AN IMPROVED WALL FOR BUILDING PURPOSES
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CALED
ПITCH the younger, of Ware, in the County of Hertford, Brickmaker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of February, in the ninth year of His
reign, did, for Ilimself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Caleb Hitch the younger, His especial licence that I, the said Caleb
Hitch the younger, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Caleb Hitch the younger, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, ex-
ercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "AN IMPROVED WALL FOR BUILDING PURPOSES;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Caleb Hitch the
younger, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: .
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Caleb Hitch the younger, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
to consist in a wall built of bricks with hollows or cavities in them, so formed
that the whole work may be cemented together in one solid mass, at much
less expence than by the ordinary method, and in such manner that much
less mortar will be required, and fewer joints created, whereby a bold and
uniform bond is presented, and the expence of repairing the wall much
reduced. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Caleb
Hitch the younger, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention
is to be performed by the following description thereof, reference being bad
to the Six Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures, letters,
and writing marked thereon, that is to say :-
In the first place I will describe the sort of mould required to form the
bricks of which my said wall is principally to be built; and this I will do with
reference to two kinds of bricks only, since that will be sufficient to explain
the mode of making them all. It will be proper here to observe, that I have
given a distinguishing number and name to each form of brick, and they will
therefore be referred to both in the Drawings and in this description by those
numbers and names.
The Sheet No. 1 contains a description of the mould required for that
kind of brick which I call No. IX. and XII. stretcher, and a view of which
may be seen on Sheet No. 2, Figure 3; as also a description of the mould
required for that kind of brick, which I call No. IX. header, a view of which
may also be seen on Sheet No. 2, Figure 2; and as the written description
of each part of the mould is contained on the Drawing it will only bo
necessary to refer to that for more detailed explanation.
The implements required for making the new bricks may be described generally
as follows, that is to say:-A brick table similar to that ordinarily used. A
stock with or without dowells, according to the form of brick required, made
of beech wood; the dowells are framed in the stock, and topped with iron
plates. A mould; the sides of the mould are made with beech wood, topped
with wrought-iron plates, and the two ends are made of wrought iron; the
two ends are attached to one of the sides by iron hinges, and to the other
sides by clasps and pins made of wrought iron. A strike similar to that
ordinarily used. A stock with one dowell, two dowells, three dowells, or more,
is used according to the size of the brick and the number of holes required.
Instructions for making the bricks.-Place the stock on the brick table; then
place the loose side of the mould on the stock; then the other side of the
mould with the ends attached to it by hinges; then attach the loose side of the

page_text: mould to the two ends, by means of the clasps and pins. That part of the
clasps which contains the eye is attached to the iron ends of the mould by
hinges, and has a small iron ring at the end of it for greater facility in bringing
it round upon the hooks fixed in the loose side of the mould. The pins are
appended to the loose side of the mould by small iron chains. The looso
side of the mould is prevented from getting out of place by a small iron
pin fixed in the stock. The stock and mould being thus placed and fixed,
throw the clay into the mould, and then, with the strike, strike off the super-
flous clay; then turn the stock and mould upside down upon a brick board;
then lift the stock out of the brick; and the brick is then released from the
mould by taking out the pins, undoing the clasp, and opening the ends.
The brick on the brick board is then carried by hand to the drying ground,
and there left until it is hand hard, covered with straw, to protect it from
the sun and rain, either of which would crack it. Particular attention must
be paid that it be properly dried previously to its going to the kiln or clamp.
The brick is then carried on a brick barrow to the kiln or clamp, and there
set and burnt. There is no particular mode of burning the bricks.
Ilaving now described the mode of making the new bricks, I will refer to
the Shects of Drawings marked No. 2 and No. 3, for the various shapes that
will be required for building the patent wall of nine inches, twelve inches, or
upwards, under various circumstances such as the particular work may require,
and in so doing it will be only necessary to observe that I have given such
names to each brick on the Drawing as I thought would make the application
of it best understood by persons in the trade. And now, for the purpose-
of further explanation, I will give instructions for erecting a nine-inch Patent
wall (see plans of this wall Sheet No. 4), Figure 1. Lay the angle header
A, II; then lay the bat header B, H, so as to rebate in with the angle
header; then lay the stretcher S, so as to rebate in with the bat beader;
then lay the header II, and then alternately stretcher and header, according
to the length of the wall required. For the return of the wall lay the
closier C; then lay the stretcher S, so as to rebate in with the closier;
then lay header and stretcher alternately as before. K, C, is a king closier,
which would form a reveal for a door; and R, B, E, is a reveal bat header,
to form a reveal for a sash frame. To form the inner angle of the wall
the rebate of the bat header B, II*, is cut off, and the stretcher S* is made
rather longer, without a rebate at one end; but the manner of filling up
the angle must be left in some measure to the discretion of the bricklayer.
Bricks of other shapes than those of which plans have been given may bo
required under peculiar circumstances; as, for instance, in the second course,

page_text: Figure 2, the bricks at the end of the return wall to form the reveal for a
door or sash frame; these must be provided according to the peculiar circum-
stance, or parts of bricks already made may be cut to the shape required.
In laying the bricks, mortar or cement is used for the joints, as shewn by
the white interstices in the Plan 4. Upon the course of bricks thus laid a
bed of mortar is spread, but no mortar is filled in the dowel holes or in the
interstices between the bricks except at the joints as above mentioned.
Figure 2 is the second course. Reverse the angle header A, H, and lay
similar bricks, and in the same order, for the front wall of this course as for the
return wall of the first course, and lay similar bricks, and in the same order
for the return wall of this as for the front wall of the first course.
The first and second courses being thus laid, fill in the dowel holes, and
the interstices between the bricks, with the artificial composition herein-after
described; that is to say-Hot stone lime, burnt brick dust, sharp sand,
shingle, and flints; or clean gravel, mixt together with as small a quantity of
water as possible, just sufficient to give a consistency to the whole. Lay two more
courses, and fill in again with this composition, and so on every two courses.
This composition or core connects the whole of the work, and the wall becomes
one solid mass. To erect a twelve-inch patent wall (see Sheet No. 5), lay
the angle header A, H, then lay the closier C, then the stretcher S, so as to
rebate in with the closier, and then the header II, so as to rebate in with tho
stretcher, and then stretcher and header alternately. For the return, lay the
bat header B, H, so as to rebate in with the angle header; then alternately
the stretcher S and header H. For laying the second course, see instructions
for laying second course of nine-inch wall; also see Figure 2 on this Drawing.
The same observations relative to the formation of the inner angle, and the
revcal of windows and doors of and in a nine-inch wall, will apply to a
twelve-inch wall and upwards. Fill in artificial composition or core every two
courses, as described for a nine-inch wall. To erect a wall of upwards of twelve
inches in thickness (see plan of wall, Sheet No. 6), lay the return long
header R, L, II; then lay the solid stretcher S, S, then the solid long header
S, L, H. then the solid stretcher and solid long header alternately, for the
faces of tho wall. The additional thickness of wall is formed by placing
headers at right angles with the faces of the wall, and core bricks C, C, ard
placed parallel to the face uniting with the back rebate of the header. And
then, as occasion may require, the core bricks C and D, C, Sheet No. 3
can be placed diagonally or otherwise. When there is a particular stress upo
the back of the wall, as in embankments, et cetera, iron rods may be inserte
through the dowelled holes in the facing bricks, from bottom to top, so a

page_text: to form an additional bulwark against the back pressure. In this case the
iron rods are first fixed in the plank or apron below, and the bricks are then
let down from the top over the iron rod, or, in other words, threaded upon the
rods, the iron being preserved from oxydation by the core.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention a wall built of such bricks as are
berein-before described, and in manner aforesaid for building purposes; and
such Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new
and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's United Kinglom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales,
or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specifi-
cation of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said Specification
doth comply, in all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with the
proviso in the said herein-before in part recited, Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to my
said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Caleb Hitch, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
DEREL
Lighteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Caleb Hitch came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
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..
Inrolled the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-eight.