IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PIPES, CHIMNEY POTS, AND HOLLOW VESSELS; ALSO BRICKS, TILES, COPINGS, COLUMNS, AND OTHER ARTICLES USED IN BUILDING HOUSES AND OTHER STRUCTURES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
ADCOCK, of Northumberland Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Adcock, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry Adcock, my exors,
adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Adcock, my exors,
adiiors, 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 THE MANUFACTURE
OF PIPES, CHIMNEY POTS, AND HOLLOW VESSELS; ALSO BRICKS, TILES, COPINGS,
COLUMNS, AND OTHER ARTICLES USED IN BUILDING HOUSES AND OTHER STRUCTURES;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Henry
Adcock, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of

page_text: Chancery within six calender 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Adcock, 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 statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in melting the mineral rock or stoney substance
known commonly as basaltes trap, rowley rag, or whinstone, or minerals of
such like structure, and belonging to the same geological genus, and running
the same in a fluid state into moulds suitably formed for producing castings of
'the shapes and forms desired.
I put the material above named into a reverberatory furnace or other furnace
suitable for the purpose, in which high degrees of heat may be obtained, and
melt it, either on the bed or bottom of the furnace or in crucibles. I then by
tapping the furnace, or, by pouring it from the crucibles, cast the liquid material
into moulds of the required shape, as is usual in the casting of iron, brass, or
other metals. I give preference, however, to moulds made of cast iron, con-
structed of a sufficient number of parts, in the ordinary manner of such
contrivances, as will admit of the removal of the cast material; and the several
parts, when put together, or built up to form the mould, are held together by
clamps or otherwise. When I employ a cast-iron mould, I sometimes brush
over its external and internal surfaces, prior to heating the same in an oven or
to casting into that mixture of finely powdered charcoal and water termed by
ironfounders "blacking." But it should be stated that in most cases, and more
particularly when it is intended that the cast material shall have polished
surfaces, (in the production of which the surfaces of the cast-iron mould which
gives the impression are planed, bored, smoothed, and polished,) I brush over
the external and internal surfaces of the mould a mixture of blacklead and
water, and afterwards polish the internal surfaces of the mould, or those parts
which give the impression, with dry blacklead. In casting polished surfaces,
and in casting generally, I find it advantageous to heat the mould and the core
within it, previously, to a bright red, or even beyond it, in an oven, and to pour
the liquid material into it while thus heated. I have found that on the rate
of cooling will greatly depend the character of the material. If cast in moulds
sufficiently heated to allow it to retain its fluidity, or when heated in an oven
in the mould after it is cast, and there brought to a liquid state, and in either
case afterwards allowed to cool with a very gradual slow rate of cooling, the

page_text: cast material will be a hard stoney substance, assimilating closely in its
fracture and appearance to the original material of which it is formed. A less
degree heat with a less slow rate of cooling will give to the cast material a
marble-like appearance, and a more rapid rate of cooling will leave the cast
material of an opaque glassy structure, unless it be cast very thin, when it will
be found to be transparent or semi-transparent. I find it convenient, there
fore, to build an oven at a lower level than the reverberatory or other furnace,
and so beside it that I can cast from such furnace into the mould while
remaining in such oven, and afterwards apply such degrees of heat as may be
required to maintain the mould and the cast material within it so as to ensure
the material being in a melted state in the moulds, and I then allow the
mould and the material within it to cool slowly. In making pipes, chimney
pots, and hollow vessels of a common kind, I can employ sand and loam cores,
such as are employed by ironfounders. When casting barrels, cylinders, pipes,
and the like, which require internally a smooth surface, I employ cast-iron
cores; and in order to admit of their being withdrawn from the interior of the
cast material easily, each cast-iron core is made in parts; such parts, by
planing and fitting are to be accurately adjusted to one another and made
smooth, and such cast-iron cores are to be withdrawn so soon as the cast
material is set, that the due contraction of the cast material while cooling may
take place.
I would mention that if it be desired that the melted material above men-
tioned should for any particular purpose flow more freely, then a flux, such as
soda, may be added. I have, however, not found it necessary in ordinary cases
to do so.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best manner I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the details herein given, so long as the peculiar
character of my Invention is retained. But what I claim is, the melting of
the material above mentioned, and running it into suitable moulds to obtain
castings of the same, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Adcock, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Henry Adcock came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.