AN IMPROVED TILE
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SEALY, of Bridgwater, in the County of Somerset, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Third day of December, in the sixth year of Her reign, and in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-two, did give and grant
unto me, the said John Sealy, my exors, adñors,, and assigns, Her special'
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Sealy, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Sealy, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the. term of years therein.
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that
part of. the. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands
of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED
TILE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso requiring me,
the said John Sealy, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as, reference being thereto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said John
Sealy, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, and the figures therein referred to, and Drawings
annexed to these Presents.
The clay is prepared and the tile formed and placed in the shelving of the
tile house to dry in the usual manner, my Invention not relating at all to the
preparation of the clay or to the formation of the plate or sole of clay for the
tile, but commencing when the tile is about two-thirds dry, or dry and stiff
enough to bear handling, that is, at the stage of the ordinary process when the
workman takes it from the shelf and places it upon a dressing horse, and when
so placed strikes the tile three or four times in different parts with the dresser,
for the purpose of giving the tile its intended and proper permanent shape.
It is evident that tiles made in this manner cannot be of one and the same
uniform thickness, compactness, and consistency, or of one and the same per-
manent form; and so imperfect is this mode of manufacture that hardly any two
tiles are shaped alike or of equal thickness throughout. In the manufacture
of my improved tile, of whatever shape or description, I dispense with the
dresser altogether, and instead thereof place the tile on a dressing table or
horse, the upper surface of which is formed according to the form and shape of
the tile to be made; and I pass a roller of a corresponding form and shape
to and fro across the surface of the clay. The roller, which may
be made of metal or hard wood, moves round, or turns on its axis, as it is
pressed at its two ends by the hands of the workman.
Additional pressure
may be given, if required, by loading or weighting the roller. The nature of
the dressing-horse or table, and frame and rollers employed, will be seen at
once on inspection of the sketches annexed. My improved tile, made in the
manner above described, will have an uniformity of thickness, a regularity of
form, and a smoothness of surface, not possessed by tiles made by the use of
the dresser, and my improved tile, when burnt, will be less porous, and less
liable to crack by the frost, than the tiles at present in use, in addition to which,
my improved tile will have an uniformity and regularity of form, shape, and
size, which will enable it to be used with greater advantage for the purposes of
roofing. My improved tile may be a plain flat tile, in which case the table
must be flat, and the roller cylindrical, as shewn in the annexed sketch, Figure 1,
in which the tile T is seen endways, between the two ledges of the horse, with
the roller R on its surface; a place is cut in the edge of the table to receive the
knob K, formed and turned down in the usual manner, when the plate or sole
of clay for the tile is made and placed in the shelving to dry. My improved
tile of the form and shape of the ordinary pantile requires for its manufacture
a roller of the shape shewn at Figure 2, in the annexed sketch, the table or

page_text: 5
horse haviag its surface formed accordingly. And it will be evident, that if an
improved tile be required for the peculiar purposes of kiln tiles, ridge tiles, &c.,
the same may be made by adapting the shape of the horse and roller according
to the peculiar kind of improved tile which is required. My improved tile may
also be made with one, two, or more channels as herein-after described.
The Drawing, Figure 3, shews a view and section of my improved tile, which
I call a single channeled flat tile. It has an arched and upright ledge, the
former being intended to lay over the other as the tile lies on the roof. The
roller employed in the manufacture of this improved tile with one channel is
shewn in Figure 4, and the dressing-horse or table will have its surface formed
to a corresponding shape. My improved tile may also be made with two or
more channels, as shewn in the Drawings Figures 5 and 6, which shew a front
view and section of the tile. The rollers by which they are made are shewn
in Figures 7 and 8, the surface of the dressing table or horse being formed
with corresponding elevations and indentations. My improved tile with one,
two, or more channels, as last above described, will not only possess the peculiar
advantage of uniformity of structure, and thickness and smoothness of surface,
and of fitting each other when formed into a roof as already mentioned; but a
roof formed of such tiles will be lighter than a roof of the ordinary flat tile or
pantile, even when made according to my improved manufacture; a less number
will be sufficient to cover a square yard, and from the manner in which they
will fit each other the wet will be excluded to a much greater extent than is
the case with the ordinary tiles, and the use of mortar or cement will be in a
great measure unnecessary, and the roof will be more secure against the
injurious effect of storms.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
the exclusive use of the rollers, dressing-horses and tables, above described,
except so far as they may be employed in dressing or finishing my improved
tile, by rolling, compressing, and shaping the tile after the same has been
shelved and become nearly dry; but what I claim as of my Invention is the
working and making an improved tile as above described. And I also claim
as of my Invention, the improved tile of the forms shewn in Figures 3, 5, and 6,
in whatever manner the tile of that form may be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sealy, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid John Sealy came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that
purpose.