UFACTURING
Year: 1898

page_text: A communication from abroad by the LITHOSITE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, a
corporation under the laws of the State of Missouri, of Saint Louis in said State,
in the United States of America.
I, PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE, of 55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to a new and useful process of manufacturing cement, the
object being to reduce the cement to a powdered form which can be used for paints,
or for any use to which Portland cement is now put.
It has been found by experiment that a cement manufactured under the following
processes is stronger than ordinary cement, and may be applied to many uses to
which Portland cement is not applicable.
The processes which have been followed, or which have been practiced, in making
this improved cement, consist in taking a quantity of mother liquor of sea water,
preferably selecting that which is free of chloride of sodium. This mother liquor
of sea water consists of chloride of magnesium, with, perhaps, a little sulphate of
magnesium. This mother liquor of sea water is placed in a suitable receptacle, and
heat is applied until the greater part of the water is evaporated. This step of the
process is preferably continued until the specific gravity reaches about thirty-six (36)
degrees B. With this chloride of magnesium is then mixed a quantity of magnesium
oxide, equal to about one-third or one-fourth of the weight of the chloride of
magnesium. This magnesium oxide prevents the magnesium chloride from
decomposing when heat is again applied. After the magnesium oxide is mixed with
the chloride of magnesium, a higher degree of heat is applied to drive off as much of
the water as possible, which results in a product comprising soft and porous lumps.
These lumps are then mixed with calcined magnesite in the proportion of about 1:2,
or 1:3, depending upon the uses to which the resultant powdered cement is to he
applied. This calcined magnesite and the lumps, consisting of chloride of magnesium
and magnesium oxide, are ground to a fine powder, after which the cement is ready
to be placed on the market. If the cement is to be used as a paint, the powder is
ground very finely, and mixed with a suitable quantity of water which acts as a
vehicle, the water subsequently evaporating, leaving a coating of cement on the
article painted. The cement can, also, be mixed with water, and be used for
common to Portland cement, that is, in conjunction with suitable fillers.
purposes
Instead of obtaining the chloride of magnesium from the mother liquor of sea
water, as above described, commercial chloride of magnesium may be used. As
commercial chloride of magnesium frequently contains calcium chloride, the per-
centage of such calcium chloride is ascertained, and a corresponding percentage of
D
077

page_text: oxalic acid or oxalate of ammonia is used to neutralize the said calcium chloride.
The result is that the oxalic acid or oxalate of ammonia and calcium chloride combine,
forming an oxalate of lime which is neutral to the other ingredients of the cement,
and acts merely as a filler. By thus neutralizing the calcium chloride, the cement is
prevented from sweating or slacking after the cement is applied to any of its uses,
which would happen were the calcium chloride still present.
To prevent the chloride of magnesium from crystallizing after the water is
evaporated therefrom, it is preferred to introduce about ten per cent (10%) of
pulverized burnt clay which quickens the process of drying, and tends, also, to keep
the chloride of magnesium in a dry state, and prevents it from packing, and gumming
when it is ground with the calcined magnesite.
Another formula, also, can be used to produce the improved cement, in which
boracic acid is introduced 'into mother liquor of sea water in about the proportion of
from five to fifteen per cent. of boracic acid. Heat is applied to drive off the water,
the resultant product being a double salt, borate and oxy-chloride of magnesium.
This double salt is ground with calcined magnesite in about the proportions of 1:3
or 14, to obtain the cement in a powdered form.
The above two formulas produce a very strong cement, which, from tests, has been
found to be superior to Portland cement. In some instances, it may be desirable to
produce a cement which can be used as a mortar, or for other like purposes, and, if
mother liquor of sea water is not readily accessible without a prohibitory expense,
sulphate of magnesium and sulphate of aluminium is taken in about equal proportions,
and reduced to powder and mixed with two or three times as much calcined
magnesite.
It will, of course, be understood that proper coloring matter can be used with these
different cements, care being taken that such coloring matter will not chemically
affect the ingredients of the cement.
The proportions given in the above formulas may be changed, and, perhaps, the
method of mixing altered to suit the different processes, or, possibly, other ingredients
may be used in addition to those specified to obtain a cement having certain qualities
not present in the cements herein set forth, and it may be possible to substitute an
equivalent for one or more of the ingredients of my cements, and, therefore, it should
be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact ingredients herein
specified, nor to the relative proportions of said ingredients.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in reducing
mother liquor of sea water by evaporating the water therefrom, adding magnesium
oxide, subjecting the mass to heat to drive off water, and then grinding or mixing
calcined magnesite with the roasted mass, substantially as described.
2. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in steaming
mother liquor of sea water, reducing the same, adding magnesium oxide to the
steamed mass, heating this mixture to drive off as much water as possible, which
produces soft and porous lumps, and then grinding these lumps with calcined
magnesite, substantially as described.
3. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in taking
chloride of magnesium, adding oxalic acid or oxalate of ammonia to neutralize any
calcium chloride which may be present in the chloride of magnesium, and then
grinding said chloride of magnesium with magnesium oxide and calcined magnesite,
substantially as described.
4. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in taking
chloride of magnesium, adding burnt clay thereto, and then grinding the same with
calcined magnesite, substantially as described.
5. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in heating
mother liquor of sea water, to reduce the same, adding boracic acid which results in

page_text: a double salt, and grinding the two salts so formed with calcined magnesite, sub-
stantially as described.
6. The herein described process of making cement, the same consisting in grinding
sulphate of magnesium and sulphate of aluminium with calcined magnesite, sub-
stantially as described.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE.