CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING AND OTHER TILES."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bridgewater, of Cheltenham, in the County
of Gloucester, Gentleman, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING AND OTHER TILES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bridgewater at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th July 1855.
I, WILLIAM BRIDGEWATER, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING AND OTHER TILES " to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates, first, to roofing and other tiles made either by hand
or machinery in the ordinary manner, and consists in subjecting such said tiles
to mechanical pressure after they have been partially dried, for the purpose of
imparting thereto a more perfect equality of thickness and regularity of shape,
and likewise by thus consolidating the clay to render tiles less liable to
absorb moisture and to be affected by frost and atmospheric influence than
heretofore.

page_text: Secondly, an important feature in this improved mode of manufacturing
tiles consists in being enabled to employ a quality of clay not heretofore
employed (known and distinguished as bluc lias clay), which can be
abundantly obtained in many parts of England, but which from its extremely
tenacious properties has not heretofore been rendered practically available
for manufacturing tiles from, according to the modes heretofore practised of
manufacturing tiles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bridgewater in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BRIDGEWATER, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Bridgewater, Her special licence that I, the said William Bridge-
water, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Bridgewater, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROOFING AND OTHER TILES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Bridgewater, my execu-
tors 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 William Bridgewater, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:

page_text: My Invention relates to roofing and other tiles made either by hand or by
machinery in the ordinary manner, and consists in subjecting such said tiles
(after they have been partially dried) to mechanical pressure, for the purpose
of imparting thereto a more perfect equality of thickness and regularity of
shape, and likewise by thus cousolidating the clay to render tiles thus made
less liable to absorb moisture and to be affected by frost and atmospheric
influence than heretofore. And an important feature in my improved mode
of manufacturing tiles consists in being enabled to employ dense clays, such
as have not heretofore been able to be employed in the manufacture of tiles,
and more especially a description of clay known and distinguished as blue
lias clay, which can be abundantly obtained in many parts of England, but
which, from its extremely dense character and tenacious properties, has not
heretofore been rendered practically available for manufacturing tiles from,
according to the modes heretofore practised of manufacturing tiles.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, as follows:-
MODE OF MANUFACTURE.
I take a tile formed either by band or by machinery in the ordinary manner.
and when dry enough to handle, I place the same upon a pallet or shape
formed of hard wood, the upper surface of the same being made to correspond
with the under surface of the tile; and having done this, I then take a block
or die, the shape of the under surface whereof corresponds with the shape of
the upper surface of the said tile, and such block or die I place upon the clay
which is on the before-mentioned pallet or shape, and finally I place the same
in a frame of the shape of the tile, and subject the whole to a pressure of at
least one and a half tons, which may be effected by the action of the screw
of an ordinary screw press, or by other suitable and convenient means; and in
this manner and by these means I consolidate the clay of which the tile is
made, and thus render the same less liable to crack in burning than heretofore.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Roofing and other
Tiles," together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my
Invention, the subjecting of clay to mechanical pressure, after it has been
moulded or shaped either by hand or machinery in the ordinary manner, into
the form of roofing or other tiles, and then partially dried, whereby I am
enabled to produce tiles of the very best description from "blue lias clay" and

page_text: other dense clays, which have not heretofore been rendered practically available
for manufacturing tiles from, as above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bridgewater, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JOHN GODING,
2, Portland Street,
Cheltenham.
WILLIAM BRIDGEWATER. (L.S.)