IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SANDSTONE, BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes &
Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SANDSTONE,
BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES."- A communication from abroad
by Léon and Edouard Pavin de Lefarge, Merchants, residing at Viviers,
Département de l'Ardéche, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 18th November 1859, and dated the 23rd June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd June 1859.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes & Son, Patent Agents,
123, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SANDSTONE,
BRICKS, TILES, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," a communication from abroad by Léon
and Edouard Pavin de Lafarge, Merchants, residing at Viviers, Département
de l'Ardèche, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
I take fine bright sand or quartz, and pulverise it very fine by a grindstone
or other power. This matter thus reduced to powder is passed through a sieve
or sieves, the meshes of which are finer or coarser according to the quality of
the stone or brick required, which constitutes the dry part of the material; I

page_text: then take aluminous earth, and pulverise and sieve it in the same manner as
described for the sand or quartz, which makes the moist part, which two
matters or materials must be mixed well together, the proportions to be varied
according to the quality of the artificial stone or brick required. Or, instead of
the sand or quartz aforesaid, earth in its natural state, baked or calcined and
then pulverised and sieved, may be used. The said mixture is cast in moulds,
either in the dry or moist state, and then subjected to the necessary pressure.
-SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery
Lane, London, W.C., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Edward
Thomas Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other
as I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SANDSTONE, BRICKS, TILES,
AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," a communication from abroad by Léon and Edouard
Pavin de Lafarge, Merchants, residing at Viviers, Département de l'Ardèche,
in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Thomas Hughes, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
I take unyielding or refractory sand or quartz, and reduce it to fine powder
by a grindstone, rollers, stampers, or other suitable means; the said powder is
then passed through one or more sieves or bolters, having meshes larger or
smaller according to the quality or degree of fineness or hardness of the
artificial stone or article required. This sifted or bolted substance constitutes
the dry portion of the material. I then take aluminous earth, which in its
raw state is of a hard and refractory nature, pulverising and sifting it in tho
same manner as described for the sand or quartz, which said powder constitutes
the moist or binding part of the material. The dry material may also consist
of baked or calcined refractory earth reduced to a state of powder, either before
or after its calcination. A compound powder or mixture is then made by
intimately mixing with the powdered aluminous earth, either the powdered
sand or quartz, or the powdered calcined earth, or both of them, in any desired
proportion, which compound powder or mixture constitutes the material with
which the artificial stone or other article is made, the relative quantity of each
powder depending upon the quality, appearance, and hardness of the article
required, and also upon the desired resistance to heat and corrosive matters.
The different powders are incorporated together by placing them in layers one
upon another in a suitable box or vessel, and then turning them over and over
with a shovel or other suitable tool, as long as required, or they may be mixed
by means of rollers, bolters, or other mechanical arrangement, and the mixturo
or compound powder placed in suitable moulds, either in the dry or moist state;
if in the dry state, it may be run into the mould, and then subjected to n
powerful pressure, so as to unite the divided particles into one body, and give it
the consistence of sandstone, or of an ordinary raw brick prepared and pressed
in the usual inanner.
If the moist method be used, the compound powder is moistened so as to
form it into a paste or clay of more or less consistency, which is afterwards
beaten and kneaded in order to damp each particle and give uniform moisture
to the mass. The paste or clay is then moulded in suitable moulds, either
by hand or machinery, similar to the methods used with ordinary clay. The
moulded products may then be dried by air or other means, and then
placed in suitable ovens or kilns, to be burned in the ordinary manner, or the
heat may be applied at the drying operation.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of the said Invention,
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, I claim,―
Firstly, the amalgamation of unyielding or refractory sand or quartz with

page_text: aluminous earth pulverized or reduced to a fine powder, either before or after
calcination.
Secondly, the employment or use of the said compound or mixture, either
separately or conjointly in any désired proportions, pulverized and sifted, then
dried or burnt as may be desired.
In witness whereof, I the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have herc
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine..
EDWARD T. HUGHES. (L.B.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Edward Thomas-
Hughes, in the presence of
JULES MULOT,
Clerk to Hughes & Son.