IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT, MANUFACTURE, AND APPLICATION OF MATERIALS OR SUBSTANCES FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL
HUM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PIDDING, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Eighth day of December, in the fifteenth
year of Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-one, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Pidding, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Pidding, and such
others as I, the said William Pidding, my exors, admors, and 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, the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, also in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and.
in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE TREATMENT, MANUFACTURE, AND APPLICATION OF MATERIALS OR SUBSTANCES
FOR BUILDING PURPOSES;" and in which said Royal Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso requiring that I, the said William Pidding, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed and carried into practical effect, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under iny hand and seal, such instrument, when duly acknow-
ledged by me, the said William Pidding, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Royal Letters Patent, as in and by, reference being.
bad thereto, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Pidding, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed and carried into practical
effect, is fully.described and ascertained by the following description thereof:-
The nature of my Invention and improvements have for their chief object the
improvement of materials used in building or for constructive purposes, and
to combine such materials and treat them so as to be applicable to such
purposes, and to form the same in such shapes, forms, or configurations, so
that they may supersede the common brick now used for ordinary constructive
purposes, and also such as bridges, break waters, ships, or others; to produce
bricks, blocks, tiles, pipes, slabs, and other shapes of such material as will
be found applicable, not only to ordinary building purposes but to such other
modes of construction to which bricks, as hitherto made, are inapplicable. For
the preparation and finishing of building materials, to be herein-after described,
cements are used, both those of all known kinds, and those the compositions
of which to form certain cements applicable to the purposes of this Invention
are entirely new and of my Invention, and which have not been hitherto
known or used, and which will be found herein-after described. And I will
here observe, that where I make use of the word brick I mean such designation
to include slabs, blocks, tiles, pipes, cones, or other shapes, of any form or
size or description whatsoever, that may be made in the manner, or for the
purposes, or by the combination, or with the articles herein-after enumerated:
1 will commence by stating that I make bricks, slabs, blocks, tiles, pipes, or
other forms or shapes, from combinations of broken stone, scoria, muriate of
alumina, or acetate thereof, mineral earths, fluxes, wood or wood dust, commonly
called sawdust, coal, coke, papier maché, naptha, vegetable fibres, pitch,
glue, gutta percha, and other articles possessing the requisite properties, which
I combine in combinations of several of the foregoing articles, or seperately or
individually with cement, either of known use or of the present Invention,
ás herein-after explained. I also veneer blocks, slabs, bricks, or other forms,
made according to my Invention, where desirable, on one or more edge, face,
or end thereof, with slate, stone, marble, or other suitable substance or
material of any desired thickness, and cause such veneers to adhere thereto

page_text: or therewith by certain cements to be herein-after described, which process
gives to the slabs and other articles a handsome appearance, and increases
their durability and value, while the economy is evident, as but thin portions
of the more valuable material is used. Thus, by facing the said slabs, blocks,
or other shapes with marble, an entire building or construction will appear as
if built or constructed with that costly material, while the durability from the
superior hardness of the facing thereof will be found to be nearly the same
as if marble only were used. Again, I take ordinary bricks, composed of
inferior material, such as place bricks, or any of those composed of the
articles herein-before enumerated, and cover or coat them with a coating
of pipe clay, porcelain clay, or any other clay of a superior nature, which,
when glazed, will make them appear to be composed of solid porcelain,
or white or other colored clay; thus, at a small expence, obtaining a very
fine enduring and solid brick or substance for constructive or building purposes.
The clay is prepared with a proportion of about twenty per cent of soda
ash, or sulphate thereof, and I apply the clay (any description of the mode of
application is needless, as it must be obvious) to the bricks as a coating either
before or after they are dried or burnt, as in practise may be found most
expedient; and in preparing these clays I use only such means or apparatus
as are well known to all potters or brickmakers. I also improve the appear-
ance of bricks, tiles, slabs, or other figures or substances, by coating or facing
the same with cement; or I take sulphate of alumina, and deprive it of its
water of cristalization, when rendered semifluid by heat, and press them into
a mould of the shape required. I then saturate them with silicate of potash,
and subsequently subject the bricks to a great heat, and I make cases of thin
metal, which, on being placed together, will form the article to its desired shape.
I sometimes steep the sulphate of alumina in resin, or any bituminous substance,
when desirable, for the better effecting the adhesion of the substance from
which the bricks, slabs, or other building materials are composed. Another
mode of rendering bricks more durable, firmer, and fitter for sewers, canal
beds, and other places where complete imperviousness to moisture, without
great increase in the cost of such bricks or other forms, is desirable, is to
prepare a composition of finely ground or precipitated silica, with about one
fourth of its quantity of soda or potash, subjecting the mixture to such a
temperature as will cause it to fuse. I then varnish bricks and other building
materials with any common varnish, and apply this composition thereon as a
coating, and then re-fuse or char them, or, where it is desired to have the
bricks of any particular color, I take such mineral coloring matter as will
produce the color desired, and mixing the same with the composition of silica

page_text: and potash, and otherwise proceeding as before described. Or, if a plain
or colored glaze only is required to be placed on the materials, prepare
a sufficient quantity of plain or colored glass reduced to powder, placing
a sufficient quantity thereof in a tub or other vessel, and after varnishing the
bricks or other materials plunge them therein, or apply the powder to the
varnished bricks in any other convenient way. The glass will adhere to
the glutinous surface of the brick or other substance, which may then be
fused so as to give the bricks a crystal coating. These bricks will be totally
impervious to the atmospheric changes or water, and may be used with
advantage wherever a solid enduring brick is required.
I will now describe the cements I use for the purposes mentioned in the
foregoing, which are new and of my invention. Firstly, I take of burnt
sulphate of alumina twenty per cent., of burnt sulphate of lime seventy per
cent., and of silica, very finely pulverized, or, if preferred, precipitated, ten per
cent. (or where it is more convenient borate of soda may be used instead of
and in the same proportion as the alumina). Then have ready half a ton
weight of gypsum (sulphate of lime), burning the same for about the space of
two hours to extract or drive off the water (usually denominated water of
crystalization). I permit the sulphate to get cold, and having prepared a
solution of about three and a half ounces of sulphate of alumina to one gallon
of water, with which I saturate the sulphate of lime, and I afterwards subject
this composition in a kiln to a white heat for some hours, and when it is in a
fit state I reduce it to an impalpable powder, and mix therewith about ten
per cent. of the following preparation-say, of good flint-stones one ton,
burnt until they attain a very bright red color; when this has taken place,
remove them from the furnace and allow the stones to cool down a little by
exposure to the atmosphere, say, for some fifteen or twenty minutes, or other
longer or shorter time, according to the state of the atmosphere; then pour
thereon cold water in suflicient quantity to disentegrate or seperate the par-
ticles, taking care so to regulate the quantity of water, that while it serves the
above purpose it does not so saturate and cool the stones as to prevent them
drying by the caloric the should still retain. Should precipitate of silica
be preferred to the above it may be used in lieu thereof, and in the same
proportion, say, about ten per cent. The means of procuring the said preci-
pitate by the use of hydrofluoric acid are well known. I, however, prefer the
combination and process first described, deeming it more economical and quite
as efficient. I also make a cement to be used for the purposes of my newly-
invented articles or substances for building, or for any purpose to which
it may be found applicable, composed as follows:-Silica prepared by either

page_text: of the before-mentioned processes and mixed, when dry, with linseed oil or
common driers, or without the latter, in the proportion of about nine tenths
silica to about one tenth of linseed oil, and about one per cent. of driers.
This will be found to be a very hard and durable cement. I also make
bricks, slabs, tiles, pipes, pillars, steps, mantlepieces, and other forms or
shapes, by burning coal into coke in a mould, adding thereto any of the
cements or varnishes herein-before described, and forming the mixture or
composition into whatever shapes may be required for construction. I also
mix intimately proportions of coke, charcoal, cinders, or anthracite, with
certain quantities of coal composed of particles about the size of a pea. The
proportions must depend on the nature of the coal; or, instead of coal, any
carbonaceous material may be used or substituted for and used with the coke
and the before-named material, for the purpose of making slabs, pipes, or
other forms of articles for building; and where I find it desirable in the pro-
duction of this brick, I use (but always with the coke and other before-named
materials) any of the articles herein-before mentioned, such as vegetable
fibres, pitch, sawdust, &c. Whatever be the component parts they are placed
in moulds of whatever shape is desired, and of whatever material is suitable,
such moulds being made of two or more pieces and subjected to a moderate
pressure or compression, and then placed in or surrounded with sand in a
furnace, the temperature of which is gradually raised to a red or even to
a white heat, and is so retained, the time varying according to the purpose or
use for which this brick or block is destined, or the size or composition
thereof. I also combine any of the materials herein-before mentioned with
gutta percha or with marine glue, using one article in combination therewith,
or several thereof, for the purpose of obtaining solid, light, economical, and
impervious substances, for building purposes generally, and for breakwaters,
ships, or other vessels.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of " Improvements
in the Treatment, Manufacture, and Application of Materials or Substances
for general Building Purposes, I desire it to be understood that I lay no
claim to any of the articles or substances named or designated seperately, but
only to the combinations of materials to be used for the purposes herein-before
set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
WILLIAM (L.S.) PIDDING.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid William Pidding 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 Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.
Enrolled the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.