A NEW SYSTEM OF COVERING FOR HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS AND COVERINGS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, of Paris, Boulevart des
Amandiers, No. 78, Empire of France, Crockery Ware Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "A NEW SYSTEM OF COVERING FOR HOUSES AND OTHER
BUILDINGS AND COVERINGS."
Sealed the 28th January 1862, and dated the 7th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nicolas Antoine Lesueur at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th August 1861.
I, NICOLAS ANTOINE LESUEUR, of Paris, Boulevart des Amendiers, Number
78, (Empire of France,) Crockery Ware Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW SYSTEM OF COVERING FOR HOUSES
AND OTHER BUILDINGS AND COVERINGS," to be as follows:-
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure No. 1 represents the end of a brick
with three hollow parts forming mortices, and three other parts forming tenons;
Figure No. 2 shews the ends of three bricks fitted together by means of the
tenons and mortices; Figures Nos. 1' and 2¹ represent the same on a smaller
scale. Figure No. 3, three bricks fitted as at Figure No. 2, and ready to be slid
together in their lengths, which are indefinite; Figure No. 4 represents a plan
of a section of covering of a length which may be considered as the length of a
rafter; Figure No. 5, three bricks shewn in breadth or width to shew the

page_text: grooves in mortice; Figure No. 6 represents the side of a panel or tile,
shewing the reception and covering grooves; Figure No. 7, under side of
Figure No. 6; Figure No. 8, extremity or eave of roof, shewing the position
of the tiles as regards each other; Figure No. 9, top plan of part of a roof,
shewing the small amount of covering required under this plan. Seeing that all
the parts dovetail with or fit into each other, and are fixed (as is shewn) by a
large nail driven in at the top, they form as it were a single water-tight piece.
Figure No. 10 shews a roof made according to my Invention, supported on four
pillars, partly covered, according to my system, and partly bare; Figure No. 11
shews a number of bricks (11) fitted together, in order that an idea may be
formed of the great strength and solidity that can be obtained by this method.
I make my bricks or tiles of the usual or any other material, such as wood,
metal, glass, or earthenware.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Nicolas Antoine Lesueur in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 31st January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICOLAS
ANTOINE LESUEUR, of Paris, Boulevart des Amandiers, No. 78, (Empire of
France,) Crockery Ware Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August, 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
Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, Her special licence that I, the said Nicolas Antoine
Lesueur, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "A NEW
SYSTEM OF COVERING FOR HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS AND COVERINGS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, 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 was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, 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 fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed and forming part of this my Specification, and to the several Figures
marked thereon:-
Tiles, as now generally made, are not easily fixed, and do not keep out water
as thoroughly as desirable; again, their weight for a given superfice is very
considerable, by reason of the overlapping of parts; neither are ordinary bricks
easily laid or set for paving terraces, ceilings, and other similar uses, it being
difficult to form by their union a perfect whole. By applying to tiles, bricks,
or other analogous objects, of whatever material, combinations based upon
identical ideas and means, I have succeeded in solving this problem. These
combinations consist principally in giving to these objects, by means of grooves,
notches, or mortices cut in dovetail, the faculty of being set and fixed rapidly,
solidly, and economically. It will be readily perceived that by forming in tile
or bricks notches or grooves in dovetail, and introducing into them fastenings
or fixings in the shape of tenons or joggles, I obtain in the constructions in
question all the resistance that could be obtained from the bricks, tiles, or
pannels themselves. Reference to the Drawing will render this perfectly
clear.
These tiles on their upper surface do not differ from ordinary tiles, but
on the under they carry one, two, or more grooves cut in dovetail lengthwise,
crosswise, or in any way that requirement or fancy may direct. These grooves,
made by the usual processes and baked as required, have for object and result
not only to facilitate the laying, but also the complete fixing of the tiles, and
that whether they are to be joined to each other, to be laid on a roof or rafters,
to be joined to each other and fixed on tenons, or whether they are to be fixed
upon tenons alone. Whatever method of fixing be decided upon, it is evident
that the notches of the tiles being filled, whether by joining the tiles to each
other, whether by tiles and wedges or tenons, by plaster, by wedges, or joggles
of wood, iron, or wood covered with hoop iron, or by rods or bars of iron, that
is to say, always by tenons corresponding to the mortices, and always in such
wise that the filling having once slid into the hollow cannot be withdrawn by a
direct lift, or by any ordinary method of dislocation, the covering forming
necessarily as it were one perfect whole, the solidity of which will be equal to
that of the material itself. The placing or setting of these tiles with dovetail

page_text: only is the placing and fixing of tiles rendered easy and economical, but also
that as less of each tile is covered or lapped by the other, and that their
regular and exact wedging over a small surface suffices to keep out snow and
water, such coverings are much less weighty, and do not press so heavily on
the roof as ordinary tiles. As to the bricks, it will be evident that their new
modifications and properties will not only allow better results to be obtained
in ordinary work, but permit them to be applied to uses for which bricks were
hitherto inapplicable.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and means by
which I carry it into practical effect, I desire it to be distinctly understood
that I do not confine myself to any precise number of grooves or mortices or
tenons, as such will necessarily vary with the description of tile, pannel, or
brick, and the use to which it is to be applied; but that I claim as of my Inven-
tion the formation of dovetail grooves or notches in bricks, tiles, and analogous
objects, and dovetailing and wedging them together, essentially as herein
described and shewn in the Drawing hereunto annexed, by which I obtain
"A New System of Covering for Houses and other Buildings and Coverings."
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicolas Antoine Lesueur, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
P. B. DARNIS.
N. A. LESUEUR. (L.S.)