IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE
Year: 1854

page_text: ford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th February 1854.-A communication.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn,
(City) London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE" to be as
follows, viz. :-
The raw material, such as sandy and carthy substances, from which artificial
stone is generally formed, having been fused, chilled, and pulverized in the
usual way, my improvements consist in adding to the powder a certain quantity
of unbleached wax, so as to render the powder cohesive and capable of
retaining the forms given to it by moulding, carving, or any other method.
The proportion of wax which I prefer to use in the mixture, is about four
or five parts to one hundred parts weight of powder; the wax is added to the
powder in the melted state, the powder having been heated in earthen or
enamelled iron vessels; whilst hot the two together are thoroughly mixed or
levigated, and thus ready for use. After the articles have been formed from
this paste, they are exposed in drying stoves and on plates of fire clay to a
temperature which is sufficiently high for volatilizing the wax contained in the
articles, after which they are burnt in the furnace.

page_text: This furnace is characterized by a horizontal tube of fire clay, which is shut
at one end and is surrounded by the burning fuel in the fire place of the
furnace.
Into this tube are put the articles to be treated, being thus protected from
the oxydizing action of the air in the furnace.
For producing marbled or striped articles, layers of differently coloured
substances, prepared with wax. as above, are superposed in a box of suitable
dimensions, and with the required change of colours. The whole is then
subjected to a considerable pressure, which causes the layers to adhere to each
other.
A
The layers are then cut off transversely in the thickness required by a saw,
and from this striped mass the desired article is produced, as above described.
The mass treated with wax in the above manner is applicable to the
manufacture of articles of jewelry, trinkets, plate, porcelain, &c.
For making buttons, the button is formed in the above manner, care being
taken to put in the places where the holes are to be, small pieces of infusible
alumina.
The buttons are treated on plates of fire clay in the manner above described.
If the button is to have a metallic shank, it is moulded in moulds formed in
a plate of fire clay; these moulds have cavities at the bottom for putting the
shanks in, and the space about the portion of the shank that has to be out of
the button is filled up with melted tallow.
The powder being filled in and the plate subjected to a melting heat, the
root of the shank will be firmly fixed in the melted matter. After cooling, the
buttons are finished by inserting their shanks on a plate of fire clay, and
subjecting them again to a glazing heat. For producing imitations of mosaic
work, I mould each component part of the design in wooden moulds; I then
join the different pieces in a frame, to which I apply a powerful pressure, so as
to make the different pieces adhere to each other. The whole mass is then
sawed into layers of the required thickness, which are burnt as usual.
Statues and other works of art may also be imitated by forming them first
in wax, and taking a fire clay mould off this model, which is then melted.
The hollow mould is filled slowly with the powdered mass and subjected to
a high temperature; this mass, as it melts, penetrates into the cavities of the
mould, thus forming a solid copy of the original model.