An Improved Brick, Block, Tile, or Slab for Building and other purposes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Oct., 1890-Accepted, 8th Nov., 1890
CUAL DETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Brick, Block, Tile, or Slab for Building and other
purposes.
I GEORGE ALEXANDER WRIGHT of Merton House New Malden in the County of
Surrey Surveyor do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The object of this my invention is to provide a brick block tile or slab for
building and other purposes that shall possess the following amongst other advantages
that is to say it shall allow of nails and other fastenings being easily and quickly
driven thereinto and safely and tightly held therein and thereby it will not shrink or
decay as wood so objectionably does when used in buildings and it shall to a very high
degree even if not absolutely be proof against fire and damp as also wood is not when
used in buildings or elsewhere.
To carry out this object and to produce my improved brick block tile or slab for
building and other purposes I proceed as a general rule and under normal conditions
in the following manner.
I take of the sweepings or that is to say the refuse material that is collected in and
removed from the tubes of steam boilers particularly those of locomotives after
prolonged use forty-three (43) per centum which material I soak in water until it is
thoroughly saturated and therewith I take of coke breeze which must be perfectly free
from clinkers or other hard substances twenty-nine (29) per centum of clean sharp sand
or other similar material which must be perfectly free from small stones or other like
hard substances fourteen (14) per centum and of Portland or other cement fourteen
(14) per centum. These materials are thoroughly and completely mixed together in
any usual or convenient manner and I then add thereto and amalgamate therewith
sufficient water to create of the whole compound a plastic mass of the desired consistence
and then in any suitable press or mould or otherwise I make out of this plastic mass the
bricks or blocks or tiles or slabs of the required shapes and sizes which are then allowed
to dry and when perfectly dry are ready for use.
"
These bricks blocks tiles or slabs so made as hereinbefore described are very
suitable for use in and with the walls or floors or ceilings or other parts of buildings
wheresoever it may be desired to attach or fix other articles or things thereto for
example as grounds" in walls and in the proper positions they would be inserted
thereinto or placed thereon or otherwise applied thereto it may be in manner as are
ordinary bricks or blocks and they can also be used in a similar manner and for the
same purpose in many other places for example where it may be desired to erect a
platform or stage on the ground or a pier or such like.
In the water that as hereinbefore described creates of the whole compound a plastic
mass I can if and when I should deem it desirable or convenient so to do dissolve a
small proportion of sulphate of iron say one pound in weight thereof to ten gallons of
water or thereabouts whereby any nail or other fastening that is driven into the
resultant brick block tile or slab will be caused to oxidize and thus will retain its hold
therein more firmly than might otherwise be the case.
These bricks blocks tiles or slabs will continuously retain their proper desired
condition for use as aforesaid they will not get too hard and they do not disintegrate as
is so objectionably common with and in ordinary concrete blocks or what are known
as breeze blocks which are sometimes used in the building trade and are always liable
to split.
I bave hereinbefore stated what I consider under normal conditions to be the best
and most suitable proportions of the several constituent materials of these my improved
bricks blocks tiles or slabs for building and other purposes but I would have it clearly
understood that I do in no wise limit myself exactly and in all cases precisely thereto
D

page_text: for the aforesaid proportions may be somewhat varied when desired as it is obvious
that in different positions and in and for various purposes it may be necessary or
convenient that these bricks or blocks or tiles or slabs should be of different qualities
and consistencies.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
The improved brick block tile or slab for building and other purposes substantially
as hereinbefore described and set forth.