IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF STONE, EITHER NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL ALSO OF CEMENTS AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT
to Benjaman Horatio Paul, of Torrington Street,
Torrington Square, in the County of Middlesex, Chemist, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF STONE, EITHER NATURAL
OR ARTIFICIAL ALSO OF CEMENTS AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS."
Sealed the 25th September 1857, and dated the 1st April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjaman Horatio Paul
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st April 1857.
I, BENJAMAN HORATIO PAUL, of Torrington Street, Torrington Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF STONE. EITHER
NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL. ALSO OF CEMENTS AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS," to be
as follows:-
This I effect by applying to the stone, &c. solutions of the aluminates of
soda, potash, or of other aluminates; also of the zincates of soda or potash, or
phosphates of alumina or zinc in solution. by alkalies: also similar preparations
of lead or molybdenum.
These solutions are employed either alone, or (for the purpose of more
effectually filling the interstices or pores at the surface of the stone, &c.),
mixed with finely powdered substances, which are little liable to be affected by
the atmospheric influences existing in towns. The substances to be used for

page_text: this purpose are silica, carbonates of magnesia, baryta, or zinc, sulphate of
baryta, French chalk, and other similar substances. The material thus intro-
duced into the pores may be coloured by the addition of oxide of iron,
plumbago, or other suitable pigment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benjaman Horatio Paul, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
HORATIO PAUL, of Torrington Street, Torrington Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Chemist, send greeting."
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Benjamin Horatio Paul, Her special licence that I, the said Benjamin
Horatio Paul, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Benjamin Horatio Paul, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRESERVATION OF STONE, EITHER NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL,
ALSO OF CEMENTS AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPOSITIONS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Benjamin Horatio Paul, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or other, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, 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 Benjamin Horatio Paul, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:
This I effect by applying to the stone, etc. solutions of the aluminates of
soda, potash, or of other aluminates; also of the zincates of soda or potash,

page_text: or phosphates of alumina or zinc, in solution. by alkalies: also similar pre-
parations of lead or molybdenum. These solution sare employed either alone,
or (for the purpose of more effectually filling the interstices or pores at the
surface of the stone, etc.), mixed with finely powdered substances, which are
little liable to be affected by the atmospheric influences existing in towns. The
substances to be used for this purpose are silica, carbonate of magnesia, baryta,
or zinc, sulphate of baryta. French chalk, and other similar substances. The
material thus introduced into the pores may be colored by the addition of
oxide of iron, plumbago. or other suitable pigment. The aluminates of
potash and soda and other aluminates may be obtained, and also applied in
several ways to the materials to be preserved from atmospheric action, but I
prefer igniting alumina with the carbonates or hydrates of the aluminate to
be formed and as an example, for aluminate of soda I fuse 50 parts of
alumina with 60 parts of dry carbonate of soda; the alumina expels the
carbonic acid from the carbonate of soda, and leaves an aluminate white like
enamel, perfectly soluble in cold water: but the action of the atmosphere upon
this solution is to render it turbid. This turbidity, however: is not found to
interfere with the value of the solution, but, on the contrary, is in some
instances, such as when the material to be coated is highly porous, found bene-
ficial, and led me mechanically to mix with the solution to be employed finely
powdered substances, such as silica, carbonates of magnesia, baryta, or zinc,
sulphate of baryta, French chalk, and other similar substances, and the mate-
rial thus introduced into the pores may be colored by the addition of oxide of
iron, plumbago, or other suitable pigment. In some instances the substance
to be coated may be immersed in the solution of aluminate, and in others.
when this cannot be accomplished, the solution is applied by a brush or such
suitable instrument. Zincates of potash and soda may be obtained in various
ways: I prefer, however, to prepare solutions of zincates of silica or potash as
follows, namely: by boiling 2 parts of hydrated oxide of zinc in 5 parts of
soda or potash ley of specific gravity 13. Phosphates of alumina and zinc,
although insoluble in water, are rendered soluble by an addition of caustic
alkali to the water, and for this purpose I prefer to use the phosphates and
alkali much in the same proportion to each other as with the oxide of zinc
experiment, detailed above; and hydrated phosphates are preferred to anhydrous.
In preparing the material, solutions of combinations of lead and molybdenum
with the alkalies known as plumbates and molybdates may be employed in a
similar manner in preserving stone and other similar porous materials. The
plumbates I prefer to obtain by fusing peroxide of lead with an excess of
hydrate of soda or potash. The alkali should be in excess, as plumbate of

page_text: lead is decomposed in contact with pure water, but dissolves without decom-
position in a solution of caustic alkali. The molybdate I prefer to employ, on
account of its cheapness and easy preparation, is obtained by deflagrating one
part of native sulphide of molybdenum with three parts of nitre. This s--t is
readily soluble in water, and more especially when a small quantity of a caustic
alkali has been added to it, which I prefer to do. All these solutions which I
have described may be employed in a similar manner as the aluminates first
described. that is to say. alone or mixed with each other, or mixed with finely
powdered substances, of which mention has already been made.
In witness whereof, I. the said Benjamin Horatio Paul, have hereunto
set my hand and seal. this Twenty-seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
BENJ H. PAUL. (...)
Witness,
Minach Simbach