Sheds and Yards wherein Cattle, Sheep, or Pigs are Kept.
Year: 1885

page_text: Sheds and Yards wherein Cattle, Sheep, or Pigs are Kept.
CHARLES GOODMAN Tebbutt Bluntisham Huntingdonshire Gentleman do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN BRICKS FOR PAVING
CATTLE OR SHEEP MARKETS AND SHEDS AND YARDS WHEREIN CATTLE SHEEP OR
PIGS ARE KEPT to be as follows:-
My invention consists of bricks made of clay slag or clinker of the shape
ordinarily used for paving floors except that each of such bricks has formed or
moulded upon its upper surface rounded projections or knobs such knobs being of
sizes varying from a pigeon's to a swan's egg. By means of such bricks a flooring
is produced which affords a good foothold both for men and cattle and one which
is adapted for draining away urine and other liquid that may fall upon it and
which can also be easily swept or otherwise cleaned. The flooring produced by the
use of the above described bricks is therefore specially suitable for sheds and yards
where cattle sheep or pigs are stalled and also for market places where men and
such animals stand and walk.

page_text: mprovements in bricks for raving Cattle or Sheep Markets and
Sheds and Yards wherein Cattle, Sheep, or Pigs are kept.
I CHARLES GOODMAN TEBBUTT, of Bluntisham, in the County of Huntingdon,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
BRICKS FOR PAVING CATTLE OR SHEEP MARKETS, AND SHEDS AND YARDS
WHEREIN CATTLE, SHEEP, or PIGS, ARE KEPT, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
In constructing floors for the above mentioned places the following among other
objects are desired:-The floors should give a good foothold both to men and
beasts and both for standing and moving; they should be capable of being easily
cleaned with brush or besom, and water; they should quickly and completely
drain away any liquid falling upon them, and should at the same time afford a dry
surface upon which men may stand while the liquid is being drained away.
No floor at present used for the above mentioned places comprises these
advantages satisfactorily. Flat bricks with bevelled edges, as sometimes used, are
slippery and do not drain well unless upon their flat surfaces, and they are also
difficult to clean in the gutters; rectangular granite blocks, besides being expensive,
afford neither a good foothold nor a dry surface; while cobble stones laid side by
side, though giving a good foothold and a dry surface, drain defectively, and allow
dirt to accumulate and offensive liquid to soak between them.
In order to obtain the above mentioned objects I use bricks of the following
shape and make :-
The said bricks are of the ordinary shape and size of bricks used in paving
stables or cattle sheds except as regards their upper surfaces. These upper surfaces
have upon them rounded projections or knobs situate at little distances apart from
one another. These projections or knobs are of the shape, or nearly of the shape,
of a segment of a hen's egg, or of a spherical ball when such segment is cut off by
a plane passing through the egg or ball so as to cut off rather less than half the egg
or ball, and when in the case of the egg the said plane lies parallel to a plane that
passes through the ends of the egg, that is when the segment is cut off the side and
not off the end of the egg.
The said knobs are situate upon the bricks with their crowns upwards, and at a
distance varying from one quarter of an inch to three quarters apart. If the
distances between the knobs are substantially less than one quarter of an inch
the liquid falling upon the bricks will not drain away satisfactorily, nor will dirt
upon the floor be able to be removed satisfactorily; if substantially greater than
three quarters of an inch the knobs will not afford a surface sufficiently continuous
for standing or resting upon.
The size and shape of the said knobs and their distances apart should be varied
according to the nature of their use.
In the case of stalls in market places for cattle and in the case of ordinary cattle
sheds I use bricks with knobs having circular bases, and having crowns or tops of
the shape of a segment of a spherical ball of which the diameter is about three and

page_text: one half inches, except that the sides of the said knobs rise from the brick for
about three sixteenths of an inch in a much sharper curve that is to say, the curve
of a half sphere of the same base as the base of the knob. The bases of the said
knobs are about two and three eighths inches in diameter, and their crowns are
about three eighths of an inch above their bases. The distances between the
knobs in the cases last mentioned are about three eighths of an inch. See the
annexed diagrams; that marked "A" being a vertical section of a brick cut
through the centres of the knobs, and that marked "B" being a view from above
of the upper surface of a brick; and which diagrams shew the general shape of my
bricks and the particular shape I use for the places last mentioned.
In the case of market places where sheep and pigs are penned, and in the case.
of sheds where they are kept, the bases of the knobs upon the bricks I use are
smaller than those last described, that is to say, they are of the diameter of about
two inches, and the crowns of the said knobs are segments of a spherical ball of
about three inches in diameter, with sides of a sharper curve, namely, of the curve
of a half sphere standing upon the same base as the base of the knob, (the sides
rising in this curve about three sixteenths of an inch) and the distances between
the knobs are the same as those hereinbefore described for bricks used for cattle
markets and stalls, namely about three eighths of an inch.
I have respectively described the knobs on the bricks which I prefer to use for
the respective purposes before mentioned as having circular bases, but there would
be no serious objection to the knobs having bases of an oval shape, or of some
shape slightly differing both from an oval and from a circle, so long as they were
not square or rectangular, and so long as such shape presented no corners or angles
unless very large ones, the essential feature of such knobs being that they present
a rounded surface with no corners, and no edges except such as are of so large an
angle as not materially to differ from a curve. Nor need the measurements above
given be absolutely adhered to; but neither they, nor the proportions between the
measurements of the various parts of the saine knob, should be substantially
departed from. When the knobs have oval bases, or bases not quite round, the
measurements as to the heights of the tops of the crowns, as to the distances
between the knobs and as to their diameters hereinbefore given, will respectively
apply to the heights, distances, and mean diameters, in the case of these oval, or
non-circular, knobs; and the curves of the surface of these latter knobs will be the
same as those of the circular knobs, with the exception only of such change as
the difference in the shape of the base necessitates.
In all cases herein where I speak of the distances between knobs I mean the
distances between the nearest parts of neighbouring knobs.
The bricks must be of such a size in relation to the knobs upon them that when
one brick is laid next to another the distances between the knobs on the adjacent
bricks shall be those herein before respectively declared requisite between those on
the same brick, that is to say, the upper surface of the one or both adjacent bricks
must extend the proper distance beyond the bases of the knobs upon them.
The surface of the bricks between the knobs is either Hat or slightly concave.
I prefer that they shall be flat.
"When the said bricks are used with straw upon them and are not subject to
rough usage or exposed to the weather, they may be made of the best clay from
which ordinary paving bricks are made; but otherwise they should be made of a
harder, closer, and tougher, material such as terro-metallic ware made from
ferruginous clay commonly known as Staffordshire Blue Bricks.
The said knobs or projections should in all cases be moulded upon the brick in
the solid clay.
In laying the floors the bricks should be bedded in, and grouted with mortar or,
if greater solidity is required, jointed with cement.
By means of bricks with knobs upon them such as above described a most
convenient flooring may be constructed for the above mentioned places. The
knobs will afford a good foothold and footgrip both for men and animals. The

page_text: knobs will be close enough to afford a surface upon which men can walk high and
dry above the liquid which may be for the time being standing or draining away
between the knobs, and at the same time the shape of the knobs and the spaces
between them will enable water or other liquid to flow freely from one part of
the floor to another, and with a gentle slope to drain completely away. In fact for
the purpose of drainage a floor composed of these bricks may be regarded as
consisting of two floors, namely, of an upper one consisting of the crowns or tops
of the said knobs, upon which men stand and walk, and of a lower one consisting
of the spaces between the knobs upon which the liquid stands and drains away.
A further advantage of such floors is that they can be easily swept by brush or
besom and cleaned with water, as they present no cracks or crevices, as do
ordinary cobble stones, where water or urine can soak down and where dirt and
manure can lodge.
The foregoing description of the size and shape of the knobs has been for cases
where no straw is used. If any material quantity is used upon the bricks the
knobs should be rather bolder or higher than herein before described, having the
crowns or tops about half an inch above the bases; but in other respects no
difference in the shape or size of the knobs need be made.
For the sake of economy the said bricks may be moulded with knobs upon the
under as well as upon the upper surfaces so that upon the knobs upon the upper
surfaces being broken the bricks may be turned upside down.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The use of bricks for paving cattle or sheep markets and sheds and yards
wherein cattle sheep or pigs are kept having moulded upon their upper surfaces
rounded projections or knobs of such a size and shape and so situated that a floor
composed of such bricks substantially fulfils the following conditions:-
a. It presents a surface upon which when water or other liquid falls it can flow
easily and drain satisfactorilly upon the spaces between the knobs.
b. It presents a surface without cracks or crevices which may harbour dirt or
liquid and one which can be satisfactorily and easily cleaned.
c. It presents a surface, namely that upon the crowns or tops of the knobs
sufficiently continuous to be one upon which men can walk while liquid is draining
away beneath their feet.
d. It presents a surface upon which men and animals can stand and walk
without slipping and one upon which are no corners or sharp edges,
Dated this tenth day of October 100%