IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER ERECTIONS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
GEORGE, of Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, Coal and Mine Master, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Butain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of June, in the tenth year
of Her eign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and giant
unto me, the said Joseph George, Jer especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph George, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Joseph George, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therem
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within'
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES, BUILDINGS, AND OTHER ERECTIONS," in which said'
Letters Patent is contained' a proviso obliging me, the said Joseph George, 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 Her Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said in part 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
Joseph George, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner m which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
- and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the-letters-and figures marked
thereon (that is to say)-
My Invention of Improvements in the Construction of Houses. Buildings,
and other Erections, consists in constructing buildings or houses in such a
manner, and of such materials, that when the said materials are prepared, the
houses or buildings may be erected in an expeditious manner, made perfectly
file proof, and constructed at much less cost than houses built in the ordinary
manner, and less hable to decay from atmospheric or natural causes, and as
the materials of which they are composed may be prepared ready for putting
together at a distance from the locality where they are ultimately to be
ciccted, houses, constructed upon my improved plan, may be prepared, and the
parts fitted together, in England or elsewhere, and then taken to pieces again,
and packed ready for exportation abroad, where they may be erected in a few
hours. The skeleton or fiamework of the building I propose to construct of
iron, using wrought on in preference--to-cast, as greater strength may be
obtained with a smaller weight or quantity of material. The bars of ion, of
which the skeleton fiame is composed, are furnished with longitudinal grooves,
into which slabs of slate, stone, or other material, of suitable quality and
thickness, are slidden and secured. and form the sides or walls of the building.
When a sufficient number of slabs of slate or stone are built up in the grooves
of the iron framing to the height required to form one 100m, floor, or suite of
100ms, of proper and suitable dimensions, the top edges of the slabs are pro-
tected or covered by honzontal sills of iron, which are made to support the
flooring Joists for a second set of rooms above the first. These flooring joists
being made of on, and dovetailed into the non sills above mentioned, also
form ties to bind the several parts of the building together, and to keep the sides
of the house firm and secure, and in a vertical position. The flooring is also
composed of slabs of slate or stone, laid upon the horizontal bars, and cemented
together in any convenient manner. Light wooden joists may also be used, if
thought desirable, for the purpose of supporting a lath and plaster ceiling;
but in oider to form an efficient protection from fire, iron joists and fireproof
slabs of slate, stone, or other suitable material, should always be employed, in
addition to the wooden ones The chimneys may also be constructed of slabs
of slate on stone, jointed together, and the joints made perfectly an-tight, in
order to prevent smoke from issuing therefiom into the room
The roof is

page_text: formed of diagonal or sloping bars or afters. These sloping bais or afters
are supported at theu upper end by a longitudinal nge beam, and at the
lower end they abut against the it on sill pieces, which cover the top edge of
the walls The rafters are funished with grooves or flanges at then sides, for
the purpose of supporting the roof slabs, which may be made of much thumer
materials than the slabs which form the sides of the house The ends of the
roof slabs must of course be made to overlap cach other, and should be secured
by cement, so as to form a perfectly water-tight joint
In order, however, that my Invention may be clearly understood I have
shewn, in the accompanying Drawing, different views of a building constructed
according to my improvements, and also views of various detached parts of
which the same is composed The building of erection is raised upon a
foundation plate constructed of cast on, but wrought non may be used if
preferied, and if the building is to be of large dimensions, this plate must be
composed of various parts, which should be fimly bolted and secured together;
and before the foundation plate is permanently placed, the earth underneath
should be consolidated and made level, so as to present a compact, haid, and
even substiatum, not likely to yield to the supercumbent weight which will
be subsequently placed thereon In the foundation plate, at proper and con-
venient distances apart, are made square holes on sochets, for the purpose of
receiving the lower ends of the wrought-ion uprights which form the skeleton
framing.
Fig. 1, in the accompanying Drawings, represents a plan view of the
foundation plate A, A, A, A, such as would be requned for a small house or
crection, and which might therefore be cast or wrought in one piece, as
shewn in the Drawing. a*, a*, a*. a*, are the sockets or holes for the four
corner upights a, a, one of which is shewn in elevation and section at
Figure 2, and *, *, *, *, are similar holes or sockets, for the reception
of the lower ends of the intermediate uprights b, b, which scive to sup-
port the slabs of stone or slate c, c, c, c, which form the side and end
walls of the house Figure 4 represents a side elevation of a house con-
structed upon my improved plan. Figure 5 is an end elevation of the same.
Figure 6, a transverse vertical section taken in the line 1, 2, of Figure 4.
Figure 7 is a horizontal section or plan view, showing the wrought-non flooring
Joists in their places, but with the slabs which form the flooring removed; and
Figure 8 is a longitudinal vertical section taken in the line 3, 4, of Figure 7
The foundation plate A, A, having been firmly bedded upon a compact
and solid substratum of earth, the corner upughts a a, and interinciliate
uprights b, b, are fust placed and secured in their sockets a, a, and

page_text: , *, and, if required, are held by extraneous and temporary means in
a vertical position until some of the tie rods are permanently placed, which
cannot be done until a portion of the slabs, which form the side and end
walls, are secured-in-their proper places The ion uprights a, a, and b, b,
being secured in their sockets, the slabs of slate or stone c, c, c,-c, are.
then successively slidden into the grooves of the uprights, theů lower
edges resting upon and being supported by the foundation plate A, and
when a sufficient number of slabs have been built upon one another to a
height suitable for one set of rooms, their top edges are covered by sills d, d,
made of wrought or cast iron, in which are made dovetailed grooves or sockets
for the purpose of receiving the ends of the flooring joists e, e, e, e, (as seen
best in Figure 7,) which aic thereby also made to act as ties to bind the ends
of the structure together. The sides of the house are represented in the
Figures as bound together by the cross ties f. f, which are dovetailed into the
sills d, d, and by passing under the flooring joists e, e, in some measure help
to support them; the lower floor is also furnished with flooring joists arranged
precisely in the manneı alıcady descubed, and the flooring is formed of slabs
of slate-or-stone, -if the building is intended to be fireproof I would here
observe that in place of employing the sills d, d, in separate-lengths,-Lsome-
times make one length to extend from end to end of the building by passing
it through holes made through the uprights b, b By so doing the uprights
are made to relieve the lower slabs of the walls of a great portion of the
supenncumbent weight. The lower floor or suite of 100ms being thus com-
pleted and the flooring of the 100ms above laid, a second series of slabs of
slate or stone are built up in the grooves of the uprights a, a, and b, b, on the
top of the sills d d so as to form the walls of a second set of chambers above
the first, and when the walls are built up of a proper height, the top edges of
the slabs are covered with a second set of sills d, d, similar to the fist, and
furnished with dovetailed sockets to receive the ends of another set of joists,
which (if the space above is not intended to be used as chambers) need not be
so strong as the former ones, but must be of sufficient strength to act as tic
1ods, and to support the ceiling of the 100ms below The 100f is supported
the centre by a longitudinal ridge beam 9, 9, which runs from end to end
of the erection and supports the upper end of the 100f rafters h, h, the lower
ends of which abuts against the sills d, d, which latter are, however, prevented
by the ties f,f, from yielding to the stiam. Light slabs of slate are laid on
the rafters, and their end joints are made to lap over one another, as shewn
in the detached enlarged sectional views, Figures 9 and 10, for the purpose of
forming a water-tight joint when secured by cement The slabs are prevented

page_text: fiom slipping off the rafters by a projecting piece or hook against which they
est at the lower end of the rafters, and the sides of the slabs are secured by a
cap piece, which is secured to the vertical flange of the after by bolting or
other wise, which will effectually prevent them being raised up or displaced by
wind or otherwise The top joints of the roof slabs are secured and made
water-tight by a ridge or cap piece i. 2, made of non, zinc, slate, or other
suitable material. If the house is intended to be fireproof, the windows and
doors should be hung in iron or metal fiames, and I have shown in the end
view, Figure 5, a mode in which the windows and doors may be adapted in
this manner to my improvements. c is a nanow slab of slate or stone placed
in the grooves of the uprights and surmounted by an on sill piece d'. The
framing k, k, of the windows is made of cast or wrought iron, and rests upon
the sill piece d, and the space between the non framing and the uprights is
filled by narrow upright slabs cc, of the same height as the non window
framing, which, as well as the side slabs c, c, is secured in its place by a top
sill oi cap piece d² inade of non, and on this sill piece a second slab of slate,
stone, or other material is placed and surmounted by the sill piece d, in the
dovetailed sockets of which the floor joists of the floor above are secured as
above mentioned. The door is constructed and secured in its place in a similai
manner, it will not therefore be necessary to give any further description
of it, as the mode of adapting it to my system of erecting buildings will, with
the foregoing explanation in reference to the windows and an examination of
the Figure, be found amply sufficient And I would here observe, that in order
to avoid unnecessary complexity in the Diawing, I have only shown the situa-
tions of some of the other windows by dotted lines, and the number, situation,
and arrangement of the windows and doors must necessarily be left to the
Judgment and discretion of the builder, and will depend upon cucumstances,
and the purposes to which the building when erected is intended to be
applied. In the Diawings I have represented the chimneys as constructed of
slabs of slate held together by screw bolts 1,1,3, but I do not confine myself
to this mode of constructing them, as cucular, ovular, or other conveniently
shaped pipes made of earthenware or other suitable material may be employed,
o the chimneys may, if thought desurable, be built of buck in the ordinaı y
These points, as well as the arrangement of the doors and windows
above mentionel, are, however, left to the judgment and discretion of the
builder, and form no essential part of my Invention And I would further
observe, that in the foregomg desciption I have, to avoid unnecessary detail,
omitted to enter into any lengthened explanation of the manner in which
internal or external decorations or ornaments may be applied, as that must
manner

page_text: depend upon circumstances and the taste of the builder. It may, however, be
advisable to state that in addition to the iron joists, rafters, and uprights above
mentioned, other light ones of wood may also be employed for the purpose of
holding a lath and plaster covering for the walls and ceilings if required, and
that the uprights a, a, and b, b, and the sills d, d, which are visible externally,
may be covered over either with slate, stone, metal, or plaster, worked into
any ornamental device, such as pilasters or other suitable ornaments, so as to
hide such parts from view, and add to the architectural beauty of the building.
Having now described my improvements, and the manner of carrying the
samo into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to confine
myself to the precise arrangement or construction of parts hercin shewn and
described, as they may be varied without departing from the nature and
object of my Invention, nor do I intend to claim any portion of the above-
described improvements which may heretofore have been employed separately
for similar purposes; but that which I consider to be new, and therefore
wish to claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is, constructing houses, buildings, or other erections, of
labs of slate, stone, or other suitable-materials,-which are. capable, to a great
extent, of resisting the action of fire, such slabs of slate, stone or othe
materials being supported and held together by a framework of non or other
metal, for the purposes, in the manner, or upon the principle herein set forth
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph George, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-si\.
JOSEPH GEORGE (Ls.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-second day of
December, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Joseph George came
before our Lady the Queen in Hei Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tones of the Statute in that case made and provided.
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