IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE AND SLATE, AND IN COLOURING AND PRESERVING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PRESERVATION OF WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Highton, M.A., of Sussex Square,
Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE AND SLATE, AND
IN COLOURING AND PRESERVING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE PRESERVATION OF WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES."
Sealed the 25th March 1869, and dated the 1st October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Highton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st October 1868.
I, HENRY HIGHTON, M.A., of Sussex Square, Brighton, in the County
of Sussex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE AND SLATE, AND
IN COLOURING AND PRESERVING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
HE PRESERVATION OF WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES," to be as follows:-
1st. In order to render tough and less liable to break the stone
and slate described in my Provisional Specification, No. 2048, dated
June 25th, 1868, I insert in the plastic mass or mix up with the cemen

page_text: fibrous materials, such as woven fabrics of an open nature, felt, pieces
of paper, perforated or otherwise, paper pulp, vegetable or animal fibres,
wood, or suitable mineral substances, such as laminae or plates of slate,
or metallic wire, bars, rods, wire gauze, plates, perforated or otherwise, or
other suitable forms of metal. The substances thus inserted in the stone
or siate should be so placed as to act with the greatest mechanical
advantage in strengthening the stone or slate; but the precise nature of
doing this must obviously depend on the nature, size, shape, and number
of the substances inserted.
2nd. I colour the stone or slate made as described by applying to it a
suitable solution which acts as a dye, such as a salt of iron or copper, or
other colouring solution, the effect of which will not be destroyed by
the lime in the cement; this may be applied either before or after the
stone or slate is steeped in the, silica, or while the cement is yet wet,
and before it is steeped in the silicate I rub over it some insoluble
colouring matter which is not injured by lime, such as lampblack
ochre, red oxide of iron, or other suitable colouring matter.
3rd. After the stone or slate is finished in order to preserve it from
atmospheric influence and render it thoroughly waterproof and unab-
sorbent I apply a solution of paraffine in any suitable menstruum, as
turpentine, bisulphide of carbon, or other suitable solvent.
4th. I apply to the surface of stone or slate, first, a solution of silicate
of soda, and then antimonic acid, or a mixture of the two. This
produces a coating of silica & insoluble antimonate of soda, which is
well calculated to resist all atmospheric influences. This coating is
applicable also to ordinary walls and other surfaces of wood, stone, or
other similar substances.
5th. I apply a paint made as ordinary oil paints are, but with the
addition of precipitated or soluble silica, or insoluble silicate produced
by precipitation from a soluble silicate and some suitable metallic salt,
as salts of iron, copper, or zinc, which adds to the cheapness of the
paint, and in some cases enters into chemical combination with the
oxide or other salt of lead or other metal which forms the basis of the
paint, thus rendering the paint more durable.
6th. With a view to preserving ordinary walls or other surfaces of
natural or artificial stone, I first fill up the pores and harden the surface
with any suitable solution, or two or more solutions applied in succession,
and then dress it with a solution of paraffine, or where appearance is of

page_text: no importance with a bituminous substance. The solution or solutions
first applied may be varied with the nature of the stone and other cir-
cumstances. Thus to all carbonates of lime suitable sulphates of the
metals may be applied, as sulphate of aluminum, iron, copper, zinc, &c.,
or two solutions may be applied in succession acting chemically on each
other as a suitable sulphate of the metals, and chloride of barium or
lime, soluble silicate and acid, or metallic salt; or three solutions, as a
soluble silicate, a sulphate of some suitable metal, and chloride of
barium or lime. The object in all being to harden the surface and
fill the pores before applying the solution of paraffine or bitumen.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Highton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENKY
HIGHTON, M.A., of Sussex Square, Brighton, in the County of Sussex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the 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 successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Highton, Her special licence
that I, the said Henry Highton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Highton, 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 STONE AND SLATE, AND IN COLORING AND
PRESERVING THE SAME, PA OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PRESERVATION
OF WALLS AND OTHER SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Henry Highton, 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

page_text: 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 Henry Highton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
artificial stone and slate, and in coloring and preserving the same;
part of which are also applicable to the preservation of walls and
other surfaces.
In order to produce blocks, slabs, and slates of artificial stone such as
is described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to me,
and dated the 25th day of June 1868, No. 2,048, but durably colored on
the surface to any tint which may be desired, I proceed as follows:-
I first mould or cast the block, slab, or slate in hydraulic mortar or
cement mixed, if desirable, with sand, gravel, or other suitable sub-
stance as is described in the said Specification. Sometimes I mix hair
or fibre, or pieces of metal with the mortar or cement to render the
articles made from it more tough, and to lessen their liability to break.
After the block, slab, or slate is set I wash over the surface with a wash
prepared with any durable pigment which is able to resist the action of
caustic lime, lampblack, ochre, ultramarine, and red oxide of iron, for
example, are suitable. I mix the pigment with lime and water so as
to make a wash of a consistency like that of the limewash used for
common lime whiting. The proportion of lime to the pigment may be
varied according to the tint which it is desired to obtain, but it is best
that the proportion of lime should not be less than, about one part to
one part of pigment. Other alkaline earths may be substituted for
lime, but they are expensive. When the wash is dry the colored blocks,
slabs, or slates are steeped in a solution of soluble silicate, which both
hardens and closes the pores of the articles, and sets and renders durable
the coating of color which has been applied to them. In order to
prevent the bath of soluble silicate from becoming impoverished by use,
soluble silica may advantageously be supplied to it as is described in my
Specification to which reference has before been made.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention, the manufacture of
colored articles of artificial stone and slate by moulding or casting the

page_text: said articles in hydraulic mortar or cement, then coloring the same,
and subsequently treating them with a solution of soluble silicate,
substantially as above described.
In order to close the pores on the surface of artificial stone or slate,
or natural stone, bricks, wood, or other porous substances so as to render
such substance more durable when exposed to the weather, I coat it with
soluble silicate (silicate of soda) and a substance or substances capable
of decomposing the silicate and combining with the soda so as to form
an insoluble compound therewith. I employ in this way silicate of
soda and antimonic acid. The best way of using these materials is to
mix with silicate of soda of a sp. gr. from 1.250 to 1-500 sufficient
antimonic acid to combine with the soda of the silicate, and then with a
brush to apply the mixture as a wash to the surface to be treated, laying
on as much as the surface will absorb. The materials should be used.
within an hour or so after they are mixed. The antimonic acid after a
time decomposes the silicate of soda, depositing in the pores and on the
surface of the stone or other surface silica and an insoluble antimoniate
of soda. Or in place of using antimonic acid, which is expensive, I
apply to the stone or other surface a wash consisting of silicate of soda
of sp. gr. from about 1.250 to 1.500 mixed with lime and soluble silica
(either natural or artificial) in equal or nearly equal parts so as to form
a mixture like whitewash, which is applied to the stone or surface with
a brush as in the former case. When this compound is used a decom-
position after a time takes place, and an insoluble double silicate of
lime and soda is formed in the pores and on the surface of the stone or
other substance.
What I claim as respects this part of my Invention is, the treating
artificial and other stone or slate, and wall and other surfaces and
materials, so as to preserve and protect the same from the weather with
silicate of soda and a substance or substances capable of decomposing
the silicate and combining with the soda it contains so as to form an
insoluble compound therewith, substantially as above described.
Also in order to preserve stone and other surfaces I employ a paint
made with soluble silica, or with an insoluble silicate produced by the
precipitation of soluble silica with a solution of some suitable metallic
salt, the chlorides or sulphates of iron, copper, and zinc are suitable
precipitating agents; or a soluble salt of lead may be employed. The
soluble silica may be either natural soluble silica or artificially prepared.

page_text: I use the silica or silicate mixed with about an equal quantity of pigment,
using by preference white lead or litharge, zinc white, or oxide of iron,
and the silica or silicate and the pigment together are ground with the
boiled oil and other ingredients in the same manner as when making
ordinary oil paint. This silica or silicate in some of these cases enters
into a chemical combination with the oxide or other compound of lead,
zinc, or iron which forms the basis of the paint, and thus renders the
paint more durable.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention, the coating artificial or
natural stone and slate, walls, and other surfaces and materials in order
to preserve the same with a paint consisting of soluble silica or the
artificially precipitated silicate of iron, lead, copper, or zinc, together
with the ingredients of ordinary lead, zinc, or iron paint, substantially
as above described.
With a view to preserving walls or other surfaces of stone, plaster, or
other materials I first cover and harden the surface, and fill the pores
as far as possible with any suitable solution, or two or more solutions
applied in succession capable of producing a precipitate of insoluble
matter in the pores, and then I dress the surface with a solution of
paraffine, which produces on the surface and in the porous interstices
still left open by the first operation an unalterable film effectually pro-
tecting it from the contact of air and moisture. Where appearance is of
no importance a solution of a bituminous substance, such as asphalte,
may be employed. The solutions I prefer are saturated solutions in
bisulphide of carbon or turpentine, or a mixture of both. The solution
or solutions first applied may be such as have heretofore been used for
closing the pores of stone and other materials by depositing an insoluble
precipitate therein, and the solution or solutions may be varied with the
nature of the stone or other material of the surface, and other circum-
stances. Thus to limestones suitable sulphates of the metals may be
applied, as sulphate of aluminum, iron, copper, zinc; or to any ordinary
substances two solutions may be applied in succession, which act che-
mically on each other as a suitable sulphate of the metals, and then
chloride of barium or lime, or a soluble silicate, and then an acid or
suitable metallic salt, or a solution (which is best supersaturated) of
lime or baryta mixed, if desired, with a suitable colouring matter, and
when this is dried on the surface a soluble silicate, or three or more in
succession, as a soluble silicate, sulphates of any suitable metals,

page_text: chloride of barium or lime; the object being to harden the surface and
fill the pores as much as possible before applying the solution of
paraffine or bitumen.
I claim, as respects this part of my Invention, the treating, as
above described, artificial or natural stone or slate, walls, and other
surfaces and materials in order to preserve the same, first hardening the
surface and closing the pores by depositing an insoluble precipitate
therein, and then subsequently applying a solution of paraffine or
bitumen.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Highton, have hereunto set.
my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
HENRY HIGHTON.
(L.8.)