IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MATERIALS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, of Philippeville,
Algiers, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MATERIALS."
Sealed the 29th March 1866, and dated the 6th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Victor Jean Baptiste
Germaix at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th October 1865.
, I, VICTOR JEAN BAPTISTE GERMAIX, of Philippeville, Algiers,. Architect, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MATERIALS," to be as follows,.
that is to say:
The Invention consists in a process for the employment of tan, husks of
corn seeds, raspings, shavings, and pieces of cork, straw, and hay cut up, and
other light substances for the manufacture of light, porous, and floating
bricks, either solid or hollow, tiles of any form or dimensions, for columns
and balustrades, and for ornamentation, and other uses where bricks or
tiles can be usefully employed in ordinary and in naval and floating
constructions.
I employ two modes for the manufacture of the said light products. The
first mode consists in baking a mixture of one or several of the above-
named vegetable substances with ordinary brick earth, in the proportion of
50 to 75 or more per cent. of the light substances, the whole being ground
and baked in a kiln by the ordinary process. The second mode consists

page_text: in the mixture in the same proportions of the said substances with cement
or hydraulic lime, and leaving the mixture to dry slowly in the open air,
and placing it under water until it becomes hard.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters "Patent, filed
by the said Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, VICTOR
JEAN BAPTISTE GERMAIX, of Philippeville, Algiers, Architect, send.
greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, Her special license that I, the said
Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I; the said Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, my executors,
administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BRICKS AND OTHER ANALOGOUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, my' executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Victor Jean Baptiste. Germaix, 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, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in a process for the employment of tan, husks of
corn and seeds, raspings; shavings, and pieces of cork, straw and hay cut up,

page_text: and other light substances for the manufacture of light, porous, and floating
bricks, either solid or hollow, tiles, or other analogous articles of various forms
and dimensions, for columns, balustrades, for ornamentation, and for other
purposes, the whole being susceptible of useful employment in ordinary and
in naval and floating constructions.
I employ two modes for the manufacture of the said light products. The
first mode consists in baking a mixture of one or several of the above-named
vegetable substances with ordinary brick earth in the proportion of fifty to
seventy-five per cent. of the light substances, the whole being ground and
baked in a kiln by the ordinary processes. The second mode consists in
the mixture in the same proportions of the said substances with cement or
hydraulic lime, and leaving the mixture to dry slowly in the open air, and
placing it under water until it becomes hard. By the first mode I obtain
porous materials of great density, the lightness of which is two or three
times greater than that of the same materials produced by the ordinary
processes. By the second mode I obtain nonporous materials also of great
density, perfectly incombustible, and so light and impervious that they may be
advantageously employed for preventing humidity, as well as for naval and
floating constructions of all kinds.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself
to the precise details herein. laid down; but what I claim is, the combination
or combinations of materials for the manufacture of light and porous bricks,
tiles, and other analogous materials as herein-before described.
In witness whereof; I, the said Victor Jean Baptiste Germaix, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
is
W. FLEMING,
British Subject at Phillippeville, on
the Twenty-sixth day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six. (1866.)
V. GERMAIX. (L.B.)