A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING LIGHT- HOUSE TOWERS, SHOT TOWERS, CHIMNEYS, BLAST FURNACES, CUPOLA FURNACES, CONDUITS, MONUMENTS AND COLUMNS, GRAIN BUILDINGS, AND BUILDINGS FOR STORING CRUDE AND REFINED OILS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hardesty Johnson, of New York City, in the
County of New York, and State of New York, in the United States of
America, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING LIGHT-
HOUSE TOWERS, SHOT TOWERS, CHIMNEYS, BLAST FURNACES, CUPOLA FURNACES,
CONDUITS, MONUMENTS AND COLUMNS, GRAIN BUILDINGS, AND BUILDINGS FOR
STORING CRUDE AND REFINED OILS."
Sealed the 19th April 1864, and dated the 19th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hardesty Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th February 1864.
I, GEORGE HARDESTY JOHNSON, of New York City, in the County of New
York, and State of New York, in the United States of America, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING
LIGHTHOUSE TOWERS, SHOT TOWERS, CHIMNEYS, BLAST FURNACES, CUPOLA FURNACES
CONDUITS, MONUMENTS AND COLUMNS, GRAIN BUILDINGS, AND BUILDINGS FOR
STORING CRUDE AND REFINED OIs," to be as follows:-
My improved method of constructing towers for lighthouses and other

page_text: purposes, consists in the formation of a cylindrical or other shaped tubular
column of blocks of burnt clay, or any other suitable material or composition,
so moulded as to have each a tongue on one side, and a groove on the
opposite side, and so arranged together as that they will match together.
These parts are secured together by means of iron bond plates and tie
rods. The same method of construction of chimneys, blast furnaces,
cupola furnaces, conduit, monuments, and columns, it will be understood
may be readily carried out by changing the form of the parts of the tube.
For grain bins and buildings, and buildings for storing crude and refined
oils, I propose to arrange any number of tubes together, supported by a
suitable structure below, and provided with suitable apparatus or
machinery for conveying the grain or oils, as the case may be, into and
discharging the same from the said tubes.
As an example of the Invention I will explain the construction of a bin
for storing grain or oils. The same construction, only varying the proportions,
is applicable to the other purposes named. This bin is made with a suitable
means for discharging its contents at its bottom in the usual manner, and may
be supported by suitable arches, surmounted by a platform. The bin is
formed of brickwork of a peculiar kind, and locked vertically together in
sections by means of cast-iron bond plates, and tie rods of iron. The lower
side of each brick has formed in it a longitudinal tongue, while the upper side
of each has a correspondingly shaped groove. The bricks thus shaped are
laid in courses, breaking joints as usual in brickwork, with their tongues and
grooves matching together. It will be understood that these peculiarly
shaped bricks when laid will present on the upper side or surface of each
course an annular groove, and the cast-iron plates are formed with an annular
depression to fit into such groove in the brick, and also to receive the tongue
of the brick laid on top of the plates. The cast-iron plates are arranged
between the courses of brick, and divide the brickwork into sections or short
cylinders, and are formed with legs or ears, through which pass the iron rods
which are furnished with suitable male and female screws, by which they are
made to connect the several plates together. The arrangement of the plates
and rods is such that not only the courses of each section of brickwork are
clasped vertically together, but also that the several tubular sections of brick-
work are effectually tied together. It will be understood that a tubular bin
formed of bricks, shaped as described, and held together by the plate and rods,
will sustain any amount of pressure less than the weight which will crush the
material or substance of the brick, for the joints being broken, the thrust

page_text: being the same as if each course was formed of one annular brick, with an
annular tongue and groove locking into those of the courses above and below
it, and if the courses be held together so that they cannot move from their
horizontal plane, it is as evident that the wall cannot give way except by the
crushing of the material of the brick. It will be understood that the
proportion of the tongue and groove of the brick may be almost infinit.ly
varied without departing from the Invention, indeed the brick may be formed
with one entire side convex, and the other opposite one concave, in lieu of
the tongue and groove, with a similar result to that already described. The
cast-iron plates may also be provided with vertical flanges coming against the
inner and outer surfaces of the brickwork, but these flanges are not material,
and the plates may be employed without any. A grain house may be formed
of a series of the cylindrical bins constructed according to the Invention.
In constructing granaries I use circular bins, and in the spaces between
these bins I employ a series of small cylindrical bins in the place of the
ordinary space bin, and although this auxiliary cylinder does not of course
occupy the whole space between the four larger bins surrounding it, the four
small spaces left I have discovered, if used as ventilating columns, are of vastly
more utility than when employed as grain depositories. Although this
feature of the arrangement of smaller cylinders with the larger ones, and
forming ventilating shafts, is equally applicable to the iron bins or cylinders,
it is applicable to the new construction of bin or cylinder formed of brickwork
tied together by plates and rods of iron. The cylinders or bins are all
constructed of the peculiarly shaped brick, in combination with horizontal
metallic bond plates and vertical tie rods. The bins are all constructed with
suitable funnel shaped bottoms, with the proper discharge orifices for drawing
off the grain, and suitable distributors and elevating machinery for filling the
bins will be employed. All the bins or cylinders are sustained on a suitable
floor by arches and columns of masonry, brickwork, or iron, as deemed
expedient. The cylinders are built up together so that the wall at the point
where the cylinders join or come together is the same thickness as at other
places, and the cast-iron bond plates in lieu of being cylindrical or circular
in a cross section, are formed of triangular sections with suitable flanges or
lugs, by which they are firmly bolted together. Now it will be observed that
with this mode of construction when a course of bond plates is laid on and
bolted together, a complete network of iron will extend in a horizontal plane
through the whole series of cylinders or bins, and this network or framing
being tied by vertical rods to another similar network above it, and the latter

page_text: similarly tied to another, and so on, that the whole series of cylinders is
locked together in every direction, and the greatest possible amount of
strength is afforded to the entire structure with the least weight of material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Hardesty Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARDESTY JOHNSON, of New York City, in the County of New York, and
State of New York, in the United States of America, send gr.eting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Hardesty Johnson, Her special license that
I, the said George Hardesty Johnson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Hardesty Johnson, 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 "A NEW METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING LIGHTHOUSE
TOWERS, SHOT TOWERS, CHIMNEYS, BLAST FURNACES, CUPOLA FURNACES, CONDUITS,
MONUMENTS, AND COLUMNS, GRAIN BUILDINGS, AND BUILDINGS FOR STORING CRUDE
AND REFINED OIs," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Hardesty Johnson, 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 Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Hardesty Johnson, 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)
:-

page_text: My improved method of constructing towers for lighthouses and other
purposes consists in the formation of a cylindrical or other shaped tubular
column of blocks of burnt clay, or any other suitable material or composition,
so moulded as to have each a tongue on one side and a groove on the opposite
side, and so arranged in combination that they will match together with iron
bond plates and tie rods of iron, as will be presently more fully described.
The same method of construction of chimneys, blast furnaces, cupola furnaces,
conduits, monuments, and columns, it will be understood may be readily
carried out by changing the design of the tube. For grain buildings and
buildings for storing crude and refined oils, I propose to arrange any number
of tubes together, supported by a suitable structure below, and provided with
suitable apparatus or machinery for conveying the grain or oils, as the case
may be, into and discharging the same from the said tubes.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1,Sheet I., is an isometrical perspective
view of one of my improved bins; Fig. 2 is a partial vertical section of the
same; Figs. 3 and 4 are detail views of bond plates; and Fig. 5 is a partial
sectional view on an increased scale, shewing the peculiar construction und
arrangement of bricks.
A is the bin, which I have shown as, and propose to make, cylindrical.
This bin is made with a suitable means of discharging its contents at its
bottom in the usual manner, and may be supported by suitable archies D
surmounted by a platform C. The bin A is formed of brickwork of a peculiar
kind, and locked vertically together in sections by means of cast-iron bond
plates B, B, B, B, and tie rods of iron seen at a. I have colored the brick
portion of the bin red, and tinted the ironwork blue, in the Drawing, so as to
illustrate the several parts perfectly.
At Fig. 5 I have shown on an enlarged scale the peculiar shape of the
bricks of the bin A. It will be seen at Fig. 5 that the lower side of each
brick has formed on ita longitudinal tonguem, while the upper side of each has
a correspondingly shaped groove. The bricks thus shaped are laid in courses,
breaking joints as usual in brick work, with their tongues and grooves matching
together, as illustrated at Fig. 5. It will be understood that these peculiarly
shaped bricks when laid will present on the upper side or surface of each
course an annular groove, and it will be seen that the cast-iron plates B are
formed with an annular depression o, Fig. 2, to fit into these grooves in the
bricks, and also to receive the tongue m of the brick laid on top of the
plates B. The cast-iron plates B are arranged between the courses of brick
(as seen at Fig 2), and divide the brickwork into sections or short cylinders,

page_text: and are formed with lugs or ears through which pass the iron rods d, which
latter are furnished with suitable male and female screws, by which they are
made to connect the several plates B, B, together. The arrangement of the
plates B and rods a is such as that not only the courses of each section of
brickwork are clasped vertically together, but also that the several tubular
sections of brick work are effectually tied together (as shown at Figs. 1 and 2).
It will be understood that a tubular bin formed of bricks,shaped as described
and shown, and held together by the plate B and rods a, will sustain any
amount of pressure less than the weight which will crush the material or
substance of the bricks; for the joints being broken the thrust being the same
as if each course was formed of one annular brick with an annular tongue and
groove locking into those of the courses above and below it; and if the
courses be held together so that they cannot move from their horizontal
plane, it is as evident that the wall cannot give way except by the crushing of
the material of the brick. It will be understood that the proportion of the
tongue and groove of the brick may be almost infinitely varied without
departing from my Invention, indeed the brick may be formed with one entire
side convex, and the other opposite one concave, in lieu of the tongue and
groove, and a similar result to that already described will be obtained.
In Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown the cast-iron plates B with vertical flanges
coming against the inner and outer surfaces of the brickwork, but these
flanges are not material, and the plates may be employed without any, as seen
at Figs. 3, 4, and 5.
In Sheet II., Fig. 6, is a top view of a portion of a grain house, showing a
series of the cylindrical bins with my improvement embraced therein; Fig. 7
is a vertical section of same at x, x, Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a detail view
showing the construction of the bond plates.
Before describing more particularly the construction of the several parts of
the apparatus, it will not be improper for me to state that previous to my
Invention very extensive storehouses for grain have been constructed of a
series of cylindrical iron bins arranged vertically and in contact with each
other, and that in such arrangement it has been attempted also to employ as
bins the spaces left between the several cylinders (which are made about
fifteen feet in diameter), but it has been found that when the grain is drawn
off from any of the cylinders the sides of the cylinders (calculated to be
sufficiently strong to sustain the pressure of their contents) will be collapsed or
forced in by the pressure exerted on their external side by the grain in the
contiguous space bin. I have overcome this difficulty by the employment of

page_text: a small cylindrical bin in the place of the space bin, and although this
auxiliary cylinder does not of course occupy the whole space between the four
larger bins surrounding it, the four small spaces left I have discovered if used
as ventilating columns are of vastly greater utility than when employed as
grain depositories. Although this feature of the arrangement of smaller
cylinders with the larger ones, and forming ventilating shafts,is equally appli-
cable to the iron bins or cylinders, I have shown it together with other
features of my Invention as applied to a new construction of bin or cylinder
formed of brickwork tied together by plates; and in Sheet II. A are the main
bins, and B are the smaller or auxiliary bins, and C are the ventilating shafts
or flues The cylinders or bins are all constructed of peculiarly shaped brick
in combination with horizontal metallic bond plates and vertical tie rods.
The bins A and B
a, b, are the bond plates, and c are the vertical tie rods.
are all constructed with suitable funnel-shaped bottoms with the proper
discharge orifices for drawing off the grain. Suitable distributors and
elevating machinery for filling the bins will also be employed as usual
previous to my Invention. All the bins or cylinders are sustained on a
suitable floor by arches D and columns E of masonry, brickwork, or iron, as
deemed expedient. The cylinders A and B are built up together, so that the
wall at the point where the cylinders join or come together is the same
thickness as at other places (see Fig. 6,) and the cast-iron bond plates in lieu
of being cylindrical or circular in a cross section are formed of triangular
sections a and b (see Figs, 6 and 8), with suitable flanges or lugs e, f, by
which they firmly bolted together. Now it will be observed that with this
mode of construction when a course or layer of bond plates in sections a, b, is
laid on and bolted together at the points 1, 2, &c. (see Fig. 6) just described,
a complete network of iron will extend in a horizontal plane through the
whole series of cylinders or bins, and this network or framing being tied by
vertical rods c to another similar network above it, and the latter similarly
tied to another, the whole series of cylinders is locked together in every
direction, and the greatest possible amount of strength is afforded to the entire
structure with the least weight of material.
Having now described my Invention, 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 construction of tubes for lighthouse towers,
shot towers, blast furnaces, cupola furnaces, conduits, monuments, and
columns, grain buildings, buildings for storing crude and refined oils, and for
other purposes, of tongued and grooved bricks or their equivalent materials

page_text: in combination with iron bond plates and iron tie rods, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Hardesty Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
GEORGE HARDESTY JOHNSON. (L.S.)]
Witnesses,
W*. SHIMMIN,
4", West 45th St.,
New York City..
FRANK REVERE SAMPSON,
170, Broadway,
New York City.