IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ellis, of the Town of Port Hope, in the
Province of Canada, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE."
Sealed the 10th November 1857, and dated the 16th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th May 1857.
I, JOSEPH ELLIS, of the Town of Port Hope, in the Province of Canada,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE," to be as follows:-
I manufacture artificial stone by combining or cementing together pul-
verized stone, brick, earth, and other materials, as herein-after mentioned.
The chief cementing materials employed are lime and silicate of soda or
potash, or both, or all of those substances; thus by melting quartz or silica in
fine powder with potash or soda, or carbonate of potash or soda, or both, in
proper proportions, a soluble glass or silicate of potash or soda, or both, is
obtained. This is dissolved in water, and mixed with lime dissolved or mixed
with water.
Silicate of lime is thus produced, which is a firm, compact, insoluble sub-
If this operation is performed in connection with other materials to

page_text: which either or both of the solutions have an affinity, the whole becomes con-
solidated into one mass or artificial stone; thus iron, zinc, copper, alumina,
tin, or other metals, or oxides, carbonates, chlorides, oxychlorides, or metallic
salts or compounds may be introduced; or silica, or quartz, or baryta, strontia,
or other earth, or carbonate of lime or other earth may be employed. I
imitate various stones by grinding the natural stone into powder more or less
fine, or partly into fine powder and partly coarse, and after cleansing it from
impurities I make it into a thick paste with the two solutions of silicate of
potash and lime, and put it into a smooth metallic or other mould of the form
required and subject it to pressure. The mould may be oiled or greased to
prevent adhesion. A solid block of the required form of artificial stone is thus
obtained; it is removed from the mould and dried. Artificial marble with
ornamental mouldings may thus be manufactured from refuse or fragments of
marble or from shells; granite, porphyry, malachite, and other stones may be
imitated in a similar manner. By mixing different coloured stones in the
same paste, or by mixing the different pastes together, or adding colouring
matters thereto, various veined or variegated stones may be manufactured.
The aforesaid solutions are also used to combine or consolidate clay or marl
or brick earth, either raw or burned, or baked coal, wood, kelp, peat, bones,
ashes, or slag from iron works or metallurgic operations, with carbonate of
lime, or lime, or both, and with or without the addition of sand or sandstone.
Ground or powdered marble or other stone mixed with a small quantity of
hydraulic or other lime and slightly damped is consolidated by pressing it
into moulds in the same manner. Sand or sandstone, however, is not to be
used alone with lime, as it requires the addition of some other stone, or earth,
or oxide or alkali to produce the required combination and consolidation.
The artificial stone is not always made of the same materials throughout;
thus, I partly fill a mould with a fine or valuable material or paste to form
the exterior surface, and I fill the other parts of the mould with a coarse or
cheaper material. I use plates of zinc or tin when required for keeping the
materials separate while filling the moulds and I then withdraw the plates,
or I fill in the two materials simultaneously through a divided hopper. The
water employed may be pure and clean, or tan-pit water, dye water, bog water,
or water charged with lime or iron, or other mineral or metal capable of
combining or consolidating, with lime or other liquids having an affinity for
lime, such as blood and petroleum, may be added or substituted for the water.
For some purposes I subject the blocks of artificial stone to a high tempera-
ture or red heat, so as to vitrify or partially vitrify the composition. In most

page_text: cases I prefer to subject the composition to great pressure while in the moulds;
this pressure may amount to one or more tons on the square inch. For many
purposes, however, a less pressure will suffice, and in some cases the pressure
obtained by moulding the materials in the way in which bricks are moulded is
sufficient. Instead of making the composition into blocks, it may sometimes
be employed directly in lieu of concrete for making foundations, and in lieu
of plaster or cement for covering or cementing walls, and for various similar
purposes.
In some cases the composition or the blocks made of it are saturated with
linseed oil, or wax, or varnish, or fatty, or oily, or tarry substances, to render
them impervious to damp, or they are exposed to damp; or steam, or hot water
after taking them from the moulds, to assist in effecting the combination of the
materials.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ELLIS, of the Town of Port Hope, in the Province of Canada, Civil Engineer,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, 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 Joseph Ellis, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Ellis, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Ellis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrea
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 MANU-
FACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Joseph Ellis, 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

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Ellis, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
First part. I melt one part of sand or of quartz, reduced to a fine powder,
with four parts of potash, or with eight parts of crystallized carbonate. of soda
or three parts of dry carbonate of soda, a silicate of potash or silicate of
soda is thus formed; or a compound silicate of potash and soda is obtained' by
melting the sand or quartz with a mixture of the two alkalies. A concen-
trated or saturated solution is made by dissolving the alkaline silicate in water;
or the silicate may be obtained in any other known manner, as, for example,
by digesting silica in a solution of caustic alkali. I mix lime with water, so
as to obtain a strong cream of lime. By mixing these two liquids or solutions
together a silicate of lime will be formed, a substance firm and compact and
insoluble in water. If these two liquids are mixed together with silica or other
suitable material in fine powder, the whole becomes combined together, so as to
form an artificial stone; a great variety of materials may thus be cemented or
combined together. Thus, oxide or cabonate of iron, baryta, carbonate of
lime, or other insoluble metallic oxides or carbonates or other insoluble salts,
may be employed. To imitate particular sorts of natural stone, I employ the
natural stone or a material of a similar nature reduced to powder; thus, to
imitate marble, I take fragments of marble or shells and grind them to a fine
powder and then mix the powder (after cleansing it from impurities) with the
two solutions of the alkaline silicate and lime until a thick paste is formed;
I put this paste into a mould of the form required and subject it to pressure
and then remove it from the mould and allow it to. dry, a solid block of
artificial stone or marble of the required form is thus obtained.
The amount of pressure may be varied according to circumstances, or the
quality of material required; simply putting it into moulds and allowing it to
set is sufficient for some purposes.
To imitate granite, I reduce one portion of granite to a fine or impalpable
powder or flour, and another portion to a coarse powder or granular-state,
according to the quality or character of the granite to be imitated. I then
mix the whole of this ground granite, both fine and coarse, with the aforesaid
liquids or solutions of the alkaline silicate and lime, and I intimately mix the
whole and put it into a mould of the required form, and then submit it to

page_text: pressure or not, according to the quality of the material required; that which
is submitted to a great pressure will be the best.
Freestone, slate, porphyry, malachite, and other stones are imitated in a
similar manner by mixing the pulverized stone with the aforesaid liquids. I
imitate the veins or peculiar appearances of stones by putting the mixture into
the moulds in thin layers, or by stirring the mass after it is put into the
moulds, or by spreading the mass out into thin or thick sheets, according to
the vein required to be imitated, and then placing thereon one or more similar
sheets of the same material, but varying in colour, according to the vein to be
imitated, and then rolling or twisting the mass up into one long roll and then
cutting it into slices transversely, or at right angles, or at any angle with its
length, and then putting the slices into moulds and subjecting them to pres-
sure, or not, according to circumstances.
For producing a cheaper artificial stone or building material suitable for
. some purposes, I take any description of brick earth, or clay, or marl, or
calcined bones in a dry state and I grind them together with any carbonate
of lime, with or without the addition of sand or sandstone, and 1.then inti-
mately mix them with the aforesaid liquids or solutions of the alkaline, silicate,
and lime, and I then put or run the mixture into moulds and subject it to
pressure, or not, according to circumstances, and the character of the material
required; or I take clay, or brick earth, or marl and I subject it or them to
a similar degree of heat to that at which bricks are burned, or even to such a
degree as partially to vitrify the material; it is then allowed to cool, and ground
to an impalpable or fine powder, and then mixed with one-eighth of its weight
of lime in fine powder, with or without the addition of a similar quantity of
carbonate of lime, also in fine powder; or in some cases I substitute the finely
ground slag from iron works in lieu of the whole or a portion of the burned
brick earth, clay, or marl. The mixture, whether made with slag or with the
burned clay, brick earth, or marl, is then intimately mixed with the aforesaid
liquids or solutions of the alkaline silicate and lime, and the whole mixture is
put into smooth or polished metallic moulds of the required size and form, and
pressed or not, according to circumstances, and quality of material required;
or, for ordinary or common purposes, the artificial stone, block, or brick may
be made in wooden moulds without any extraordinary pressure, and dried on
floors or in stacks in the usual way of manufacturing clay bricks by hand, or
they may be manufactured by any machinery now employed in making pressed
or common bricks. When ground or pulverized lime is employed in the com-
position, it is not necessary to employ the solution or cream of lime, as the

page_text: alkaline silicate will be decomposed by the lime in the mixture; I, however,
consider it preferable to employ the cream of lime, which admits of being
very intimately mixed with the solution of the alkaline silicate.
In the imitation of marble, granite, porphyry, malachite, and other rare or
costly stones, it is not necessary to form the whole block of such rare or costly
materials; but in order to economise them, the base or bulk of the block may
be formed with any of the cheaper or more common materials herein-before
described, ground and manipulated and mixed with the two liquids or solutions
of silicate of potash and lime, as herein-before described, and then put into
the moulds at the same time as the rare or costly materials, the two being
kept separate by a metal mould; or plates or pieces of tin or zinc or other
suitable material are first placed in the mould intended to form or shape the
artificial block, and afterwards the two mixtures of the common and rare
materials or put into the mould, the common materials being placed between
the pieces of tin or zinc, while the more costly materials are placed outside
them; the pieces of tin or zinc are then withdrawn and the whole is sub-
mitted to a pressure of one or more tons per square inch, when it will be
found that an artificial block of stone is formed, rare and costly in appearance,
but the base or bulk of which is composed of common or cheap material,
while the rare or costly material is merely a thin facing or plating on one or
more sides of the artificial stone block. By this means each side of the
artificial block may be made to represent a different colour, or a specimen of
different rare or costly material, formed into any shape, moulding, or ornament
desired. Or, I effect or accomplish the same object in some cases, where the
form will admit of it, in the following manner :-Instead of using the inner
mould or pieces of tin or zinc to keep separate the common and costly
materials while being placed in the mould, I fill the mould through a hopper
having one or more divisions or partitions, which keep separate the common
and costly materials, which are both filled into the mould through different
compartments of the hopper at the same time. Or, I effect the same object
by first coating, by hand or any other means, one or more sides of the mould
with the rare or costly material, and then putting or running in the common
or cheap material, and then subjecting the whole to a pressure of one or more
tons, or less, according to the size and quality of the sample required. In lieu
of pressing the material into moulds, these compositions may be spread upon
walls or other surfaces in the manner of plaster or cement, so as to coat or
face the wall with artificial stone; and they may also be used as cements to
unite other materials, as bricks or stones. In any case care must be taken

page_text: that the compositions be not kept so long a time as to set or harden before
they are used, whether for pressing into moulds or for coating or cementing
walls or other surfaces or materials. The compositions after being formed
into blocks, or applied as aforesaid, are to be protected from rain and frost
and too great heat until they have become dry, which will generally be in a
few days after they are used, varying of course with circumstances, such as
the thickness of the materials, and the quantity of water, and the amount of
pressure employed, and the comparative dryness of the atmosphere. Various
colouring matters or substances may be mixed with these compositions to
colour them wholly or partially, or to produce veins or other ornamental
appearances, as may be desired. The compositions may be moulded into
blocks for building purposes, or into cornices, columns, chimney pots, pipes,
paving stones, tomb stones, vases, and a variety of other articles. The finer
the materials are ground the more perfect is the combination: By grinding
the sand (when sand is employed) the rounded grains of sand become broken
into angular particles, which bind together much better than the rounded
grains.
In the various compositions herein-before described both lime and an
alkaline silicate are introduced and intimately mixed with the other materials,
so as to form a paste or plastic composition, which is afterwards moulded to
the required form. In some cases, however, I dispense with the alkaline
silicate, and I manufacture artificial stone as herein-after described under the
second part of my
Invention.
Second part. I grind marble or shells, or any other material containing
carbonate of lime, to a fine powder or flour with burr stones, or by any other
suitable means, and I mix it with one-eighth part of hydraulic lime, or
moderately hydraulic lime, or ordinary or pure lime, which is ground and
slacked before mixing it with the carbonate of lime; the mixture is then
damped with a very small quantity of water, so that when submitted to
pressure no water may be expressed from it. This mixture is submitted to a
pressure of several tons in highly polished metal moulds, which are kept clean
and bright, and oiled with linseed oil or other oil or oleaginous substance
previous to each operation of forming an artificial block; I thus produce à
smooth and highly finished and polished surface to the artificial block.
In lieu of employing pure or ordinary water in mixing the materials, dye
water, or tan-pit water, bog water, or any suitable 'mineral water, or water
containing lime or iron, or other metal in solution which is capable of uniting
with lime, may be employed; moreover, other materials, such as alumina,

page_text: oxide of iron, ironstone, magnesia, brick earth, clay or marl, may be added or
substituted for a portion of the carbonate of lime in the aforesaid mixture. I
also employ brick earth or clay or marl, baked or burned at a similar degree
of heat to that at which bricks are burned, or until the material begins to
vitrify. I grind this material or the slag from iron works to fine powder, and
mix eight parts by weight of it with one part of ground carbonate of lime
and one part of ground or finely powdered lime. The lime is slacked with
water before mixing it with the other materials, but it is not reduced to a wet
or liquid state. The materials are well mixed together and then damped with
water, but only sufficiently so as not to have any water expressed from them
by pressure. The mixture is put into polished metal moulds, oiled or greased,
and pressed, as before; and I prefer to employ a pressure of one or more tons
to the square inch, as the material is rendered stronger and more durable by
great pressure. The material is then withdrawn from the mould and pro-
tected from rain and frost until dry or fit for use...
The blocks may be made of two or more different materials or compositions
and various colouring matters and substances may be introduced, as herein-
before described under the first part. In all these compositions it is important
that the materials be reduced to fine powder or flour, as by that means the
combination of the materials is rendered more perfect and intimate.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
generally the use of alkaline silicates in the manufacture of artificial stone, as
I am aware that the same have been previously used for that purpose, as well
as for impregnating the surfaces of blocks of natural and artificial stone. I do
not confine myself to the precise proportions of the various materials herein-
before mentioned, as the same may be varied. And as regards the second
part of my Invention, I do not claim the manufacture of artificial stone from
the materials or compositions therein described when the carbonate of lime
is merely coarsely powdered or granulated, as I have found that it is necessary
that, it should be reduced to a fine powder or flour in order to produce the
required results; nor do I claim moulding such compositions mentioned in
the second part in the manner in which hand-made bricks are moulded; but
what I claim is,—
First, the manufacture of artificial stone by mixing powdered marble, shells,
calcined bones, granite, porphyry, malachite, freestone, or other natural stone
or mineral or suitable hard substance with lime and a solution of silicate of
potash or silicate of soda, or both, so as to form a paste or plastic composition,

page_text: which is afterwards moulded or shaped in moulds with or without great
pressure, or spread upon walls, or otherwise employed as an artificial stone.
Second, the manufacture of artificial stone by mixing together lime and
carbonate of lime in fine powder or flour, with or without the addition of other
stone or burned clay or other suitable hard substances, also reduced to fine
powder or flour, and slightly moistening or damping the mixture with water
and submitting it to great pressure in moulds, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ellis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Signed and sealed in the presence of
C. GAMBLE, of the City of Toronto, Esquire,
SAM ERNEST GAMBLE, of the same Place,
Articled Clerk to Mr. Gamble.
JOSEPH ELLIS. (L.S.)