AN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENTING WALLS, FLOORS, ROOFS, AND CEILINGS OF BUILDINGS, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANTEL. PIECES, PILLARS, PILASTERS, AND OTHER LIKE PARTS OF BUILDINGS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Nicoll, of Regent Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Shirt Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENTING WALLS, FLOORS,
ROOFS, AND CEILINGS OF BUILDINGS, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANTEL.
PIECES, PILLARS, PILASTERS, AND OTHER LIKE PARTS OF BUILDINGS."
Sealed the 23rd April 1869, and dated the 20th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Nicoli at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th October 1868.
I, BENJAMIN NICOLL, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Shirt Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENTING WALLS,
FLOORS, ROOFS, AND CEILINGS OF BUILDINGS, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
MANTELPIECES, PILLARS, PILASTERS, AND OTHER LIKE PARTS OF BUILDINGS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a simple, economical, and effective mode of
method of ornamenting or decorating the internal or external surfaces of
walls, floors, pavements, roofs, ceilings, and other parts of buildings, and
Price Sd

page_text: consists essentially in the employment for such purpose of a peculiar
composition which is to be applied to the surface to be ornamented in
a similar manner to plastering, and when set or hardened may be ground,
smoothed, and polished, if desired, and further ornamented according to
taste by cutting, moulding, gilding, or otherwise in any required
pattern.
This peculiar composition consists of a species of scagliola composed
of chalk, ordinary cement, and if desired coloring matter according
to taste. This is to be mixed with water to the consistency of plaster,
and spread out in the form of a sheet or thin layer to dry and harden.
When thoroughly dried the composition is to be broken up into
fragments of irregular form and size. These fragments are subsequently
mixed with a semi-fluid or plastic mixture of ordinary cement and
chalk which may be tinted as required by the addition thereto of any
suitable coloring matter to form a good ground for the reception of the
fragments above referred to. This compound is to be applied to the
surface to be ornamented by the aid of a trowel or otherwise, and
when it has dried and hardened the surface may be ground, scraped,
and rubbed with a wire brush, or otherwise treated to produce a level
or smooth surface, and subsequently further hardened by the application
thereto of a solution of silicate of soda. This composition is capable
of resisting the action of moisture, and may be washed and cleaned
with ordinary soap and water as often as may be found requisite.
Any design or pattern may be sunk in the surface of the said
composition, and gold leaf, colored plaster or composition, or other
ornamenting material introduced into such sunk portions.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Nicoll in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, BENJAMIN
NICOLL, of Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex, Shirt Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of October, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Nicoll, ller special
license that I, the said Benjamin Nicoll, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Benjamin Nicoll, 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 "AN IMPROVED PLASTIC Com-
POSITION SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENTING WALLS, FLOORS, ROOFS, AND CEILINGS OF
BUILDINGS, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF MANTELPIECES, PILLARS, PILASTERS,
AND OTHER LIKE PARTS OF BUILDINGS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Benjamin Nicoll, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Benjamin Nicoll, 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, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to a simple, economical, and effective mode
or method of ornamenting or decorating the internal or external surfaces
of walls, floors, pavements, roofs, ceilings, and other parts of buildings,
and consists essentially in the employment for such purpose of a peculiar
composition which is to be applied to the surface to be ornamented in
a sinular manner to plastering, and when set or hardened may be ground,
smoothed, and polished, if desired, and further ornamented according to
taste by cutting, moulding, gilding, or otherwise in any required
pattern.
This peculiar composition consists of a species of scagliola composed
of chalk, ordinary cement, and if desired coloring matter, by preference
mineral colors according to taste, I have found that one hundred parts by
weight of chalk to 50 parts of cement will give a good result, but I do
not confine or restrict myself to these precise proportions. This is to be
mixed with water to the consistency of plaster and spread out in the

page_text: form of a sheet or thin layer to dry and harden; when thoroughly dried
the composition is to be broken up into fragments of irregular form and
size, according to the effect to be produced. These fragments are
subsequently mixed with a semi-fluid or plastic mixture of ordinary
cement and chalk, which datter substance may be tinted as required by
the addition thereto of any suitable coloring matter to form a good
ground for the reception of the fragments above referred to. This
compound is to be applied to the surface to be ornamented by the aid
of a trowel or otherwise, and when it has dried and hardened the surface
may be ground, scraped, and rubbed with a wire brush, or otherwise
treated to produce a level or smooth surface, and subsequently further
hardened by the application thereto of a solution of silicate of soda.
This composition is capable of resisting the action of moisture, and may
be washed and cleaned with ordinary soap and water as often as may
be found requisite.
Any design or pattern may be sunk in the surface of the said
composition, and gold leaf, colored plaster or composition, or other
ornamenting material introduced into such sunk portions.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, 1 would observe in conclusion that
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 application and use to and in the ornamenting or
decorating of the walls, floors, pavements, roofs, ceilings, and other parts
of buildings of the herein described peculiar composition prepared
and applied substantially in the manner herein-before specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Nicoll, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
B. NICOLL. (L:S.)