Time Precipitation Process of Mortar Analysis.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd May, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 21st Feb., 1895-Accepted, 18th Apr., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Time Precipitation Process of Mortar Analysis.
JAMES PATCHETT Surveyor 3 Lime Villas Green Lane Birmingham, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It consists in agitating any definite measured quantity of mortar, with
saccharate or acid reagent, filtering and treating the whole or part with ammonium
oxalate or oxalic acid, and then in any given time, say half hour, observing the
height of the resultant deposited oxalate of lime down a glass tube, so as to
be able to assess the proportion of lime or cement to sand in the mortar.
The mortars of known proportions of lime or cement to sand to form the basis for
comparison.
JAMES PATCHETT 3 Lime Villas Green Lane Birmingham, Surveyor, 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:-
It consists in agitating any definite measured quantity of mortar with a
saccharose or acid reagent, filtering and treating the whole or part with ammonium
oxalate or oxalic acid, and then in any given time, say half an hour, observing the
height of the resultant deposited oxalate of lime down a glass tube so as to be able
to assess the proportion of lime or cement to sand in the mortar.
The mortars of known proportions of lime or cement to sand to form the basis
for comparison.
DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS USED AND PROCESS OF MANIPULATION.
A mortar is mixed in definite proportion of lime or cement to sand, by weight or
by measure, and adopted as a standard.
A glass or other measure holding say 12.5 cc's is filled with this moist mortar.
Into an ordinary glass flask of about 700 cc's capacity this 12-5 cc's of mortar is
inserted and to it is added half a litre of a saccharose solution of about
two per cent. strength, and the whole is then well shaken up for ten minutes.
This forms a saccharate of lime solution, from which instead of treating the whole,
I prefer to take one tenth, and filter into a 100 cc's tubular measure of glass until
the 50 cc's mark is reached. Over this a saturated solution of oxalic acid or by
preference ammonium oxalate is poured until the 100 cc's mark is reached, and the
time is accurately noted. The liquid becomes turbid from the formation of oxalate
of lime which at once begins to descend as a sharply defined cloud leaving the
upper part of the tube clear.

page_text: The height of the cloud of descending, oxalate of lime is then noted in some
definite time, and the height thus. found is used as a gauge mark for future tests.
Mortars whose descending lime oxalate register.higher than the gauge mark in the
given time, having more lime or cement in them, while those which register lower
have less.
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When the standard mortar has a specified proportion of two or more of sand to
one of lime or cement, the size of the measure for the mortar may be doubled:
When it is known that, there is no spent lime, Bath stone or old mortar present
in the mortar, the following alternative process may be adopted.
Empty 125 cc's or other selected measure of mortar into the 700 cc's flask.
Add the same measure of a 15% or other dilute solution of hydrochloric acid, and
agitate until effervescence if any has ceased; then add and shake in 500 cc's of
water, less amount of the acid used, so as to make half a litre of the calcium
chloride solution in the flask.
The rest of the process consists in filtering a tenth part of the solution: formed,
and treating with oxalic acid or ammonium oxalate substantially as before:
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. When a mortar of known proportions of sand to lime or cement is taken as a
basis for comparison, whether the said mortar is made of materials chemically pure,
or of such as are in use in ordinary building operations, other mortars made of
similar materials can be rapidly and economically assessed at their correct relative
proportion of sand to lime or cement by using my invention.
Dated this 20th day of February 1896.
JAMES
PATCHETT,
3 Lime Villas, Green Lane, Birmingham, Surveyor.