IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF BRICKS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Owen White, of Blackheath Park, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BRICKS."
Sealed the 21st January 1862, and dated the 7th September 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Owen White at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1861.
I, ROBERT OWEN WHITE, of Blackheath Park, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF BRICKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of bricks,
and is applicable when burning bricks in open clamps or kilns where fuel is
mixed with the brick earth, and is also interposed in between some of the
For these purposes, in order that the bricks may be more uniformly
burned and come out of an open kiln or clamp of uniform quality, the system
of setting the bricks in "necks," heretofore practised, is got rid of, and the

page_text: bricks are set in one direction in such manner that each course of bricks
breaks joint with the course above and below, as is shewn by the following
diagram:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Owen White in the Great Seal Patent Offico on
the 6th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
OWEN WHITE, of Blackheath Park, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Owen White, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Owen
White, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Owen White, 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 expressed, 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 MANUFACTURE OP BRICKS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Owen White, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hauds and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
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 Robert Owen White, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of bricks,
and is applicable when burning bricks in open clamps or kilns where fuel is
mixed with the brick earth, and is also interposed in between some of the
courses. For these purposes, in order that the bricks may be more uniformly
burned and come out of an open kiln or clamp of uniform quality, the system
of setting the bricks in "necks," heretofore practised, is got rid of, and the
bricks are set in one direction in such manner that each course of bricks
breaks joint with the course above and below, as is shewn by the following
diagram
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
In building a clamp of bricks, according to my Invention, I prefer that the
foundation, also the arrangements for lighting and for applying fuel between
the lower courses of the bricks should be as heretofore; but in place of the
raw bricks being laid as formerly, that is, so as to form "necks" or walls,
wherein the "header courses" of one neck or wall come opposite the
"stretcher courses" of the necks or walls next thereto; according to my
Invention the employment of necks or walls in constructing a clamp is dis-
pensed with, and the raw bricks in the several courses, of which a clamp is
composed, are all laid in the same direction, that is, that when a clamp is
looked at in one direction or point of view the courses will appear as all
"stretcher courses," and when looked at from a point at right angles to the
previous point of view all the courses of the raw bricks will appear to bo
"header courses" of bricks. It is preferred to commence the building of a
clamp in the centre, but this is not essential, and half bricks are used, where
necessary, to make up the courses. In laying the succeeding courses of raw
bricks they should be caused to break joint both longitudinally and transversely
with the raw bricks in the course below. Burned bricks are used exterior of
a clamp, as heretofore. By thus dispensing with the employment of walls in
building clamps for the burning of bricks, and in place thereof laying all the
bricks in one and the same direction in each and all the courses, the bricks in
a clamp will bo burned more equally and uniformly throughout a clamp, and
at the same time a far larger production of the best burned bricks will be

page_text: obtained than when constructing a clamp and burning bricks according to the
means heretofore practised.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Owen White, havo hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
R. O. WHITE. (L.S.)