Improvements in the Manufacture of Building Materials from Glass and in the Application of the same.
Year: 1887

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Building Materials from Glass
and in the Application of the same.
1, SYDNEY PITT of Sutton in the County of Surrey Gentleman do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Glass is tending to take a more and more important place in building, but up
to the present it has only been utilised in the form of pieces made in the press or for
glazier's work. The object of the present invention is to use it in the form of blown
bricks for facing walls, perpends, window-linings, greenhouses, hot-frame. sashes, bell
glasses, urinals, water-closets, bath rooms, vaults, roofs, fence-walls, espalier walls,
lining for hospital rooms, railway carriages etc. etc.
I give these bricks all suitable shapes and I colour them at will, either in the
substance of the glass or by lining them internally or externally with layers of metal
or of paint; I also vary their appearance by sand engraving, acids, etc.
These materials of blown glass having double walls offer numerous advantages.
They are light, cheap, and the layer of air which they contain is a good preservative
against either cold or heat.
These bricks are made like ordinary bottles.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown various forms of bricks and the
manner of fixing them and joining them together.
In Figure 1, I show on a scale of 1-10 a number of square bricks fitted together.
I prefer however to give them another shape which lends itself better to the regular
distribution of the glass.
In Figure 2, I show a full sized section of a hollow brick blown at A. The
spaces between the bricks are filled with putty forming the framing. I employ
any suitable composition for putty to form the connections, such as cement, plaster,
bituminous substances, papier mâché, wood paste or saw dust, with sticky substances
such as gum lac, india rubber, gutta percha etc. The silicates may also well be used,
as they form transparent connections having the appearance of glass. The external
part of the connection will be generally made of oil putty.
These connections may be strengthened in certain cases by metallic pieces set in
the substance of the connection and joined together.

page_text: At F, Figure 2, I have shown an iron cross which would be excellent for the
purpose of giving rigidity in a vertical direction.
Figure 3 shows a section of a brick of another shape, blown at B. The blow holes
may be closed under heat or stopped up in any other suitable way.
In Figures 4 and 5, I show other forms of bricks.
In these Figures, C represents the connections, and F, F1, F2, F³ are the iron ties.
The wires F3F3 of Figure 5 form a double trellis; these wires may be fastened
together at their crossing points, with half thickness. A single trellis alone might.
also be used, placed in the middle of the wall.
In F, Figure 4, I have shown the flat metallic pieces.
For these jointings, I may also use metallic pieces of any suitable shape, tubes,
single or double Tirons, strips of sheet metal etc. As regards isolated bricks, placed
for instance on balustrades, I simply attach them with iron wire on the supporting
metallic pieces.
Figure 6 shows, on a reduced scale, six-sided bricks fastened together by bolts T,
which have a place reserved for them in the glass, and which maintain the connection
by means of iron bands placed in the jointings.
Figure 7 shows bricks perforated with holes, to admit of the passage of a metal
bar, serving as a bolt. The bricks are separated by washers. Figures 8 to 12
show, on a full size scale, the mode of joining together the six-sided bricks represented
in Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a view of three bricks joined together. Figure 9 is a section from
O to P; Figure 10, a section from G to H; Figure 11 a section from M to N ;
Figure 12 a section from I to K.
In the jointings C, I place a strip of flat or corrugated metal R, perforated with
holes. These strips are fastened between the bricks by cramps of bent metal, which
form an intertie and serve to hold the bricks when they are placed on the flat part,
shown in section in Figure 12 a place would be reserved for these cramps in the
glass, as shown at U, Figure 8. I can, in certain cases, replace these cramps by
metallic wires attached in any suitable manner. Figure 13 shows one of the cramps
which I use; the parts V serve to hold the bricks.
In certain cases I cut the necks of the bricks, in order to give them a more graceful
appearance.
I employ all the known means for securing the firmness of my panels on the
frames and sashes which are to receive them. If the panels rest direct upon iron,
I take care to interpose a substance which forms a soft connection, in order to avoid
breakage.
My invention can lend itself to any combinations; the pieces of blown glass or
bricks may be flat, bent, or in the form of a keystone to make vaults of all kinds;
they may be colored at will, and the most varied effects may be obtained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
:-
1stly. The manufacture of bricks of blown glass, of any colour, in any shape and of
any dimensions.
2ndly. The application of these bricks specially to building purposes and
decoration.
3rdly. The ways of joining these bricks together, all substantially as described
and shown in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 19th day of Anril 1887
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.