USRE367E - Improved mode of constructing walls and floors of cellars - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

AUGUSTUS B MOEN,'OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED MODE 0F CONSTRUCII NG WALLS AND FLOORS 0F CELLARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,323, dated February 26, 1856; Reissue No. 367, dated April 8, 1856.

.declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description thereof and of its modifications.

Walls have been built indamp places, and for the purpose of holding water, usually with water-cement, which stands the dampness perfectly well, but does not exclude it penetrating through the wall, and is therefore inapplicable to form a dry'cellar or. basement. To effect this a coat of asphaltum or other analogous material has been laid upon the wall; but it was found impossible to make it stick. As-

phaltum and bitumen generally will not ad here to stone or brick that has any moisture in it, and therefore this was abandoned. \Valls have been built of perfectly dry material,with asphaltum as a cement; but to this there were two obj ectionszfFirst, it lacked the durability of a hydraulic-cement wall, and, secondly, it is too expensive for common purposes, and too difficult to work. All attempts to unite the two into one perfect homogeneous mass with building materials have failed, so far as my knowledge extends. It is true, cement and other foundations have been laid, and a coat of asphaltum, coal-tar, or other analogous bituminoussubstance has been spread over it; but theywere not united, and if water should get'under the exterior coating, with a head to force it, there would at once be a separation between it and the wall or water-cement below, there being no bond of union, between them. 7

My improvement is for the purpose of overcoming all the previously-existing difficulties by binding together in one homogeneous or perfectly united mass the water-cement, (of any kind or description which is mixed with Water,) the building material, (brick or stone,)

and asphaltum or its equivalent. To effect this I prepare the stones or bricks, or other material suited to the purpose to be used, by drying them thoroughly, and then coating one sideeof them with asphaltum or other bitumen, which, while they are in that state, firmly adheres to and incorporates itself therewith,

so that no after dampness can separate them.

.This coating can, if thought desirable, be exfeot surface over the whole wall, through which i no dampness can penetrate. This w'all possesses all the permanence and the valuable qualities of a cement or mortar wall, together with the additional invaluable advantages of a perfectly water-proofwall, by the intimate and indissoluble connection of two antagonistic cementsnamely, bitumen and hydraulic or other water cementby means of the stone, brick, or other proper material used in con structing the wall, either above, below, or on 1 the sides. Floors can be constructed in the same manner.

' Having thus fully described the characteristics of my invention, what I claim therein as new, and for which I desire to secure Letters Patent, is

The mode herein described of forming walls and floors by combining into one mass the water-cement and asphaltum or its equivalent by means of the solid building materials, as herein fully set forth, by which the asphaltum or its equivalent is caused perfectly to adhere to the bricks or stone of the wall built with a water-cement, which also adheres to the same stone or brick, as above described.

A- It. MOEN. IVitnesses J. J. GREENOUGH, JOHN WRIenT.

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