IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MINIATURE OR TOY BRICKS FOR THE USE OF CHILDREN, FOR MODEL OR ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING, AND FOR ARTISTIC OR ENGINEERING PURPOSES, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Simpson, of No. 14, Mount Street,
Grosvenor Square, and of Chase Side, Southgate, both in the County
of Middlesex, Surgeon Dentist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MINIATURE OR TOY BRICKS FOR THE USE OF
CHILDREN, FOR MODEL OR ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING, AND FOR ARTISTIC OR
ENGINEERING PURPOSES, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH."
Sealed the 26th April 1870, and dated the 27th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Simpson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th October 1869.
I, CHARLES SIMPSON, of No. 14, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, and
5 of Chase Side, Southgate, both in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon
Dentist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MINIATURE OR TOY BRICKS FOR THE USE
OF CHILDREN, FOR MODEL OR ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING, AND FOR ARTISTIC OR

page_text: ENGINEERING PURPOSES, TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THERE-
WITH," to be as follows:-
The object of the present Invention is to render the little buildings
or models built with my bricks as firm and secure as though they
were permanently fixed together. With this view and for the better
representation of various erections, whether for artistic, architectural, or
.other purposes, I make my bricks according to a scale, although varying
in size always being in exact proportion to the size of the ordinary
bricks used in the erection of houses and other buildings.
The bricks are made of plaster of Paris, wood, compressed pulp, or
any other hard substance; their mode of manufacture together with the
apparatus in connection therewith will be mentioned hereafter.
From the flat or broad surface of each brick to the other two small
holes are made and so arranged that in no matter what position the
bricks be placed one on the other in course of erection of the building
the holes will all come opposite one another, the object of this arrange-
ment being to admit of passing them down small wire rods or threading
them. These rods are cut of varying lengths to carry the required
number of bricks according to the height of the building desired, the
process of building being carried on precisely as in house building, with
the exception of the employment of cement, which is only used when
the rods are not made use of.
The apparatus in which the bricks are cast consists of a number of
steel bands, each one attached to a strip of wood and rising above it
the thickness of the brick; these bands are intersected by moveable cross
bands at equal distances determining the length of the bricks. The
outside bands are furnished with screw plates, into which adjusting
screws are passed through cylindrical tubes running horizontally through
the wood and steel bands, so as to bind the whole firmly together by
turning the screws. At each end of a trough formed by the intersecting
bands a wire is passed, so that the plaster of Paris being poured over
the whole frame and gently shaken down the wires form the holes in
the bricks. When the plaster is dry the wires are withdrawn, and the
frame being unscrewed the bricks are liberated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Simpson, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I; CHARLES
SIMPSON, of No. 14, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, and of Chase Side,
Southgate, both in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon Dentist, send
grecting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Simpson, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Simpson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Simpson, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF MINIATURE OR TOY BRICKS FOR THE USE OF CHILDREN, FOR
MODEL OR ARCHITECTURAL BUILDING, AND FOR ARTISTIC OR ENGINEERING PURPOSES,
TOGETHER WITH THE APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Simpson, 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 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 Charles Simpson, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of the present Invention is to render the little buildings..
or models built with my bricks as firm and secure as though they
were permanently fixed together. With this view and for the better

page_text: representation of various erections, whether for artistic, architectural, or
engineering purposes, I make my bricks according to a scale, but although
varying in size being always in exact proportion to that of the ordinary
building brick employed in the crection of houses and other buildings.
The bricks are made of plaster of Paris, wood, compressed pulp, or
any other hard substance; their mode of manufacture together with the
apparatus in connection therewith will be hereafter described.
On the flat or broad surface of cach brick two small holes are made
and so arranged that in no matter what position the bricks be placed
one on the other in the course of erection of the building the holes will
all come opposite one another, the object of this arrangement being to,
admit of passing them down small wires or rods or threading them.
These rods are cut of varying lengths to carry the required number of
bricks according to the height of the building desired, the process of
building being carried on precisely as in house building, with the
exception of the use of cement, which may however be employed in lieu
of the wires should it be deemed necessary or expedient, but I prefer to
dispense with its use.
Where windows are desired the necessary space for their insertion is
left, and the windows being already constructed and having a groove
made all round the frame they are slid down the aperture left for their
reception, and a row of bricks can then be continued over the windows
by the use of shorter wires, the ends of which fix in the holes made in
the top of the window frame; the building is then continued according
to taste or desire, and structures of almost any description may thus be
raised with the greatest facility, and the wires taking the place of
cement bind the whole together as firmly as if permanently connected.
The flooring is made of a piece or pieces of wood marked out to represent
planks, and is made of various dimensions to suit the style of building.
The roofs and chimnies arc also previously prepared, so that all that is
necessary is to place them on the top when the building is completed by
passing them over a few of the wires left in the building for that purpose
at the desired spot.
It is scarcely necessary to remark that the windows may be arched
or any other shape, and the roofs gabled or otherwise.
When the windows are arched the bricks employed for the first row
resting on the windows are also arched to fit them, and presenting an

page_text: even unbroken line on the surface, the building is then continued as
before with the usual bricks, a few of which are cut to an angle to fit
and accommodate themselves to the arch of the window.
The bricks may also be stained red or any other colour for facing or
ornamenting the buildings.
Columns for doorways or other purposes are cast in one solid pieco
by any suitable means.
The apparatus in which the bricks are cast consists of a number of
steel or other metal bands, cach one attached to a strip of wood or metal
and rising above it the thickness or length of the brick; these bands are
intersected by movable cross bands at equal distances determining the
length or breadth of the bricks. The outside bands are furnished with
screw plates, into which adjusting screws are passed through cylindrical
tubes running horizontally through the wood or metal and the bands, so
as to bind the whole firmly together by turning the screws. At each end
of a trough or brick mould formed by the intersecting bands two wires
are passed, so that when the plaster of Paris is poured over the whole
frame and gently shaken down the wires form the holes in the bricks.
When the plaster is dry the wires are withdrawn, and the frame being
unscrewed at its ends which are movable and the cross bands removed
the bricks are liberated.
The same principle may be applied to the ordinary building brick, the
rods being stouter, and for one storied buildings, sheds, outhouses, and
temporary erections of a similar nature this system will be of great
utility.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan of the apparatus
employed in casting the bricks. a, a, a, a, are the moulds formed by
the longitudinal metal bands d, d, d, d, and the intersecting or movable
cross bands e, c, e, e; these latter may be cut with teeth, as shown iu
detail, Fig. 5, in which case the longitudinal bands are similarly cut
for their reception, as shown in Fig. 7, or the cross bands may be plain,
as shown in Fig. 6; the longitudinal bands then have the apertures cut
down to the strip of wood or metal f, see Fig. 8, instead of half way, as
in Fig. 7.
Figs. 2 and 3 are the movable end pieces, on removing which and the
cross bands e and wires b the bricks are liberated. c, c, c, c, are the
adjusting screws which secure all the parts together.

page_text: Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the apparatus; Fig. 9 is a similar view of
one of my bricks, and Fig. 10 is a plan of the same, the scale being
1, that of the ordinary brick; or one inch long by half an inch broad,
and one-third of an inch thick.
Fig. 11 illustrates the mode of building with my miniature bricks.
9, 9, 9, 9, are the holes in the bricks, and h, h,, h, h, are the wires or
rods on which they are threaded. The same letters of reference indicate
like parts shown in the several Figures, which latter are represented, the
scale of size.
Having thus described my Invention what I claim is, the construction
of miniature bricks having two holes made on the broad surface for the
purpose of passing them over wires or rods in the manner and for
the purposes herein-before set forth, reserving to myself the right of
applying my principle to the ordinary building brick.
I claim also the apparatus employed in their manufacture as illustrated
by the Drawings accompanying this Specification, at the same time I
wish it to be clearly understood that I do. not confine myself to any
precise size or form of brick, or dimensions of the apparatus. employed
in their construction, as they may vary ad infinitum without departing
from the principle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Simpson, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
A. C. HENDERSON,
31, Charing Cross.
CHARLES SIMPSON. (L.S.)