IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS AND OTHER STRUCTURES AND IN THE BRICKS, BLOCKS OR COMPONENT PARTS THEREOF
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederico Bauder at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 14th September 1882.
FREDERICO BAUDER of Venezuela South America and temporarily of 53 Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
WALLS AND OTHER STRUCTURES AND IN THE BRICKS, BLOCKS OR COMPONENT PARTS
THEREOF
"
My Invention relates to improvements in the construction of walls, houses,
buildings and other structures in which the blocks bricks, or other component parts
used in such construction, are made to bond or interlock with one another both at
the horizontal and vertical joints by means of a tongue or tenon projecting centrally
along the top and one or both ends of one block fitting in corresponding mortises.
or recesses in the bottom and end, or ends, of the superposed and adjacent bricks or
blocks, whereby a structure of great strength may be erected with rapidity and
economy and, if desired, without the use of mortar or binding cement. The Inven-
tion also comprises bricks or blocks of special form embodying the same principle,
and adapted for use in particular parts of the building, such as piers, abutments,
pillars, corners, intersections of two or more walls, bays and other parts of a
structure in combination with blocks of the kind first referred to which are used
for the straight run of the walls. The same principle of the interlocking or bonding
together by tenon and mortise is also applied to the window, door, and other frames
fitted in openings in the masonry.
These improved building blocks may be of natural or artificial material and
worked or moulded of the desired form. They are generally rectangular blocks
and may be of any dimensions from those of ordinary bricks to any multiple thereof,
according to the intended thickness of the wall to which they would preferably be
equal in width, and they may, where intended for external or face work, be of such
configuration on their outer faces as to form mouldings or other decorative members
of the structure. One form of building block suitable for straight work has a
central longitudinal tongue or tenon, in thickness equal to about one third of the
thickness of the block, projecting along its upper surface and at one end, and in
the bottom surface and at the opposite end it has a corresponding groove or mortise
to receive the tongues or tenons of the adjacent blocks of similar form. Another

page_text: form of block has a similar tongue or tenon along the top and at both ends, and a
groove in the bottom only. This form of block would be used in combination or
alternately with blocks having a tenon along part of the top only, and grooves in
the bottom and at the two ends. Another form of block for use at abutments,
pillars and in like situations has a mortise and tenon extending along a portion only
of its top and bottom surfaces and a mortise or tenon at one end only the other
end being plain, and the joint at top and bottom thereof straight. Blocks L shaped
in plan and having L shaped tenons and mortises at top and bottom respectively,
and tenons at the ends, are used at the corners of a wall or building in courses
alternating with courses of blocks of similar shape but having mortises at the ends
so as to break joint with the former blocks. Blocks T shaped or cruciform in plan
and having tenons and mortises of similar shape at top and bottom respectively and
having tencns at the ends of the arms are used at the intersection of abutting or
crossing walls in courses alternating with courses of other blocks of similar shape
but having mortises at the ends. Blocks embodying the same principle and of
special form are used in special situations. Solid or hollow blocks of appropriate
shape and similarly formed with tenons and mortises on the top and bottom surfaces
are used for constructing pillars chimney flues &c.
Where walls are to be more than one brick or block in thickness their side
abutting faces may be bonded or interlocked together by tongue and groove
as before.
Blocks of appropriate shape may be used for arches vaults and similar structures
similarly bonded or interlocked together by tenons and mortises on their abutting
faces and ends.
The same principle of interlocking is applied to the window and door frames and
other wood work to be used in combination with the hereinbefore described blocks,
that is to say the said frames have ribs formed or applied upon them to engage
with the adjacent recesses of the blocks placed next to them.