AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Kirrage, of No. 13, Gardeners Road, Vic-
toria Park, in the County of Middlesex, Surveyor, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR BUILDING
AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 11th August 1865, and dated the 16th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Kirrage at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
February 1865.
I, WILLIAM KIRRAGE, of No. 13, Gardeners Road, Victoria Park, in the
County of Middlesex, Surveyor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE
FOR BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I use silica, gravel, or any other fit and proper hard and unchangeable
matters with a portion of cement, sulphate of iron and water is then added in
a sufficient quantity to bind and corrode the silica, or any other sulphate or
acid may be used containing the properties of corroding the mass which is the
object this Invention is intended to obtain.
form blocks or masses of artificial stone of any shape to be used in the con-
struction of buildings in the place of bricks or stone, or in union with either or
This composition is intended to

page_text: both of them as occasion may require. The moulds require to be made strong
to resist the pressure. While filling, in the absence of hydraulic or other
pressing machines small hand rammers may be used. In the filling care must
be taken that the mixture is neither too dry or too damp for the process of
ramming, as in the former case the stone will powder, and in the latter case
the excess of moisture will show itself on the surface, and in either the
solidification will be less perfect, and although I prefer Portland or other
cements in the construction of these blocks, I sometimes use ground lime, such
as blue or grey lias, Dorking or other stone limes with sulphate of iron, in
which case I invariably use the water in a hot or boiling state, taking care
not to mix more material at one time than will fill the moulds ready for use,
as the setting or hardening process commences immediately, and is fit to take
off the moulds in ten minutes after filling them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Kirrage in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KIRRAGE, of No. 13, Gardiner's Road, Victoria Park, in the County of
Middlesex, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Kirrage, Her special licence that I, the said William
Kirrage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Kirrage, 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 "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR BUILDING AND
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Kirrage, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: 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 William Kirrage, 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 state-
ment:-
I make my artificial stone from silica, gravel, or other similar matters such
as brick and pottery and similar materials in the shape of waste, which should
be ground. Burnt clay or ground chalk, or the materials obtained from open-
ing metal mines, or other waste materials containing silica and being of a
hard character, may also be used in connection with a portion of cement
which I incorporate with the other materials, all being ground or mixed
together in a suitable pug or other mixing mill. I next proceed to treat the
mixed material with a chemical agent which acts upon the silica and corrodes
it so as to produce a binding effect and a hardening of the mass. I prefer to
use a solution of sulphate of iron, but solutions of other metalic sulphates
such as will also act upon the silica muriates of some of the metals would also
produce a similar result, but I prefer to use sulphate of iron as being
efficacious and most economical. The cement I propose to use is the Port-
land cement. The proportions I find best to answer the purpose are one
pound of cement to form eight to twelve pounds of the silica contained in the
materials above named. The materials will be found to vary somewhat in
quality, but a competent workman will easily ascertain how much cement must
be added to produce a compound that is hard and durable. Of the suphate of
iron which I use by preference I take the common crystals and dissolve them
and mix them in water in the proportions of half an ounce of sulphate
of iron to every gallon of water; for the making bricks or blocks for, all
common building purposes these proportions will answer well, but in making
coping, sills for windows, sinks, landings, chimney tops, and all heavy work
the proportions of sulphate of iron should be increased, and will produco
a harder and stronger compound to meet the strength required, particularly
in the case of heavy landings and large columns to carry heavy weights. If
hydraulic or blue or grey lias lime is used instead of cement I then take six
to eight pounds of silica or other matter to one pound of either of the above
limes with the same quantity of sulphate as with the cement, only in this case
the mixture of sulphate must be used hot as hereafter described. If any of
the lower quality of lime be used it will require to every four or five pounds
of silica or other matter one pound of such lime, and the sulphate mixture
should also be used hot. The ground materials containing the silica should be

page_text: well mixed in a pug or other mill in about the proportions above stated; I
then add the solution of the metallic sulphate, prefering the sulphate of iron
in the proportion above mentioned, using the solution cold with the Portland
cement or other similar cements, but with limes the solution should be used
hot; so much of the solusion should be added to the materials in the mill as
will make it bind together and make it slightly plastic, but not too much so
it is then fit for being compressed into moulds in the usual way. In mould-
ng, as soon as the pug mill or other apparatus has thoroughly incorporated
the mixture it is advisable to transfer it to a moulding machine either worked
by steam or hand, and so the bricks or other forms or articles may be moulded
and pressed as soon as possible. A hand press or ram may be used, or the
moulds may be pressed down by hand. In the case of making coping
columns, sills, sinks, and other heavy work the moulds must be well filled,
and every corner and projection must be rammed down in a sound and careful
manner.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I do not claim the mixing of cements and silica, nor
the mixing limes and silicas, but what I do claim is the manufacture of an
artificial stone or hard material by mixing and using the sulphate of iron or
other similar metallic sulphates or other similar mixtures of acids with metallic
bases in combination with cements and silica and limes and silica contained
in the materials such as I have mentioned for the purpose and in the manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Kirrage, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
W". KIKKAGE. (L.S.)