CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ARTIFICIAL BASALTIC LAVAS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
MICHEL BORGOGNON; of New Broad Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of August,
in the tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Jean Michael Borgognon, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, Her especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Jean Michel Borgognon, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Jean Michel Borgognon, my executors, adminis
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in-all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta:
tions abroad, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ARTIFICIAL BASALTIC
LAVAS," communicated to me from a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in
which sa
said 'Letters. Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Jean
Michel Borgognon, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to. be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery-within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto nad, w
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jean Michel Borgognon, have ascertained and set forth the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, in and by the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
The Invention consists in certain modes of operating upon the " "slag"
from blast furnaces and other furnaces, so as to convert it into a substance
which the Inventor denominates "Artificial Basaltic Lava," from its re-
semblance to natural basaltic lava. It has long be known that certain
substances completely melted, as glass, or partially melted, as the slag
produced in certain metallurgic operations, undergo, by slow cooling, a certain
physical modification termed porcelanisation or devitrification, by which
they are converted into an opaque substance extremely hard and tough,
giving sparks when struck by steel, and susceptible of polish, like many
volcanic products or hard natural stones. The object of the present Invention
is to render this fact available in manufacturing processes upon a large scale,
and the methods and processes employed for that purpose I shall now
proceed to describe, commencing with the preparation of the moulds.
The moulds may be formed of sand or loam in the manner usually practiced
in casting iron, but it is preferable to employ permanent moulds prepared as
follows: "Plates, slabs, or segments are formed in fire brick, and other
refractory material, of such form and dimensions as to constitute when
combined, moulds of the required form. When the parts of the mould
are united (by hooping or otherwise) they are imbedded in a thick layer of
sand or refractory clay worked up with charcoal powder, which is firmly
rammed round the mould in an iron or other framing which forms the external
covering. In order to prevent the material from adhering to the interior of
the moulds in the casting, the interior receives a coating of plumbago mixed
up with clay, or of other suitable substances. In lieu of forming the detached
segments of the permanent moulds of fire brick, they may be made of cast
iron, the same arrangements being observed as in the case of those made of
fire brick.
Heating the moulds.-The moulds being prepared as above described, are,
previous to casting the slag, heated internally to a very high temperature.
For this purpose, one or more holes are formed at each end of the moulds to
allow a current of flame or heated air to pass through the interior of the
moulds, and one or more of the apertures being connected either with a
furnace constructed for the purpose, or (which I prefer as more economical)

page_text: with the chimney of the blast furnace or other furnace about the works, the
flame and heated gases are directed through the moulds in a powerful current,
either by a blowing or an exhausting apparatus or any other suitable means.
The moulds may, if it is deemed desirable, be connected one with another in
such manner that when the mould which is nearest the source of the flame
and heated gases is raised to the desired temperature the flame is stopped off
from it and directed on to the others in succession. This mode of heating
the moulds is greatly superior to the common mode of heating in ovens, in
which the heat acts upon the whole mass; this causes a great consumption of
fuel, and also, from the heat acting upon the exterior, is liable to produce a
change of form in the mould, whereas by operating with a current of flame
admitted only to the interior of the moulds, they become heated internally to a
very high temperature without equally heating the outside, which should only
be sufficiently heated to prevent the too sudden cooling of the material after
it is cast.
Casting the materials. The moulds being prepared and heated as above
described, the melted slag is run into them and left therein to cool slowly.
For this purpose they may be placed in an oven or stove heated to a proper
heat, therein to remain until the material has acquired, by cooling, the charac-
teristics already described, or the moulds may be enveloped in sand or earth
mixed with coal dust and hot ashes, and allowed to cool by themselves.
The most economical process in casting is to allow the slag to flow direct
from the blast furnace either into the moulds or into the ordinary receiving
pots, as in casting iron; but the slag may be allowed to run out into a
reverberatory furnace similar to a puddling furnace, or into any other suitable
furnace, and thence run into moulds prepared and heated as herein-before
described, and the cold slags or fragments of the stones previously made may
be remelted in that or any other suitable furnace. Where the slag is run
directly from the blast furnace into the moulds, it is advisable that the holes at
which the blast enters be raised six or eight inches, or as much as is necessary
to ensure a proper height above the slags, and then to retain the slags in the
furnace with a plug or plugs in the same manner as the melted iron is retained,
and to permit it (the slag) to flow out only as required to fill the moulds.
It is necessary to prevent as much as possible any scoriæ or other extraneous
matter from entering the moulds with the melted slags, as the proper strength
and cohesion of the product are thereby much diminished; the slags therefore,
when requisite, should be received from the blast furnace or other furnace
into the receiving pot (previously heated to a high temperature) in order that
it may be well skimmed before it is allowed to run into the moulds;

page_text: colouring materials may be mixed with the slag, whereby the aspect of the
product may be diversified. When the castings have become sufficiently
cooled, the moulds are uncovered and the castings removed from the moulds
and dressed as requisite, either by merely removing the jets, roughnesses, or
by sawing, turning, or polishing, &c.
What is claimed in the aforesaid Invention is, the running of what is called
the slag in furnaces (as where iron ore is being melted) either directly into
moulds heated as herein-before described for the purpose, or into moulds so
heated after the slag has been previously run into or remelted in a reverbera-
tory or other furnace, as herein-before described, and the gradually cooling
such castings, as herein-before described, in order to produce what the Inventor
calls artificial basaltic lavas."
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Michel Borgognon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
]
Taken and acknowledged by Jean
Michel Borgognon (party hereto),
at Paris, in the Kingdom of France,
this Fourth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-
SAVAD
hoform"
J. M. (L.s.) BORGOGNON.

page_text: Borgognon, before the said Thomas Pickford, on the said Fourth day of
February, at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas
Pickford.