IMPROVE- MENTS IN MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND IN GIVING COLOR TO THE SAME
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hutchison, of Tonbridge Wells, in the County
of Kent, Stone Merchant and Indurator, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND IN GIVING COLOR TO THE
SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hutchison at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th March 1855.
I, WILLIAM HUTCHISON, of Tonbridge Wells, in the County of Kent, Stone
Merchant and Indurator, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND IN GIVING COLOR TO
THE SAME," to be as follows:-
To manufacture artificial stone of a dark color I use coal or gas tar or
other bituminous substance, and boil the same till it is liberated from all
aqueous and of certain oleaginous matters, when I immerse therein in
suitable cradles waste pieces of stone, chalk, gypsum, or other like loose
substances; after being perfectly dried I maintain the mass in a boiling state
till all the materials become completely saturated; they are then withdrawn,
crushed into powder, and compressed into moulds of any desired shape while
still in a heated state. When a light stone color is desired I use a solution
composed of resin or other like cohesive substance in a boiling state, as above

page_text: mentioned, and immerse therein the waste pieces of stone, &c., and in like
manner I obtain thereby similar results and light materials, all crushed and
compressed while in a warm state.
To obtain any other desired colors besides black and light, the solution of
resin or other cohesive substance may be colored, or the pieces of dried waste
stone, &c. may be colored previous to immersion in the said solution, always
kept in a boiling state; likewise one colored body may be incorporated on
another body of another color, and compressed together while in a heated state.
Crushed stone, chalk, sand, '&c., after being highly warmed on a hot plate,
may be mixed up in proper proportions with the aforesaid boiling solutions
of coal or gas tar, or other bituminous substance, or the aforesaid boiling
solution of resin or other cohesive substance, and compressed while in a hot
state into moulds.
By the means aforesaid I produce an artificial stone, which can be moulded
into the shape of bricks and into other desired forms, very hard, impervious to
wet and vermin, and very durable.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hutchison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HUTCHISON, of Tonbridge Wells, in the County of Kent, Stone Merchant and
Indurator, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Hutchison, Her special license that I, the said Wil-
liam Hutchison, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Hutchison, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND IN GIVING COLOR
TO THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Hutchison, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-

page_text: ticularly 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..
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said William Hutchison, 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:―
My said Invention relates to a peculiar preparation of sand, loam, chalk,
gravel, shingle, plaster, cements, lime, or other similar loose and friable
substances combined with coal tar, common resin, or other suitable resinous
or similar bituminous material, whereby a new compound is produced which
may be moulded into blocks of any desired shape, and colored according to
taste. These blocks when completed and hardened are perfectly impervious
to wet and vermin, and durable in the highest degree. To manufacture an
artificial stone of a dark color I employ coal tar, but if a light artificial stone is
required I generally use common amber resin, both substances being prepared
as herein-after described.
The tar is freed in the first place from all its aqueous and some of its
oleaginous constituents by boiling it, and distilling and condensing the same
through pipes, until it becomes so far consistent as not to give off any oily or
fatty substance to the touch. If properly prepared it will set perfectly hard
when cool, and will not yield to impressions. Previous to submitting the
materials to pressure they must be thoroughly dried, which may be effected on
metal plates, heated by hot air or hot water, or by placing them on any surface
of brick or stone heated by furnaces or otherwise. The proportions used by
me are about one gallon of sand or other friable substance to one quart of
coal tar, prepared as before described; or one gallon of sand or other friable
substance to about one pint and a quarter of resin in a boiling state. The
aforesaid materials are all mixed up in a heated state until they become
thoroughly mixed and incorporated; the mass is then compressed in a warm
metal mould of any desired form by pressure or stamping.
The moulds employed should be made in two or more pieces, so as to be
capable of being thoroughly secured together, and yet readily disengaged when
5 desired. When composed of metal, the moulds should be perfectly smooth
inside, and the pressure applied gradually. Everything used with the aforesaid
process should be kept warm, but the materials when compressed should be
relieved from the moulds as soon as moderately cooled. In order to obtain
colored artificial stone, the resinous or bituminous substance may be colored

page_text: while in a boiling state, or the sand or other material may be colored previous
to its incorporation with the aforesaid ingredients. If desired, one colored
material may be incorporated on a material of another color, and both such
materials compressed together in a mould while still in a heated state. The
black material, or that made with the tar, may be faced with the light
material, or that made with the resin, the dark and light material being placed
in the mould and compressed at the same time.
According to one mode of operating, the tar or resin, after having been
treated as before described, in place of being reduced to a liquid state by
boiling, may be reduced to a fine powder and mixed with the sand or other
material, being also reduced to a powder over a hot plate, and when sufficiently
heated so as to become incorporated together, the mass may be compressed
into moulds.
The artificial stone prepared by any of the methods herein-before described
may be again crushed into a fine powder, and mixed with about twenty-eight
per cent., more or less, of lime or other plastic material, and used when cold as
a cement for internal or external application.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my said Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the manufacture of artificial
stone of any desirable color by incorporating sand, loam, chalk, gravel, shingle,
plaster, cements, lime, or other similar loose and friable substances with tar,
resin, or other suitable bituminous or resinous substance, and by compressing
the compound mass in moulds, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hutchison, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
WILLIAM HUTCHISON. (L.S.)