IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF A COMPOSITION OR COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING THE SURFACES OF WALLS, METALS, WOOD, AND " MATERIALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Prosper Pimont, of Rouen, in the Empire of
France, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF A COMPOSITION OR COMPOSITIONS
FOR PRESERVING THE SURFACES OF WALLS, METALS, WOOD, AND
"
MATERIALS."
OTHER
Sealed the 4th November 1870, and dated the 14th May 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Prosper Pimont at
1. the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th May 1870.
66
"
I, PROSPER PIMONT, of Rouen, in the Empire of France, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF A COMPOSITION OR
COMPOSITIONS FOR PRESERVING THE SURFACES OF WALLS, METALS, WOOD, AND OTHER
MATERIALS," to be as follows :—
r
.
My Invention relates to a composition for covering the external or
internal surfaces of walls and other parts of buildings to protect them
from damp; also for covering woods to be used in buildings; also for

page_text: covering the brickwork or clothing of furnaces or boilers and the metallic
surfaces of steam and hot water pipes and similar apparatus. The said
composition is adapted to prevent the radiation of heat and to protect
surfaces from damp.
The mode of its manufacture and the proportions of its ingredients are
varied for different uses.
When required to be used in large quantities the composition may be
made as follows:-One thousand pounds of potter's earth is mixed with
a suitable quantity of water and made into a paste similar to ordinary
mortar. To this is added a mixture of twenty pounds of common oil and
four pounds of fish oil, and the whole is stirred. Then a separate mixture
is made of twelve pounds of balls of arachis, line, or other similar plant, in
a suitable quantity of water to form a paste, and this is spread over that
previously obtained. Then there are pulverised separately eight pounds
of vegetable or animal charcoal or any suitable animal or vegetable black,
and this powder is distributed over the whole mass of paste, and the
whole is well stirred. After having previously beaten twenty-four pounds
of coarse hair in order to open it well the filaments are strewed in small
portions over the paste, at the same time agitating the material in
all directions in order to produce a homogeneous mass like mortar,
and which is similarly applied to the surfaces required to be covered
with it.
For the manufacture of a composition applicable to metallic surfaces.
and to apparatus heated directly by fire the mode of proceeding is the
same as before, but the proportions and ingredients are altered. The
composition in this case would be made of one thousand pounds of
potter's earth, twenty pounds of common oil, four pounds of fish oil,
sixteen pounds of balls of arachis, twelve pounds of soot, fourteen pounds
of pulverised animal or vegetable black or charcoal, eighteen pounds of
sawdust or wood in powder, and twenty-eight pounds of coarse hair.
The soot should be mixed with the pulverized charcoal beforehand, so
that they may be thrown in together. The sawdust will be strewed
immediately after the mixture of the soot and the charcoal. And, finally,
after having put in the hair the whole will be agitated as in the former
case.
:
For the manufacture of a composition to be used as a covering for
steam pipes, and cylinders, and other similar apparatus, the proportions
would be about one thousand pounds of potter's earth, twenty-four

page_text: pounds of common oil, six pounds of fish oil, twenty pounds of balls of
arachis, sixteen pounds of soot, eighteen pounds of vegetable or animal.
black or charcoal in powder, sixteen pounds of sawdust or wood in.
powder, and thirty-four pounds of coarse hair.
Instead of the potter's earth which is employed as a base for the
composition chalk may be used, or chalky earth, or a mixture of the
two last (either. separately or together), either with or without potter's
earth.
Other ingredients and coloring matters may also be combined with
the said mixtures for particular applications of the composition.
The said composition or compositions is or are applied to the different
surfaces referred to, like as mortar or plaster are applied, care being
taken in some cases to leave air spaces by means of open lathwork or
otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Prosper Pimont in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PROSPER
PIMONT, of Rouen, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year;
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Prosper Pimont, Her special licence,
that I, the said Prosper Pimont, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Prosper Pimont, 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 MANUFACTURE AND APPLICATION OF A COMPOSITION OR COMPOSITIONS FOR
PRESERVING THE SURFACES OF WALLS, METALS, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Prosper Pimont,

page_text: my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Prosper Pimont, 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 statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture and Application
of a Composition or Compositions for Preserving the Surfaces of Walls,
Metals, Wood, and other Materials," relates to a composition for cover-
ing the external or internal surfaces of walls and other parts of buildings
to protect them from damp; also for covering woods to be used in
buildings and for other uses; also for covering the brickwork or clothing
of furnaces or boilers, and the metallic surfaces of steam and hot water
pipes and similar apparatus. The said composition is adapted to
prevent the radiation of heat and to protect surfaces from damp.
The mode of its manufacture and the proportions of its ingredients are
varied for different uses.
When required to be used in large quantities the composition may be
made as follows:
:-One thousand pounds of potter's earth is mixed with
a suitable quantity of water and made into a paste similar to ordinary
mortar. To this is added a mixture of twenty pounds of common oil
and four pounds of fish oil, and the whole is stirred. Then a separate
mixture is made of twelve pounds of balls of arachis, line, or other similar
plant, in a suitable quantity of water to form a paste, and this is spread
over that previously obtained. Then there are pulverized separately
eight pounds of vegetable or animal charcoal, or any suitable animal or
vegetable black, and this powder is distributed over the whole mass of
paste, and the whole is well stirred. After having previously beaten
twenty-four pounds of coarse hair in order to open it well the filaments
are strewed in small portions over the paste, at the same time agitating
the material in all directions in order to produce a homogeneous mass
like mortar, and which is similarly applied to the surfaces required to be
covered with. it.

page_text: For the manufacture of a composition applicable to metallic surfaces
and to apparatus heated directly by fire the mode of proceeding is the
same as before, but the proportions and ingredients are altered. The
composition in this case would be made of one thousand pounds of
potter's earth, twenty pounds of common oil, four pounds of fish oil,
sixteen pounds of balls of arachis, twelve pounds of soot, fourteen pounds
of pulverised animal or vegetable black or charcoal, eighteen pounds of
sawdust or wood in powder, and twenty-eight pounds of coarse hair.
The soot should be mixed with the pulverised charcoal beforehand, so
that they may be thrown in together. The sawdust will be strewed
immediately after. the mixture of the soot and the charcoal; and, finally,
after having put in the hair the whole will be agitated as in the former
case.
For the manufacture of a composition to be used as a covering for
steam pipes and cylinders and other similar apparatus the proportions
would be about one thousand pounds of potter's earth, twenty-four
pounds of common oil, six pounds of fish oil, twenty pounds of balls of
arachis; sixteen pounds of soot, eighteen pounds of vegetable or animal
black or charcoal in powder, sixteen pounds of sawdust or wood in
powder, and thirty-four pounds of coarse hair.
Instead of the potter's earth, which is employed as a base for the com-
position, chalk may be used, or chalky earth, or a mixture of the two last
(either separately or together), either with or without potter's earth.
Other ingredients and colouring matters may also be combined with
the said mixtures for particular applications of the composition.
MODES OF APPLICATION..
For Walls of Buildings. In order to protect rooms from damp that
is not permanent, the composition herein-before first described is applied
as mortar in one or two thin coats over the surface to be covered, but
when the damp is very great and permanent an air space is left by
means of a rather wide lathwork which is covered with plaster, such
lathwork being connected by fixed supports against the damp wall. In
order to prevent injury to the said supports from contact with the damp
walls, and to prevent the damp rising up the walls when the said lath-
work is used, two means are employed..
The first means consists in impregnating the wood of the supports
either with tar or a solution of acetate or sulphate of copper or other

page_text: equivalent solution or with the composition. Again, for greater security
a small plate of lead may be fixed under the supports only where they.
come in contact with the wall, which will just prevent them from touch-.
ing the damp wall.
And the second means, having reference to the prevention of the
damp rising up the walls, consists in taking care in fixing the
supports against the wall to arrange them so as to break their continuity
at intervals, in order that the current of air. established between the lath-
work and the wall may not be interrupted. .
In order to obtain the current of air a small opening is made at one
end of the apartment on the outside, at a suitable height, for the entrance
of the air, and at the other end at the lowest part another similar
opening for its exit.. The application of the composition with an
intervening air space formed between two or more partitions of lath-
work may also be used to prevent the transmission of sound from one
apartment to another.
Finally in order to prevent damp from the ground changing the
composition at the bottom of a wall or of a partition one or two courses
of hollow bricks are laid where a current of air is provided. Or wood
with a plate of lead passing under it, and rising on each side of it above a
the level of the ground, may be inserted under the composition. Oil
or paint used in the several compositions renders them applicable
for, preserving the internal and external surfaces of buildings, walls,
partitions of wood, metal, or other material...
Woods used for building and other purposes may also be preserved á
long time from decay, and from destruction by insects, by impregnating
or covering them with the composition..
With reference to the casings of furnaces and boilers when the com-.
position is required to be applied to the surface whether outside or inside,.
it will be employed as mortar in one or more coats of suitable thickness,
as in the case of buildings, but when an air space is required to be left
between the composition and the said surface the application must be.
made on lathwork:as on metallic surfaces.
For Metallic Surfaces:-When the composition is required to be in
immediate contact with the surface it will be used as a mortar of the
requisite thickness. This mode of application will be especially
applicable for apparatus licated to at least three hundred degrees. The

page_text: composition may be improved as to preventing the radiation of heat by
the aerated application, that is, by the air occupying a space at a small
distance from the surface and being a bad conductor of heat. Two sorts
of compositions are employed for this purpose, one at a very low price
herein-before first described, intended to be first applied to heated
surfaces, the other is that herein-before secondly and thirdly described
to be placed over the first on the outer surface. After covering the
surface with a first and second coating battens of wood of suitable.
thickness are placed to form supports at intervals, and to receive laths
of wood previously impregnated with composition, thereby leaving, a.
space between them and the metallic surface. This first set of laths.
may be covered by a coating of composition or even by a second coating,,
then on the outside one or two coatings of the composition secondly and
thirdly described.
For covering pipes it is advisable first to surround them with hemp
impregnated with the composition, then to box them with semicircular
pieces of wood connected together. On these supports will be fitted*
laths covered with composition on the inside, which laths will be
afterwards covered therewith on the outside, and if desired a second set.
of laths also covered with composition:
In apparatus of large dimensions, in order to prevent liability to
cracking of the composition, holes are pierced in order to form a com
munication between the external air and the air space, and allowing an
outlet for steam that may escape.
Instead of applying the composition entirely on the spot the casing
to be covered' may be prepared in great part beforehand in the modes
herein-after described, and thus adapted to be afterwards finished as
required. On semi tubes of wood placed concentrically with the pipes.
and at suitable distances apart, laths of wood are applied. These laths:
should be made to fit into each other at the ends in order to prevent the
composition with which they are covered from getting through, to the.
surface.. Two. or more. laths placed. end to. end may form: cylindrical.
coverings for a limited length;.casily portable, but provision has to be
made for greater lengths by: means of coupling boxes which may be:
moveable and composed of felt; and, held. by clamps on a kind of wicker-.
work. The laths used for the finished covering which entirely surrounds.
the pipe will be covered with composition on one or two sides, and

page_text: bound together by this plaster which hardens by drying and heat. A
second layer of composition may also be applied, to be covered while wet
with another layer of laths and with composition over them. The
second layer of laths will be the same as the first, except that they may
be shorter and more numerous and made to cover joint.
In the foregoing manner may be despatched casings prepared before-
hand, that being the principal part of the work that can be done out of
the establishment. The other part must be done on the spot by
proceeding as follows:-The casings prepared as above stated in semi-
circular form are brought together to enclose the pipe required to be
covered. The junction is effected by iron bands and covered with
composition to make a smooth outer surface, and the whole is finished
by a last covering of composition to which has been added oil, not
boiled, thereby rendering the composition more tenacious and durable.
The bands of iron over and round the first set of laths may be of a
certain distance apart and covered by the second layer of composition,
which receives the second set of laths. The bands so retained between
two layers of composition will be long enough to extend beyond the
parts to be fitted, and will allow of the latter being brought together and
bound more easily and more solidly.
The casings of laths prepared beforehand may take the place of the
wickerwork for receiving the felts, often used by preference to cover
pipes of small diameter. In all cases, instead of laths, plaits or twists
of straw may be used, to be in like manner interposed between the
layers of composition.
Laths when employed should be moistened to prevent them from
warping, and the laths of the second set should be placed as much as
possible over the junctions of the first set, so as to cover joint both
longitudinally and transversely.
Curved pipes can only be covered in their place. For this purpose
wickerwork sufficiently light and flexible is preferable, especially if
moistened, so as to follow the curvature. The wickerwork is supported
in a similar manner to the aerated casings, the two parts of which are
bound together by a band of iron. This application is covered by
several layers of composition and two of laths retained in the com-
position, the last layer of which being quite smooth should fit with that
of the aerated casings covering the right parts of the pipes. This
.

page_text: application on the bends may be replaced by coverings of felt arranged
like the coupling boxes which are fitted on the bridles of pipes.
"
The plates of cylinders, domes of steam chests, projecting parts of
boiler tubes, man holes, and other parts having to be removed or taken
to pieces, may also be surmounted by tops covered with composition or
felt, or may even be metallic, with or without the interposition of an
air
space and may be mounted or taken down at will.
The advantage of the aerated. application is especially found in large
steam apparatus and marine boilers, the casing of which may be com-
posed of several panels in lathwork adjusted by means of cramp irons,
or otherwise, and admitting of being easily taken apart. This advantage
is also found in the application to pipes, for the two joined parts have
only to be opened and reunited after repairs and covered lightly with
composition to conceal the fittings and make the surface smooth again.
This simple and economical manner of fitting the casings may be
equally employed on first putting them together.
Care should be taken to avoid putting the composition on to the iron
supports for the pipes or other apparatus, so as not to produce flaws by
expansion. The same applies to pipes placed near walls, that is to
say, that on the side of the masonry the composition ought to be the
thinnest, and it should be kept equal in all other parts, so as to maintain
between the pipe and the wall as small a space as possible.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is,--
First. The manufacture of the composition herein-before described,
adapted for use in the construction of furnaces and other similar
structures, and also for use between boilers and their coverings in
masonry or in metal.
Secondly. The manufacture of the composition herein-before described
applicable to metallic surfaces and to all apparatus heated directly by
fire.

page_text: And lastly. The modes herein-before described of applying the said
composition or compositions to their several uses.
In witness whereof I, the said .Prosper Pimont, have hereunto set
my.hand and seal, the Sixth day of October, in the year of our
.Lord One thousand eight.hundred and seventy.
DDOSDED DIMONT