AN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPO- STREAXY ADDEFOLDED MA THEN COATING OR MEMALTIC AND OUED SURRACES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Spence, Engineer in Her Majesty's Dock-
yard, Portsmouth, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPO-
STREAXY ADDEFOLDED MA
THEN COATING OR MEMALTIC AND OUED SURRACES
"
Sealed the 15th March 1864, and dated the 26th September 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATON left by the said James Spence at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
September 1863.
I, JAMES SPENCE, Engineer in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PLASTIC
COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE COATING OF METALLIC AND OTHER SURFACES," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to the preparation of an improved plastic composi-
tion, which shall have the property of setting like cements, and yet possess a
certain amount of elasticity sufficient to enable it, when applied as a coating
to metal, to yield without cracking to the contraction and expansion of that
substance under variations of temperature. The composition is produced by
the combination of argillaceous earth, water, oil cake, fish oil, cow hair, and
carbonaceous and colouring matter with Portland, Roman, or other suitable
cement. The elasticity, coupled with the strong drying or hardening property
of this composition, renders it specially suitable for protecting the internal

page_text: surfaces of iron ships from the action of bilge water, and thus preventing rust
or oxidation. The composition is also applicable to foundations, pavements,
and similar uses where hardness, incombustibility, and impermeableness to
moisture are required. The following is given as a guide to the proportions
for preparing a coating for iron ships, and for the prevention of oxydation or
rust, viz. argillaceous earth (mixed with water to form a paste) 1000 lbs.; oil
cake, 24 lbs.; fish oil, 3 galls.; cow hair, 24 lbs.; soot, 24 lbs.; bone dust or bone
ash, 3 lbs. To which is to be added from one-eighth to one-sixth by weight of
portland or roman cement. These proportions, it will be understood, are
given merely by way of example, as they may be departed from without inter-
fering with the principle of the Invention.
For facilitating the coating or plastering of each particular object, the means
usually employed for that purpose can be used. It is to be understood that
any chemically equivalent material may be substituted for any or either of the
materials bercin-before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Spence in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
March 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SPENCE, Engineer in Her Majesty's Dockyard, Portsmouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Spence, Her special license that I, the said James
Spence, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Spence, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IM-
PROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE COATING OF METALLIC AND OTHER
SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Spence, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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

page_text: Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Spence, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 (that is to say):-
The chief object of this Invention is to prepare a plastic composition suit-
able for coating metallic surfaces, and protecting the same from oxidation or
rust. A plastic composition to be applicable to such uses should possess the
property of setting like cements, and yet retain an amount of elasticity sufficient
to enable it when applied to yield without cracking to the contraction and
expansion of the metal under variations of temperature. A composition
possessing these qualities, I produce by the intimate combination of argillaceous
earth, water, oil cake, fish oil, cow hair, and carbonaceous and coloring matter
with Portland, Roman, or other like quickly setting cement. The elasticity
of this composition, coupled with its strong drying or hardening property,
renders it specially suitable for protecting the internal surfaces of iron ships
from the action of bilge water, and thereby preventing rust or oxidation.
The composition I also apply to the preparation of foundations for buildings,
to the formation of basement and other floors, and of pavements, and to
similar uses where hardness, incombustibility, and impermeableness to moisture
are required. The following is the mode of preparing a coating for the internal
surfaces of iron ships to prevent the oxidation or rust thereof. The propor-
tion given may however be varied to suit varying circumstances. I take
of argillaceous earth, say, 1000 lbs., and mix it thoroughly with water to
convert it into a paste. To this quantity of paste I add the following sub-
stances in about the proportions given, viz., oil cake, 24 lbs.; fish oil, 3 gallons;
cow hair, 24 lbs.; soot, 24 lbs.; bone dust or bone ash, 3 lbs.; stirring, grinding,
or kneading the same so as to ensure the intimate admixture of the ingre-
dients, and I thus obtain a compound of about the consistency of plaster pre-
pared for covering walls. To give the compound the property of quickly
setting, I add thereto from one-eighth to one-sixth of its weight of Portland,
Roman, or other like quickly setting cement. These proportions, it will be
understood, are given merely by way of example, as they may to some extent
be departed from without materially interfering with the efficiency of the
composition, but substantially the same proportions will answer for founda-
tions, floors, and pavements as for coating surfaces of iron.
In order to apply the composition to the surfaces required to be coated, the
means usually employed for coating such or similar surfaces may be used.

page_text: I would here remark that any chemically equivalent material may be sub-
stituted for either of the materials herein-before mentioned when the same are
not readily attainable.
When the composition is used for foundations or pavements, it can be
applied either in a plastic state, or in cakes of any thickness which may be
required.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of an improved plastic.
composition applicable to the coating of metallic and other surfaces, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the appli-
cation of the damp-resisting composition prepared as above described to the
coating of metallic and other surfaces for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Spence, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-second day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
MATTHEW CARR CHISHOLM,
Clerk,
H. M. Dockyard,
Portsmouth.
JAMES SPENCE.
L.S:)