Im- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL GRANITE AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL BRICKS AND BLOCKS, SUITABLE FOR BUILDINGS, ENGINEERING STRUCTURES, PAVE- MENTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES,
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Perceval Moses Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th May 1867.-A communication from abroad by Pierre Rodolphe
Pozzi, of Bordeaux, France.
I, PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL GRANITE AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL
BRICKS AND BLOCKS, SUITABLE FOR BUILDINGS, ENGINEERING STRUCTURES, PAVE-
MENTS, AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," communicated to me by Pierre Rodolphe
Pozzi, of Bordeaux, France, to be as follows, namely:-
This Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture of bricks and
blocks to be used in the construction of houses, docks, seaports, fortifications,
all kinds of engineering works, and for roadways and pavements, the material
and manufacture of which is prepared in a special and peculiar manner,
combining the qualities of hardness, resistance, and impermeability with such
other qualities as will permit bricks or large or small blocks made therefrom
to be used advantageously for the above purposes; they can also be made
either rough or smooth, as may be required, and capable of resisting without
injury heavy traffic by waggons and other public conveyances.

page_text: For the manufacture of these bricks and blocks I employ as materials
granite, clays of various kinds, glass, lava, and iron slags, reserving to myself
to employ with clay or clays which form the principal basis of this manu-
facture all the other above-named materials, namely, granite, glass, lava, and
iron slags separately or together or with some of them only. It is immaterial
whether the clay or clays are refractory or not, provided that in diluting and
mixing them care is taken that they do not become too fluid, but on the
contrary are made slightly adherent, a rule to be strictly observed in order
to obtain the above-mentioned qualities of perfect hardness, durability, and
impermeability. These materials once well mixed together in some of the
proportions shewn hereafter, and diluted so as to remain slightly adherent, are
to be submitted to the action of a powerful mixing machine in order to obtain
a paste perfectly homogeneous before being moulded. Whatever be the
kind of materials employed and mixed together bricks or blocks of uniform
quality can always be ensured, and they can be made either rough or smooth
as required. To obtain easily and with certainty for these bricks and blocks
a degree of hardness and resistance capable of making them equal to primitive
or natural granite rock I proceed as follows:-During several hours I
submit parts and fragments of granite as well as other remains of quarries
to a strong beat, for instance, from 700 to 800 degrees centigrade, which
after having remained under the influence of such a high temperature a
certain time will dissolve of themselves. I thus obtain a granitic sand
whose constituent and binding parts, felspar and quartz, have a great power
of adhesion.
Having thus obtained at a trifling cost this granitic sand I mix it with clay,
and add to it either pounded glass, iron slags, or potass. The paste being
thus formed it is moulded into articles of any form required, and they are
then submitted to a great heat during at least 36 hours, which causes a
complete cohesion of parts and produces the granitic bricks and blocks for
which I claim the privilege of manufacture.
Another part of my Invention consists in the forms given to these artificial
bricks and blocks, be they made with introduction of granitic sand or not,
which consist in the taking or cutting off of corners, in making grooves,
indentations, projections, and other such contrivances on these bricks and
blocks in order to fit them for the paving of streets, courts, stables, and other
similar places, and for securing better foothold for horses and passengers, and
also for obtaining better means of connection between the parts in building
purposes and pavements.

page_text: The proportions in which the ingredients are mixed to form the said bricks
and blocks will vary according to the nature and quality of the clays employed,
but I have found the following suitable :-
and blocks will vary according to the nature and quality of the clays employed,
but I have found the following suitable :-
For refractory clays,
Clay
-
24 parts.
Pounded glass
Granitic sand -
For non-refractory clays,―
1
1
"
"
26 parts.
. 48 parts.
Clay
Pounded glass
Granitic sand
1
"
1 "
50 parts.
and these proportions will not vary much if iron slag, pounded lava, or potass
are mixed with the clays in place of one or both of the other ingredients;
but I do not confine myself to the above proportions, as to obtain the best
results they must vary according to the peculiar nature and chemical
constituents of the clays employed, and which can only be determined by
direct experiment.