IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING PARTITIONS, WALLS, FLOORS, AND ROOFS OF BUILDINGS."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John James Bodmer, of Newport, in the County of
Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF
CONSTRUCTING PARTITIONS, WALLS, FLOORS, AND ROOFS OF BUILDINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John James Bodmer at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th June 1865.
I, JOHN JAMES BODMER, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING PARTITIONS, WALLS, FLOORS, AND ROOFS OF
BUILDINGS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the use and adaptation of slabs or blocks of a
plastic or other material, alone or in combination with lamellar ribs or
framing of wood, iron, or other suitable material for the purposes set forth
and as herein-after described, the object being simplicity in construction and
economy of space, combined with the advantage of immediate fitness for use.
The method of construction for partitions may be described as the adaptation
of the slabs or blocks made in a suitable form, and built up alone or in com-
bination with a framing of wood, iron, or other suitable material, beneath or
in conjunction therewith, instead of the old method of framed and lathed or
brick partitions, and thus constructed can be immediately finished off without
the usual tedious method of plastering in 2 or 3 coats.

page_text: It may also be used in the same manner for the inner lining of damp or
other stone walls, and for the entire construction of walls with all their
appurtenances. The interstices may either be left so as to form a hollow
wall, or the hollow may be filled with a concrete.
In the construction of floors the plates, slabs, or blocks would be used in
combination with a lamellar framing of joists or beams of wood or iron set at
suitable distances apart, and upon and between them the plates, slabs, or
blocks would be set in an arched form from wall to wall. The floor may then
be completed as a wood floor in the usual manner, with light joists and
boarding, or the backs of the arches may be filled to the level of the top of the
joists with concrete or other material, and the floor face finished in cement,
concrete, tiles, or other system. Thus constructed the floor would be fire-
proof, and of a very durable character. The same method would be adopted
in the application of the system to roof construction, the principals or
rafters framed in a suitable manner, in conjunction or combination with the
slabs or blocks, being adopted instead of the joists or beams; the upper part
may then be finished in the usual manner with rafters and laths, and covered
with tiles, or may be filled with cement or concrete to the line of pitch
required, and covered with slates, tiles, or other material bedded therein or
affixed thereto.
The systems set forth may be finished in a plain manner or made con-
structively ornamental, and the whole or any part of the slabs, blocks, and
plates may be formed and used in the general combination, so as to effect and
secure proper ventilation in rooms or buildings of any class whatever.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John James Bodmer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JAMES BODMER, of Newport, in the County of Monmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date. the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John James Bodmer, Her special licence that I, the said John James
Bodmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the s
said John James Bodmer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should

page_text: 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 METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING PARTITIONS, WALLS,
FLOORS, AND ROOFS OF BUILDINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said John James Bodmer, 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 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 John James Bodmer, 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 following
statement:
This Invention consists in the manufacture and the use and adaptation of
slabs or blocks of a plastic or other material alone or in combination with
Jamellar ribs or framing of wood, iron, or other suitable material for the
purposes set forth and as herein-after described, the object being economy,
simplicity in construction, and saving of space, combined with the advantage
of immediate fitness for use. These slabs or blocks are formed in suitable
moulds, into which the material is filled either in a more or less liquid,
or in a merely moist state, and for the purpose of greater compactness and
subsequent durability pressed or rammed down more or less according to the
nature of the material and the object for which such slabs or blocks are
intended. The slabs or blocks may be made of any of the compositions or
compounds of which artificial stone is made, or of cement, or lime, or plaster,
or any suitable compound with these. But in all cases where the slabs
or blocks are to be exposed to the weather, to damp, or to water, as for
instance, when intended for the construction of culverts, sewers, dock or sea
walls, I prefer to make them of a mixture of hydraulic lime and blast-furnace.
cinders where the latter can be obtained. The slabs for partition walls are
made solid or hollow, of a suitable thickness, and of a size equal in surface to
from one-eighth to one-fourth of a square yard more or less. The sides
intended for top and bottom and the sides intended for the ends may be flat,
or they may be formed with projections of any suitable shape, or with recesses.
in such a manner that the raised side of one slab shall fit and lock into the
recess or groove of the adjoining slab. The slabs or blocks intended for

page_text: outside walls of buildings or for walls for other purposes, as well as for floors,
arched or flat, may likewise be made plain or with projections and recesses at
the ends, as above described, may be adopted, or all four sides forming the ends
and the tops and bottoms may be made to fit or lock into each other. The
slabs or blocks may be solid, but for most purposes I prefer to make them
hollow or cellular, and fitted with one or more internal ribs or partitions in.
order to give greater strength to the sides forming the inside and outside of a
wall. The hollow portions or cavities in these slabs or blocks used for par-
titions or for all other purposes, may be filled up with concrete or other.
material for the purpose of binding the several layers both vertically &.
horizontally together, and for giving greater solidity; or these hollows or
cavities, or some of them, may be left empty or open to ensure greater light-
ness and afford means of ventilation. The slabs or blocks may be formed
with mouldings or ornamentation of any desired shape or description.
The method of construction for partitions or walls may be 'described as the
adaptation of the slabs or blocks made in suitable moulds, and built up alone:
or in combination with a framing of wood, iron, or other suitable material
beneath or in conjunction therewith, instead of the old method of framed and.
lath'd or brick partitions and walls, and thus constructed such partitions and.
walls can be immediately finished off without the tedious method of plastering.
in two or three coats. The sides being perfectly smooth, and these slabs or
blocks dry when used, the walls can at once be papered or painted.
In the construction of floors these slabs or blocks would be used either
without or in combination with a lamellar framing of joists or beams of wood,
iron, etc., set at suitable distances apart, and upon and between them these
plates, slabs, or blocks would be set in an arched fortn from wall to wall. The
floor may then be completed as a wood floor in the usual manner, with light
joists and boarding, or the backs of the arches may be filled to the level of the
top of the joists with concrete or other material, and the floor face finished in
cement, concrete, tiles, or according to any other system; thus constructed
the floor would be fire-proof, and of a very durable character. The same
method would be adopted in the application of the systein to roof construction,
the principals or rafters framed in a suitable manner in conjunction or com-
bination with these slabs or blocks, being adopted instead of the joists or
beams. The upper part may then be finished in the usual manner with
rafters and laths, and covered with tiles, or may be filled with concrete or
cement 'to the line of pitch required, and covered with slates, tiles, or other
material bedded 'therein or affixed thereto.
The systems set forth may be finished in a plain manuer, or inade con-

page_text: structively ornamental, and the whole or any part of these slabs, blocks, or
plates may be formed and used in the general combination, so as to effect and
secure proper ventilation in rooms or buildings of any class whatever.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim as the Invention to be secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,--
Firstly, the use of slabs, blocks, or plates, hollow, cellular, or solid (any of
the hollow parts or all of them left hollow or filled up) for every description
of building, part of building, or wall, in the manner and for the purposes as
herein-before described, and as differing from any and every kind of
construction practised heretofore in brick, stone, concrete, or lath & plaster
work.
Secondly, the application of hollow or cellular slabs or blocks, whether left
hollow or filled up with concrete, cement, lime, or other materials to engi-
neering works of every description above and under ground, such as culverts,
sewers, dock and sea walls, and other purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said John James Bodmer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. J. BODMER. (L.B.)