. In like manner the openings for the
windows are to be formed. To allow of the flooring joists being bedded or
inserted into the walls cores representing the ends of the joists are used so as
to form recesses for the ends of the joists. These cores are seen best in the
detached plan view, Fig. 3, and the detached sectional views Figures 4 and 6.
The cores 9, 9, are slightly tapered and are covered with zinc; they are secured
by the thumbscrews g¹, g¹. Figures 5 represent a modification, in which the
cores g; g, are formed in three pieces, so that by withdrawing the centre piece,
which is wedge-shaped, the other pieces may be easily removed; they are
secured behind by a block piece 92; when placed in the trough they. are
concreted over, and when the concrete is set the cores g, g, may be withdrawn
and recesses will be provided for receiving the ends of the joists h, as shewn
in the detached sectional view, Fig. 6.
For the fire-places and chimney flues, where they occur, I modify the con-
struction of the inner frame, and I construct the frame with a suitable angular
internal projecting part, as shewn at Fig. 1, a core or block i being provided
for the fire-place; the flues are made by inserting cores nine inches in
diameter, consisting of solid blocks of hollow tubes. These cores, which are

page_text: shewn detached in plan and elevation at Fig. 7, are drawn up higher and
higher as the wall rises, so that a circular flue of the proper diameter is then
formed. A suitable core i is also provided for forming the fire-places and
for connecting them with the flues. In order to form the roof a rough
flooring of joists h is first laid, as shewn at Fig. 8, and boards j, then the
joists and boards are covered over with a layer of concrete ;. I next lay over
this a latticework of hoop iron k, l, or woodwork may be used, which will
overlie or be inserted into half the thickness of the walls. This latticework
is covered with another layer of concrete k¹, taking care to give the upper
surface a suitable inclination to throw off the rain. If preferred an arched
roof may be constructed by applying concrete over an ordinary centre or
arched framework covered with zinc, which enables me to produce a smooth
surface.
In order to form cornices for the windows and doorways I employ moulds
as shewn at m, Fig. 8, which whether applied at the time of building up the
walls or afterwards, admit of the cornice being cast in position by running
the concrete into the mould. The walls may in some localities be formed
partly with rough stones or brickbats, set, say,
in the middle of the walls, and
buried in the concrete.
For forming the ground floors of cottages and warehouses I cover the
ground with a layer of concrete, and I lay upon this concrete a latticework
of wood of square or other pattern, as shewn in plan at Fig. 9, and the spaces
between the laths of latticework I fill with concrete, leaving the woodwork
exposed. I would remark that instead of using the angular pillars c above
mentioned and shewn in Figures 1 and 2, the side frames a, a, may at the
commencement of the work be connected together at the angles by angle
pieces equal in depth to the width of the frames, or the side frames may be
connected together at their ends by screws, as shewn in plan at Fig. 10, but
in whatever way the ends of the side frames are connected together the
frames a, a, forming the opposite sides of the trough b, must be connected
together throughout their length by two lines of the cross tie bolts d, d, which
pass through the hollow cores d³, d³, shewn detached, and drawn upon an
enlarged scale at Figure 11. As the wall is formed the bolts d are withdrawn
to allow of the side frames a being raised, and the lower series of bolts d are
again to be applied to the frames, but this time they will be passed through
the holes in the concrete formed by the upper series; in this way the work
will serve to support the frames, and the angular pillars c will not be required.
It will be obvious that chimney shafts may be erected in a similar manner to
the wall building above described, In proceeding with such erections the

page_text: use of expensive scaffolding may be avoided by coring out openings for the
"pudlocks" or supporting timbers which carry the stages for the workmen.
This is shewn at Fig. 12, which represents a portion of a wall-with a scaffold-
ing or stage supported upon brackets n, n, which are secured to the wall by
the tie bolts n', n¹. When the brackets and their platform or stage are no
longer required, the bolts n' are withdrawn and the cores knocked out, the
holes thus left may then be filled up.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in the Construction
of Walls, Houses, and other Buildings," and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent as aforesaid the mode herein set forth of forming the walls,
roofs, and floors of buildings of concrete, combined with bricks or other hard
durable substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Tall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane,
London.
JOSEPH TALL. (L.S.)