Improvements in Cement and Concrete.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 27th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cement and Concrete.
We, WINFIELD SCOTT ROBINSON, of the Village of Shubenacadie, in the County of
Hants, in the Province of Nova Scotia, in the Dominion of Canada, Mining
Engineer, and SAMUEL M. BROOKFIELD, of the City of Halifax, in the County of
Halifax, in the Province aforesaid, Builder and Contractor, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention 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 to provide a cheap material as a cement or concrete
for construction of foundations, road-beds, side walks, and the like, or to any purpose
to which cement hardened by time and exposure to the atmosphere is required.
This invention consists of a hydrated mass or iron concrete, composed of gravel,
sand, earthy matter, or broken stone, mixed with a variable proportion of iron in a
low state of oxidation, shavings or filings of metallic iron, comminuted or crushed,
and powdered hematite, or sulphate of iron, when quick availability is desired, and
mixed together, and when spread, wet for a time with a solution of salt, sal-ammoniac
or the like, preference being given to the solution of common salt or brine.
This mixture by exposure to the atmosphere becomes an hydrated hard compact
mass, or an iron concrete. The amount of iron to be used to effect the cementing
action depends upon the nature of the materials. Coarse gravel mixed with fine
sand requiring less iron than if the materials be of open texture throughout. From
one-twentieth of one per centum to ten per centum may be used, or more when quick
setting or rapid hardening is required. Considerations of expense being the chief
determining factor in settling the amount to be used, a very considerable proportion
of iron might be employed, but would, of course, be relatively more expensive.
The cementing action which takes place, is apparently due to the production of
ferric hydrate from exposure to the atmosphere, which substance binds the materials
into a compact mass, and the product obtained is an hydrated mass or iron concrete,
and in general characteristic resembles certain forms of mineral fungoid growth.
For road making, the materials should be mixed and placed in position, and then
wetted or watered with the brine solution and allowed to rest for a few days
without disturbance to permit the hardening process to begin, after which the
cementing process is perfected by lapse of time.
Where immediate setting or hardening is required for use as a hydraulic cement,
the conditions are secured by mixing with the other ingredients, a small per centum of
muriate of ammonia, or the like, and wetting the mass with a thin solution of silicate
of soda, and by proportioning these ingredients the time of setting or hardening can
accurately be determined in advance to any period of time, from a few minutes to
several hours.
When a substantial hydraulic cement is required to set readily when submerged in
either salt or fresh water, sulphate of aluminium (alum) and Epsom salts or the like
are added to the ingredients, and the mass wetted with a fifty or twenty-five per
centum solution of silicate of soda, the per centum of ingredients varying in proportion,
according as the period of setting is to be longer or shorter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
:―
1. A cement composed of iron or its compounds in a low state of oxidation, in

page_text: combination with earth, gravel, sand, broken rock or the like, and a solution of
metallic salt impregnating the mass, whereby oxidation of the iron and hardening of
the mass is facilitated.
2. A cement composed of oxidized iron and earth, gravel, sand, broken rock, or the
like, and brine or other incentive to hydration.
3. The method of uniting loose particles of earth, gravel, sand, broken rock and the
like, which consists in mixing the same with either metallic iron or ferrous compounds,
or both, and exposing the mass to the atmosphere and moistening the same with
brine or other alkaline solution.
4. The production of a quick setting or hardening cement composed of earth,
gravel, sand, broken stones and the like, mixed with metallic iron, ferrous compound
or both for use in the open air or submerged, the addition thereto of muriate of
ammonia and a solution of silicate of soda, or the like, as set forth.
5. A hydraulic cement for submerged use in fresh and salt water, consisting of
earth, gravel, sand, broken rock and the like, mixed with metallic iron, ferrous
compound, or either or both, by the addition thereto of sulphate of aluminium (alum)
and Epsom salts, and wetting the mixture with a solution of silicate of soda, as set
forth.
Dated the 15th day of Fober 1907
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicants.