A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR FIRE-BRICKS, AND THE METHOD OF USING THE SAME
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cliff, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester,
for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE USED AS
A SUBSTITUTE FOR FIRE-BRICKS, AND THE METHOD OF USING THE SAME,"
Sealed the 31st August 1869, aud dated the 1st March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cliff at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
·lat March 1869.
I, JOHN CLIFF, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED COM-
POSITION TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR FIRE-BRICKS, AND THE METHOD OF USING
THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the method of using
and applying certain materials in order to form a substitute for fire-
bricks, hitherto employed in the building-up or construction of furnaces.
Instead of using fire-bricks, lumps, stones, tiles, or other solid forms
of materials burnt or unburnt, I propose to use powdered or reduced
ganister stone, quartz, sand, mica, sandstone, or other siliceous material,
[Price 8d.1

page_text: plumbago, steatite, or magnesia, alone or separately, or in varied pro-
portions with fire-clays or with each other, or with siliceous solutions,
mixed or not with hair, fibre, sawdust, shavings, or pulverized coke, and
in applying the materials in a plastic state wire may be used as a
supporter, or a skeleton or light framework may be used to sustain or
support the materials while in course of application to the furnace, until
the fire to be placed, or the heat to be utilized therein shall have dried,
fixed, or burnt the same, so that I build the furnace oven, kiln, or other
similar structure entirely of such materials, in their raw or plastic state,.
(that is to say, not previously moulded into bricks or other solid forms,
or dried or burnt,) or as circumstances may dictate, partially on, under, or
in connection with other structures, or in connection with brick or other
walls or external surfaces, the object being the substitution for fire-bricks
and their consequent cost of manufacture, carriage, and skilled labor, of
materials that can be used and applied by cheap labor. Thus time will
be saved in construction, and it will not be necessary to keep large
stocks of varied shapes of bricks, the loss of material in making joints
will be saved, whilst in case of actual wear additions can be supplied
internally or externally to the structure, so that any structure referred
to can be easily and speedily repaired. It is not intended nor is it aný
part of this Invention to use these materials in the construction of
crucibles, whether of plumbago or fire-clay or fire-brick, nor of small
laboratory furnaces, as such applications are not new, but even these
articles are dried or burnt before use, whereas I dry or burn the actual
structure after completion, thus avoiding any use whatever of blocks,
bricks, lumps or tiles, which have hitherto been used in the construction
of furnaces which are built up.
I am well aware that furnaces have been built with clay bricks, or
stones, with fire-clay mortar, that glass pots have been made of plastic
materials, and afterwards burnt, that bricks are made of ganister and lime,
with mixtures of fire-clay, sandstone, mica, and china clay waste,
although bricks have not been made of plumbago or magnesia, that fire-
clay, ganister, ormeshead mixture, and other such materials alone and
mixed have been used as mortar, and that fire hole arches and retorts
have been repaired with mixtures of clay, sand, salt, and other such
materials; also that Bessemer's steel converters have linings of ganister
rammed between two moulds; but my Invention is entirely distinct
from the above applications, as I form my entire structure of the raw

page_text: or
plastic materials, altogether dispensing with solid blocks or bricks,
or other forms as herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,"
filed by the said John Cliff, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CLIFF, of Runcorn, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and
grant unto me, the said John Cliff, Her special licence that I, the.
said John Cliff, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Cliff, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, 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 USE AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE
FOR FIRE-BRICKS AND IN THE METHOD OF APPLYING THE SAME," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cliff, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same
the same
was to be performed, and cause
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 John Cliff, 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:―
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the method of using
and applying certain materials in an unmanufactured state, in order to
form a substitute for fire-bricks or fire-goods, hitherto employed in the

page_text: building up or construction of furnaces in which fire-bricks, tiles, and
other various forms of fire goods are usually applied.
Instead of using fire-bricks, lumps, stones, tiles, or other forms of
materials or compounds in construction burnt or unburnt, I use powdered
or reduced ganister stone, quartz, sand, mica, sandstone, or other siliceous
material, plumbago, lime, baryta, steatite, and magnesia, alone or
separately, or in varied proportions with fire-clays, or with each other,
or with siliceous or other solutions, mixed or not with hair, fibre, sawdust,
shavings, or pulverized coke, or with other analogous materials. In
applying the materials in a plastic state, or mixed with water, or solution
wire may be used. as a supporter, or a skeleton or light framework may
be used to sustain or support the materials, while in course of application
to the furnace until the material (if necessary) is dry enough, or the
fire to be placed, or the heat to be utilized therein or thereon, shall have
dried, fixed, or burnt the same, so that I build the furnace, oven, kiln,
retort, blast furnace lining, or other structure entirely of such materials
in their raw or plastic state, (that is to say, not previously moulded into
bricks or other forms, or dried or burnt,) or as circumstances may dictate,
partially on, under, or in connection with brick or other walls or external
surfaces, the object being the substitution for fire goods, and their con-
sequent cost of manufacture, fuel, carriage, and skilled labor, of un-
manufactured materials that can be used and applied by cheap labor
more speedily and economically. Thus time and expense will be saved
in construction and it will not be necessary to keep large stocks of varied
shapes of bricks, the, loss of material and labour in making joints will be
saved, whilst, in case of actual wear, additions can be supplied internally
or externally to the structure so that such structure may be easily and
speedily repaired. It is not intended, nor is it any part of this Invention,
to use these materials in the construction of small laboratory furnaces,
as such applications are not new, but even these articles are dried or
burnt before use, whereas I dry or burn the actual structure after or
during completion, instead of drying or burning the separate parts used
in the structure previous to such combined application of parts, thus
avoiding any use whatever of blocks, bricks, lumps, tiles, or other forms,
which have hitherto, been used in the construction of furnaces which are
built up.
I am well aware that furnaces have been built with clay bricks,, or
stones, with fire-clav mortar. that glass nots have been made of plantio

page_text: materials, and afterwards burnt in situ, that bricks are made of ganister
and lime, with mixtures of fire-clay, sandstone, mica, china clay waste,
and such like materials, that fire-clay, ganister, ormeshead sand, and
other such materials alone and mixed have been used as mortar, and
plastered on walls of furnaces, and that fire-hole arches and retorts have
been repaired with mixtures of clay, sand, salt, and other materials;
also that Bessemer's steel converters and some other small steel furnaces
have linings made of ganister rammed between two moulds, but I make
no claim to any of these fabrications, since my Invention is entirely
distinct therefrom, dispensing altogether with solid blocks or bricks, or
other forms, as described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that I
do not restrict myself to any definite proportions of the materials named
as forming the substitute for fire-bricks or fire-goods, as the same may
be varied according to circumstances, but what I claim and desire to be
secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the use
and application of the materials or substances named in a raw, plastic,
or unmanufactured condition for the purpose of constructing or building-
up furnaces or other erections, and as a substitute for ordinary fire bricks,
tiles, lumps, blocks, or other forms of bricks, dried, burnt, or unburnt,
substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cliff, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
HENRY HODGES,
3, Albert Terrace,
Runcorn.
JOHN CLIFF. (L.S.)