AN IMPROVED COMPOUND CHIEFLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD IN THE CON- STRUCTION AND DECORATION OF BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR WORK
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Cristoforo Muratori, of Park Road, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND
CHIEFLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD IN THE CON-
STRUCTION AND DECORATION OF BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR
WORK."
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Cristoforo Muratori at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd September 1871.
I, CRISTOFORO MURATORI, of Park Road, in the County of Middlesex
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
COMPOUND CHIEFLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD IN THE

page_text: CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION OF BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR
WORK," to be as follows:-
My said Invention relates to a compound or composition made in the
following manner :-I mix together a solution of rock alum in boiling
water with glue, also dissolved in boiling water in the usual way; into
this mixture is afterwards thrown from time to time more or less saw-
dust until the mass shall have attained the required degree of consistency.
After this compound or paste has cooled down more sawdust may be
added if necessary until the paste shall have acquired the requisite
hardness to allow of its being treated like wax.
The said compound is then ready for use, and may be employed for
the flooring and ceilings of houses, for furniture, and in all cases where
wood might be employed with advantage. Articles made of this
improved compound may be polished, coloured, varnished, and gilded
with the greatest ease and with much saving of time and expense by
the ordinary means used in such operations.
The said compound or paste may be made very hard, and is conse-
quently adapted for modelling under pressure either in wooden or
metal moulds, for which purpose the ordinary method of moulding
articles of plaster of Paris and other plastic materials may be adopted.
The compound or paste can be worked by hand like wax, thus allowing
an artist time for modelling with due deliberation.
When the objects made of this compound are no longer serviceable
they can be re-melted and re-modelled. The said compound may be
rendered liquid, and applied to any object with a brush. Moreover its
cost, in comparison with that of other plastic materials hitherto used
for similar purposes, renders its employment highly advantageous
for ornamental or decorative purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Cristoforo Muratori in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CRISTOFORO
MURATORI, of Park Road, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors
give and grant unto me, the said Cristoforo Muratori, Her special licence
that I, the said Cristoforo Muratori, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Cristoforo Muratori, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree 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 "AN IMPROVED
COMPOUND CHIEFLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WOOD IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND DECORATION OF BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR
WORK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Cristoforo
Muratori, 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 Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
'
1
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Cristoforo Muratori, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 relates to a compound or composition made in the
following manner:-I mix together a solution of rock alum in boiling
water with glue or size, also dissolved in boiling water in the usual way;
into this mixture is afterwards thrown more or less of sawdust until
the mass shall have acquired the requisite degree of consistency.
:

page_text: Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim, the com-
pound consisting of rock alum, glue, (or size,) sawdust, and water, with
or without the shellac, gutta percha, or other substances specified for the
purposes set forth.
pound consisting of rock alum, glue, (or size,) sawdust, and water, with
or without the shellac, gutta percha, or other substances specified for the
purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Cristoforo Muratori, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
0 Witness,
CHARLES GALLAND,
33, Bessborough Gardens,
Pimlico.
CRO. MURATORI.
(L.S.)