provements in the Production of Materials suitable for Use as Imitation Ice for Skating Purposes
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 4th May, 1895-Accepted, 4th May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in the Production of Materials suitable for Use as
Imitation Ice for Skating Purposes
I REGINALD HADDAN of the Firm of Herbert Haddan & Co of 18 Buckingham
Street Strand, WC London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature or this
invention, a communication to me from abroad by Auguste Henry Gouts of
1 Rue Pierre Dilley, Paris in the Republic of France, Chemist, and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement
―
This invention has for its object the production of a material from neutral
crystallizable salts presenting, in a mass, an aspect similar to ice, and which may
be equally used for skating purposes The new process consists in using, as main
ingredient hydrated carbonate of soda with an addition of boracic acid which when
combined with said carbonate of soda causes the formation of an octahedral borate
having the property of preserving its solid state in dry au, whereas the prismatic
borate which is formed by crystallization in solutions indicating 22° Baume,
becomes efflorescent and opaque
The mode of producing the above described material is as follows
In a boiler or any other ve sel capable of withstanding the action of any furnace
or heat (whether from steam ciculation, water bath, oil bath, sand bath or the
action of naked fire, wood, coal or coke fire or the like) are placed the substances,
previously pulverized by means of stampers or crushers in the following pro-
portions Hydrated carbonate of soda 98 parts, boracic acid 2 parts, adding to it
9 to 10 parts of water in order to diminish the dehydration that arises in
consequence of the high temperature (104 degrees Centigrade) to which the
mixture is brought
On a perfectly flat, neutral and water-tight surface, divided into as large blocks
as possible, the salt dissolved in the water of crystallization and presenting an
absolutely fluid liquid form of perfect limpidity, is poured out by means of
watering pots, the tube of which does not end in an ordinary rose head, but in a
kind of metallic fan or spreader thereby allowing of the liquid being spread out in
excessively thin sheets Each such successive casting or coating should not add to
the thickness of the preceding bed more than 2 millimeters and it is only required
to moisten this bed and to repeat the same procedure as solidification takes place
By these means the formation of large crystals is prevented, and a bed of any
thickness (practically 6 to 8 centimeters) and perfectly homogeneous is obtuned,
while it produces an interlaced structure which assures great solidity to the
mass The surfaces produced by the same process, are geometrically plane and
absolutely even and their appearance resembles entirely that of ice that is
produced by heavy frost on canals, rivers or other sheets of water Its
maintenance is extremely easy, it is only necessary to preserve the solidified
mass in a constant bygrometric state, for excess of humidity as well as extreme
dryness are equally to be avoided The best means of preserving this state
consists in covering the surface of the imitation ice before or after the time to be
devoted to skating purposes with a saline composition resembling snow in its
whiteness and crystalline appearance of snow, but differing therefrom in not
showing any trace of humidity and in not melting under the touch
This composition the formula of which is Na,O, SO, + 10 H₂O, being sulphate
of soda crystallized in the form of needles when interposed between the air and the

page_text: surface of the imitation ice prevents the formation of a sesquicarbonate which latter
combination would be detrimental to the slippery quality of the ice
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
-
The process substantially as described of producing imitation ice by means of
chemical neutral substances having as basis the hydrated salts (salts of soda or
others) soluble in their water of crystallization the said materials being suitable for
ice for skating purposes
י
R HADDAN