A New Product to Serve as a Substitute for Pottery for Filtering Purposes, and for the Manufacture of Tobacco Pipes and the like.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Nov., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 19th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New Product to Serve as a Substitute for Pottery for Filtering
Purposes, and for the Manufacture of Tobacco Pipes and
the like.
I, JEAN EMMANUEL GEORGES MÉRAN, Merchant, of 155, Faubourg
Poissonnière, Paris, France, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My invention relates to the manufacture of a novel product to serve as a sub-
stitute for pottery in all its uses, and it consists in reducing asbestos to an
impalpable powder or fine flour and forming it into pulp or paste in which
condition it may be applied to the various purposes for which pottery clay has
hitherto been employed.
For example my improved product may be used for filtering all kinds of liquids
for the purpose of purifying and purging them of microbes, bacilli, or germs,
whether the said product be applied in portable filters or for filtering large bodies
of water for supplying towns, etc.
The asbestos pulp would be moulded in the form of plates or other solid forms
or of hollow vessels or containers of any dimensions and then baked in the manner
of ordinary ceramic products, so as to constitute in the biscuit state filtering media
in the form of diaphragms, sticks, cones, etc. By the employment of this material,
perfect filtration is obtained as regards the elimination of microbes and germs
while the filtering medium may be easily cleansed, as the asbestos can be purified
without injury by burning. Filtration of any liquid through this improved
diaphragm can be effected from within to without or vice versa in any form of
filter and with or without the aid of pressure.
The product would be baked in the kilns used for ceramic ware, either at low or
high temperatures and would be employed more particularly in the form of biscuit
for filtering purposes, like ordinary porcelain or earthenware. The baked product
may also be glazed or enamelled by the ordinary means and thus form a novel
ware which may be substituted for ordinary porcelain, earthenware, or pottery
ware. Among other purposes to which this new product may be applied I would
especially mention one for which from its incombustible properties is eminently
suited, niz. the manufacture of all kinds of tobacco pipes, cigar and cigarette tubes,
the articles thus made possessing great strength and hygienic properties. Pipes
thus made may be of any form or size and be varnished and ornamented in a
similar way to those made of porcelain, clay, or meerschaum.
This novel product may be employed either alone or in combination with other
materials for the manufacture of the articles above mentioned; thus for
example it may serve as a lining for the bowls of pipes made of wood or other
material.
Dated this 30th day of November 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New Product to Serve as a Substitute for Pottery for Filtering
Purposes, and for the Manufacture of Tobacco Pipes and
the like.
I, JEAN EMMANUEL GEORGES MERAN, Merchant, of 155, Faubourg
Poissonnière, Paris, France, 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 :-
My invention relates to the manufacture of a novel product adapted by reason
of its peculiar qualities for filtering and sterilizing liquids, and it consists in
reducing asbestos to an impalpable powder or extremely fine flour and forming it
into a pulp or paste, throwing, moulding, or otherwise bringing it to the desired
form and baking it, all as hereinafter described.
Inasmuch as asbestos fibres present under the microscope a smaller diameter
than any others, whether of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, they are capable
of being reduced to extremely fine particles and consequently when agglomerated
without the addition of any foreign solid matter the resulting mass presents
extremely fine and numerous pores, by reason both of the fineness of the particles
and the purity of the mineral. Asbestos being a silicate of magnesia and lime
may, when reduced to powder, be made with water into a plastic paste, which by
baking under special conditions will form a highly porous material possessing a
certain degree of hardness and which may be designated asbestos porcelain. The
powder presents according to the purity of the asbestos employed, a pure white or
slightly yellowish color, the latter being due to traces of oxide of iron which can
be readily removed by washing with sulphuric or hydrochloric acid or by bringing
.it in contact with dilute fermented milk and subsequently washing it.
With the
powder thus prepared a paste is made by adding sufficient water to cover the
powder and actively kneading so as to form a homogeneous mixture which is then
thinned with water, care being taken to stir it the while. The product is allowed
to consolidate until the mass has acquired a suitable consistency for being moulded
or shaped by any of the ordinary processes. This consolidation may be accelerated
by exposing the asbestos pulp to a temperature of from 35° to 40° C. When the
mass has attained the desired consistency, it is again kneaded and the paste then
formed by throwing, moulding, or otherwise into the articles to be made which are
dried very slowly in slightly heated stoves. The articles are next baked in a
seggar heated to a temperature of 1200° C. for from seventeen to eighteen hours.
By heating at a very high temperature, a porcelain is obtained of a translucency
comparable with that of ordinary porcelain. The purposes to which this new
kind of porcelain may be applied are numerous.
I have before stated that owing to the fineness of the particles of asbestos, it is
.possible to obtain under special conditions of baking, a material which is more
homogeneous than and presents pores which are infinitely more minute and
numerous than ordinary biscuit porcelain. It has also been found that the pores of
asbestos porcelain, unlike those of ordinary porcelain, are practically impenetrable
by micro-organisms, so that after the asbestos porcelain has served for a lengthened
time as a filtering: medium.it is merely necessary to wash it with a sponge and hot
water in. order to restore it to its original condition. Consequently this new
material is eminently adapted for the filtration and sterilization of liquids for the
purpose of purifying and purging them of microbes, bacilli, or germs, whether
applied in portable filters or for filtering large bodies of water for supplying
towns, etc. Experiments have shewn that water containing 1200 colonies per
cubic centimetre after filtration through asbestos porcelain, sterilised in an
absolutely perfect manner, the filtration being moreover much more rapid than
through ordinary porcelain. Other experiments made with asbestos porcelain have

page_text: also shewn that the chemical composition of wines, vinegars, and acids, remains
unaltered after filtering these liquids through it and that this material is therefore
adapted for the filtration and sterilization of wines, vinegars, etc., and also for the
filtration of acids.
For such purposes the asbestos pulp would be moulded in the form of slabs or
other solid forms or of hollow vessels or containers of any dimensions and then
baked in the manner of ordinary ceramic products, so as to constitute in the
biscuit state, filtering media in the form of diaphragms, sticks, cones, etc. By the
employment of this material, perfect filtration is obtained as regards the elimination
of microbes and germs while the filtering medium may be easily cleansed as the
asbestos can be purified without injury by burning. The baked product may also
be glazed or enamelled by the ordinary means and thus form a novel ware which
may be substituted for ordinary porcelain, earthenware, or pottery ware.
Among other purposes to which this new product may be applied, I may mention
the manufacture of tobacco-pipes (or the liners for the bowls of tobacco pipes)
cigar and cigarette tubes, the articles thus made possessing great strength and
hygienic properties. Pipes made of this material may be of any form or
size and be glazed and ornamented in a similar way to those made of porcelain
or clay.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is-
1st. The manufacture of the new product composed of finely pulverised asbestos
made into a paste with water and dried or baked, as described."
2nd. The manufacture of asbestos biscuit ware composed of finely pulverized
asbestos made into a paste with water, moulded or otherwise fashioned into suitable
shapes, dried, and baked, and the employment of the articles so made as media for
filtering and sterilizing liquids, as described.
3rd. The manufacture of asbestos porcelain as a substitute for ceramic ware
generally, and especially for pipes, cigar and cigarette tubes, as hereinbefore
described.
Dated this 101
J. E. G. MÉRAN,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.