A NEW APPLICATION OF A CHEAP AND INCOMBUSTIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR CERTAIN MATERIALS COMMONLY USED IN CONSTRUCTING DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS, SO AS TO RENDER THEM SECURE FROM FIRE
Year: 1797

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
CARTWRIGHT,. of the Parish of Saint Mary-le-bone, in 'the County of Middlesex
Master of Arts, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Eleventh day of October, in the thirty-seventh year of His reign, did give and
grant unto me, the said Edmund Cartwright, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, His special licence that I, the said Edmund Cartwright, my executors,
administrators and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my new Invention of "A NEW APPLICATION OF A
CHEAP AND INCOMBUSTIBLE SUBSTITUTE FOR CERTAIN MATERIALS COMMONLY USED IN
CONSTRUCTING DWELLING HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS, SO AS TO RENDER THEM SECURE
FROM FIRE;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said Edmund Cartwright, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within-one calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had)
may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Edmund Cartwright, do hereby declare that my Invention consists in apply-
ing tiles as a substitute for lathes, reeds, or boards in making ceilings, partitions,
or floors of rooms, and also as a substitute for any other material that has
hitherto been applied for stopping the progress of fire. The manner of applying
them is as follows:-The tiles being of sufficient length to extend from
centre to centre, or thereabouts, of the joists, spars, or sleepers under, against,
or upon which they are to be fastened, and having holes or notches previously
made in them at each end for receiving the nails, screws, or cramps, they
are by means of such nails, screws, or clamps (which to prevent their
drawing will be better if driven obliquely) affixed to the said joists, spars,
or sleepers, or they may be affixed by any other means that the workman
may prefer, care being taken in each case to secure the joints where the
tiles meet by mortar, plaister of Paris, sparging, temper'd brick, earth,
loam, or any other cement, at the option of the workman. The work
being finished (unless it be for a floor, when nothing else, will be necessary), it
may be thinly coated over with plaister, as a common ceiling or partition, with
this advantage, that in two or three days it will be perfectly dry, whereas
where lathes or reeds are used, the ceilings commonly require twice as many
weeks at least before the rooms are complétely habitable. In tiling the parti-
tions between room and room, it is almost needless to observe that care must
be taken to secure the the bottoms, the doorways, and other openings, in cases
where tiles cannot conveniently be applied, with brickwork, metal plates, or any
other effectual method. Respecting the tiles themselves, they should be made
of such earths or mixtures of earths as will be least apt to fly in the fire, and
they will also be best for this use if they are not burned so hard as when they
are to be exposed to the weather. To make the plaister adhere more effectually
to them, they had better be scored or roughened on the side that is to receive
it, tho' if the plaister be prepared and applied properly this precaution is
unnecessary. As there will be some difficulty in cutting the tiles for the purpose
of finishing off the work, tiles of different breadths should be provided, which
would not require cutting. As a security against fire, this cheap and simple
method has every advantage attending the most complicated and expensive.
Tiles effectually exclude air, they transmit heat more slowly than metal, and
are not affected by any degree of fire less intense than that in which they are

page_text: burned. A fire more intense it is, morally speaking, impossible in a building
they should ever be exposed to. By this Invention the use of lathes or reeds,
the most inflammable material that is now applied in building, is entirely done
away.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Cartwright, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of November, in the thirty-eighth
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the
grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of
the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and ninety-seven.
EDMUND CARTWRIGHT. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixth day of November, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Edmund Cartwright came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
And also
and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Sixth day of November, in the year above written.