The Stockade Building System was designed by
Richard Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more th ...
and his father-in-law, James Monroe Hewlett, and was patented in 1927.
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Both of them had previously formed a company, in 1922, which made bricks out of compressed wood shavings with vertical holes cast in them.
Design
The blocks were made up of a fibrous material with large
interstices between the fibers. (One suggested fiber was
excelsior
Excelsior may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry
* "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
* "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...
, which is also known as wood wool.) Despite having large interstices, Fuller and Hewlett designed the blocks so they would not be absorbent. To make the blocks, the fibers were coated with plaster and molded in a
form
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form may also refer to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...
.
This is called the Stockade Pneumatic Forming Process.
These blocks were cast with large holes in them so that a weight-bearing structure, such as concrete, could be poured inside them. The block's fibers were designed to be easily sawed so workers could cut holes in them to rest floor joists on the weight-bearing structure. The blocks came in various shapes and sizes. Some had two vertical holes for filling with concrete. Other blocks were much larger, with openings in the side for inserting large beams.
Field trials
The system was evaluated at a residence in
Tarpon Springs
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. Downtown Tarpon Springs has long been a focal point and underwent beautification in 2010. It is part of the Tampa Bay area. The population was 25,117 at the 2020 census.
As of ...
,
Florida
Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, in 1926.
“Florida’s New Product”, St. Petersburg Times, 25 March 1926
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Patent
On October 8, 1926, Fuller and Hewlett filed for a patent for their brick design. After several months, on June 28, 1927, they received US patent #1,633,702 entitled ''Building System''. It was an extension of Fuller's previous patent (US patent #1,604,097) from October 19, 1926.
See also
References
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Bricks