IMPROVED NON-POROUS AND VITRIFIED BLOCKS, BRICKS, AND OTHER DTIO "
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Arthur Cowell, of Gunnislake,
Calstock, in the County of Cornwall, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED NON-POROUS AND VITRIFIED BLOCKS, BRICKS, AND OTHER
DTIO "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Arthur
Cowell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 20th December 1875.
I, FREDERICK ARTHUR COWELL, of Gunnislake, Calstock, in the
County of Cornwall, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED. NON-POROUS AND VITRIFIED BLOCKS, BRICKS,
AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES," to be as follows, that is to
say:
The object of my Invention is to produce blocks, bricks, and other
articles used in the construction of footways, roadways, sewerage works,
reservoirs, tunnels, docks, fire and waterproof buildings, and building

page_text: and architectural purposes generally, that shall be readily and econo-
mically brought by the process of manufacture into a non-absorbent
and vitrified condition, and that shall be of specially convenient forms
for some or all of the above named purposes.
In carrying out my Invention, instead of producing a composition by
artificial amalgamation, I select and use a natural material, which I
have found to be specially suitable for my purpose, and which may be
either or both the rocks known in the counties of Devon and Cornwall
by the names of “killas. 66
or elvan," and preferably such as are found
"
in a state of partial disintegration.
I usually cast out quantities of these materials and submit them to
the action of the weather until they are in a sufficiently free condition
for working, when they are pulverized by means of edge runners or
other similar means, with the addition of sufficient moisture to effect
the desired cohesion of particles. When this is done the material in its
semi-dry or plastic condition is moulded and compressed into the
required forms.
For roadways and other similar purposes I make the blocks to corre-
spond in size with the well known granite "pitching," but in place of
their being flat on the sides of each block they are recessed until the
section is somewhat of a I shape, and so made that when one of the faces
or edges is worn the block can be reversed. In certain cases I perforate
these and other of my blocks and bricks. I also introduce upon the
faces or edges of street paving blocks a series of indents, channels, or
variations of surfaces, which, while not impeding the traction of vehicles,
shall afford a foothold for horses.
The articles after being moulded into the desired shape are set out
on drying floors until sufficient moisture has evaporated, when they
are placed in kilns to be baked or burned.
In placing the articles in the said kilns, which by preference are
those for which I have applied for Letters Patent on the 20th day of
· December 1875, I introduce between each layer or course a structure
of silica or quartz sand in a finely pulverized condition to prevent
adhesion. They are then submitted to a degree of heat sufficiently
great to obtain the required state of vitrifaction when the process is
complete.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Arthur Cowell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
ARTHUR COWELL, of Gunnislake, Calstock, in the County of Cornwall,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Arthur Cowell,
Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Arthur Cowell, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Arthur Cowell, 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 "IMPROVED NON-POROUS AND VITRIFIED BLOCKS,
BRICKS, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Arthur Cowell, my exe-
cutors 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 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 Frederick Arthur Cowell, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to produce blocks, bricks, and other
articles used in the construction of footways, roadways, sewerage works,
reservoirs, tunnels, docks, fire and water proof buildings, and building
and agricultural purposes generally, that shall be readily and econo-
mically brought by the process of manufacture into a non-absorbent
.

page_text: and vitrified condition, and that shall be of specially convenient forms
for some or all of the above named purposes.
In carrying out my Invention, instead of producing a composition by
artificial amalgamation, I select and use a natural material which I
have found to be specially suitable for my purpose, and which may be
either or both the rocks known in the counties of Devon and Cornwall
by the names of "killas" or "elvan," and preferably such as are found
in a state of partial disintegration.
I usually cast out quantities of these materials and submit them to
the action of the weather until they are in a sufficiently free condition
for working, when they are pulverized by means of edge runners or
other similar means, with the addition of sufficient moisture to effect
the desired cohesion of particles. When this is done the material in its
semi-dry or plastic condition is moulded and compressed into the
required forms.
For roadways and other similar purposes I make the blocks to corre-
spond in size with the well known granite "pitching," but in place of
their being flat on the sides of each block they are recessed until the
section is somewhat of a I shape, and so made that when one of the
faces or edges is worn the block can be reversed. In certain cases I
perforate these and other of my blocks and bricks, or provide the blocks
alternately with projections at one side and. recesses at the other for
the purpose of more effectually maintaining their position when they
are set. I also introduce upon the faces or edges of street paving blocks.
a series of indents, channels, or variations of surfaces, which, while not
impeding the traction of vehicles, shall afford a foothold for horses.
The articles after being moulded into the required shape are set out
on drying floors until sufficient moisture has evaporated, when they are
placed in kilns to be baked or burned.
In placing the articles in the said kilns, which by preference are
those for which I have obtained Letters Patent, dated the Twentieth day
of December, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, Number
4408, I introduce between each layer or course a stratum of silica or
quartz sand in a finely pulverized condition to prevent adhesion. They
are then submitted to a degree of heat sufficiently great to obtain the
required state of vitrification, when the process is complete.

page_text: Having thus described my said Invention, and the best means with
which I am acquainted for carrying the same into effect, what I claim
s, the improved non-porous and vitrified blocks, bricks, and other
rticles for various purposes, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Arthur Cowell, have
hereto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
FREDERICK ARTHUR COWELL. (L.S.)