AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS, DRAINS, AND PIPES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF SEWAGE, WATER, OR GAS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Waite, of No. 7, Gloucester Street, Gloucester
Gate, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS,
DRAINS, AND PIPES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF SEWAGE, WATER, OR GAS."
Sealed the 31st October 1854, and dated the 12th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Waite at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
May 1854.
I, WILLIAM WAITE, of No. 7, Gloucester Street, Gloucester Gate, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION
OF SEWERS, DRAINS, AND PIPES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF SEWAGE, WATER, OR GAS,"
to be as follows:-
The improvement consists in the formation of blocks or pieces for the construc-
tion of sewers, drains, and pipes from irregular fragments of stone, gravel, or
other suitable materials, conjointly or seperately, caused to adhere and made into
-a-compact-mass-by-means-of-bitumenous compounds or other cements: The
blocks or pieces may be cast in moulds; for which purpose I prefer moulds
constructed of iron plates, capable of being put together or taken apart by

page_text: means of screws or otherwise. I fill the moulds indiscriminately with the
materials, which, when bitumenous cement is used, should all be in a warm or
heated state. The blocks or pieces may be cast in the form of lengths of pipe,
or segments of a circle, or other requisite shape, so that when put together they
may form a sewer, drain, or pipe of the required form and dimensions. Should
it be required, these blocks or pieces may be lined with iron, zine, glass, or other
metal or material, by placing a sheet or pipe of such metal or material inside
the mould, and casting the blocks or pieces upon the same.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to any precise form or dimensions or
mode of constructing the said blocks or pieces; neither do I claim the joining
together of bricks by cement, as now practised in the building of sewers; but
what I claim is, the manufacture of such blocks or pieces suitable for the con-
struction of sewers, drains, or pipes from irregular fragments of stone, gravel,
or other suitable materials, cemented together with bitumenous or other
cements, which blocks or picces may or may not, as the case may require, be
lined with iron, zinc, glass, or other suitable metal or material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Waite in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WAITE, of No. 7, Gloucester Street, Gloucester Gate, Regent's Park, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Waite, Her-special licence that I, the said William Waite, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Waite, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT
APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS, DRAINS, AND PIPES FOR THE CON-
VEYANCE OF SEWAGE, WATER, OR GAS," upon the condition (amongst others) that

page_text: I, the said William Waite, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 William Waite, 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 state-
ment:-
This improvement consists in the formation of blocks or pieces for the con-
struction of sewers, drains, or pipes from irregular fragments of stone, or from
gravel, sand, or other suitable materials, conjointly or separately, caused to
adhere and made into a compact mass by means of bituminous cement, and
lined or inlaid with zinc, glass, earthenware, or other suitable metal or
material. The blocks or pieces may be cast in moulds; for which purpose I
prefer moulds constructed of plates of iron, and capable of being put together
or taken apart by means of screws or wedges. The compound which I prefer
for manufacturing the said blocks or pieces consists of one part by weight of
the pitch from coal tar, such as retains some degree of toughness at the tem-
perature of from forty to fifty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, two parts
of chalk, or ashes, or burnt clay reduced to powder, and from four to six parts
of sharp sand, gravel, or stone dust. The quantities of these ingredients will,
however, admit of some variation, according to the quality of the pitch or other
bituminous cement used, which variations can only be determined by experi-
ment. These ingredients, being first made thoroughly dry, should be intimately
blended together, by being constantly stirred in a suitable vessel in which the
pitch or other bituminous matter is heated to a state of fusion. The blocks or
pieces may be cast in the form of lengths of pipe, or segments of a circle, or
other suitable shape, so that when put together they may constitute a sewer,
drain, or pipe of the required form and dimensions. I line these blocks or pieces
with zinc, glass, earthenware, or other suitable metal or material, by placing a
sheet or pipe of such metal or material in its proper place in the mould, and
casting the blocks, pieces, or lengths of pipe upon the same.
As a lining
for pipes to be used for the conveyance of water or gas, I prefer to use
carthenware pipes glazed or enamelled upon their interior surface, making
the bituminous coat upon the same of sufficient substance to withstand the
pressure to which such pipes may be required to be subjected; and as a further
means of strengthening and protecting such pipes, or pipes made of any other
materials, I place under the sanie a strip of wood as a longitudinal sleeper, as

page_text: represented by the Drawing; in which a represents the earthenware pipe;
b, the bitumenous compound; and c, the strip of wood; the said strip of wood
being cemented to the bitumenous coating by means of a portion of such
bitumenous coating in a liquid state.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to any precise form, dimensions, or
mode of constructing the said blocks or pieces; but what I claim is, the
manufacture of such blocks or pieces suitable for the construction of sewers;
drains, or pipes, from a mixture of the ingredients before named, or from some
two or more of them, the same being lined or inlaid with zinc, glass, earthen-
ware, or other suitable metal or material, and also the strengthening of pipes
so constructed, or pipes made of any other material or materials, by means
of longitudinal wood sleepers or strips of wood laid under and cemented to the
same.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Waite, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of Our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
VY.
WAITE. (L.S.)