IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES FOR COVERING OF ROOFS
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
SHEPPARD, of Newport Pagnell, in the County of Buckingham, Carpenter
and Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of August, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Sheppard, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Richard Sheppard, my exors, admñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Richard Sheppard, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times 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 Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TILES FOR COVERING OF ROOFS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard
Sheppard, shall 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
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 in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Sheppard, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing of tiles, the sides or edges of which
are so formed that they shall be inserted and let into the edges one into the
other in the manner of a groove and filling piece, forming thereby a secure
joint in the thickness of the tiles. I prefer for this purpose, the hollow and
half round joint, as shewn in the annexed Drawing, yet I do not confine myself
to this particular shape, but do make them either angular or square, as I find
it necessary, and also I vary the size of the tiles according to the purposes for
which they are intended.
The manner I prefer for performing this my Invention is by forming a lump
of suitable clay or brick earth of a moderate stiffness, nearly to the size of the
intended tile in length and width; it is then divided or cut into slices by means of
the frame with wires shown in the Drawing; it is then pressed with the hand
upon a board, the width and somewhat longer than the intended tile, the upper
side of such board being wrought to the shape of the under side of the tile;
it is then passed on the board between rollers C and D, the upper roller being
wrought to the form of the upper side of the tile. The tile is then cut to the
required length, and placed on a level and even shelf; when sufficiently dry, it
is placed between two blocks of the exact form of the tile, and pressed by a
cylindrical pressing block moving on a centre pin with a lever, the required
pressure being given by means of the cylindrical block being formed into the
shape of wedges or inclined planes. The tiles are then packed one upon
another until they become sufficiently dry; they are then burnt in the usual
way.
The manner of using tiles made according to my Invention is, by placing
them in courses on a roof formed in the usual manner, of any required. angle
or pitch, on which previously have been nailed slips of wood called laths or
battens at a proper distance, according to the length of the tile, each course
extending the length of the building, the sides of the tiles fitting into each
other in the manner as herein-before described.
I do not hereby lay claim to the making of a tile by the precise meaus
herein-before described, though they are the best I am acquainted with; but I
do claim as my Invention the manufacturing of tiles in such manner that one
side of the one tile shall fit into the one side of another tile by means of hollow

page_text: grooves and filling pieces as above described, forming thereby a secure Joint in
the thickness of the tiles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Sheppard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1885, the aforesaid Richard Sheppard came before our
said Lord the King in His 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.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.