IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT OF BLOCKS OF SO CALLED WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS
Year: 1867

page_text: the said Edward Sephton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Decla-
ration, on the 7th November 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
SEPHTON, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OR ARRANGEMENT OF BLOCKS OF SO CALLED WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant to me, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have
made solemn Declaration that I verily believe I am the true and first Inventor
thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Sephton, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal, fully
describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of illustrative Drawings, and to the numerals and letters thereon, that
is to say:
By my Invention blocks of buildings containing a large number of well
ventilated and convenient tenements can be erected in large towns on a small
area, each tenement in a block, or the block itself being provided with

page_text: sanitary conveniences, and the whole so arranged that the front and ends facing
the streets can be ornamented in any desired manner. The outer walls of
each block are of any desired outline in plan, and the rooms are arranged and
set apart to suit the proposed class of tenents. The entrance or entrances
from the street are by a passage or passages or covered way or ways to the
back of the block where corridors and staircases common to the tenants
branch off. The staircases lead to terraces running along each floor at the
back of the building, and from the terraces the doors of the respective tene-
ments open, each tenement being preferably so arranged that one half of the
apartments have light from the front of the block and the other half from the
back thereof. At certain distances, say each tenth or twelfth dwelling, a
vertical shaft to receive ashes and other waste rises upwards through the terraces.
Folding doors or traps. are fitted to the said shaft on each terrace, and when
waterclosets are not provided in each dwelling they are placed around or near
the said shaft.
The Sheet of Drawings which accompanies this contains four views of a
block of workmen's dwellings constructed or arranged according to my Inven-
tion, there being lock up shops on the ground floor.
plan of
Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 a transverse section; Fig. 3 a
the ground floor, and Fig. 4 a plan of one of the upper floors broken through
and shewing the modifications herein-after mentioned. Like letters denote
the same parts in all the views.
a the outer walls; b, shops with back rooms 61, and water and other
closets c; d, entrance way; e, staircases leading upwards to the terraces f
formed at the back of the building; 9, entrance doors to the dwellings.
Each tenement on the upper floors in this construction contains kitchen h,
rooms i and i, pantry j, scullery k, and watercloset l, as shewn in part of
Fig. 4; light is obtained in about equal proportion from the windows h and i
at the front and back. m shews a shaft for ashes and other refuse with shoot
and closing door at n. In the other part of Fig. 4 the waterclosets marked o
are placed alongside the ashes shaft p and are not fitted inside each dwelling;
the other arrangements are exactly the same as those above referred to; q
a space at the rear for bleaching, or clothes drying, or as a playground,
and v space for sewer.
is
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and shewn how the
same can be easily carried into effect so as to provide for a wide spread want,
I would bave it understood that I do not confine myself to the exact details
shewn on the Drawings, as modifications may be made without departing
from the features which distinguish my said Invention.
What I claim is,

page_text: First. Constructing or arranging blocks of buildings of the class mentioned
with terraces at the back when the entrance doors to the separate tenements
open directly from the said terraces substantially as described.
Second. The dust shaft m provided with trap door n when the said shaft
rises upwards through the several terraces placed at the back of the block of
buildings substantially as described.
Third. The dust shaft m and waterclosets o arranged in relation to the
terraces substantially as described.
Fourth. Constructing or arranging blocks of buildings of the class mentioned
with terraces at the back when one half of the apartments receive light from
the front of the said building, and the other half from the back thereof,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Sephton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
In the presence of
JOHN T. KING,
Patent Agent,
Liverpool.
EDWARD SEPHTON. (L.S.)