A NEW COMPOSITION FOR CASTING TO REPRESENT MARBLE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents, No. 4,
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR CASTING TO REPRESENT MARBLE."—
A communication from abroad by Johann Philipp Weimar, Sculptor,
residing at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 30th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
April 1862.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR CASTING TO REPRESENT MARBLE,"
(a communication from abroad by Johann Philipp Weimar, Sculptor, resident
at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia), to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a composition by which castings may be taken
from moulds of plaster of Paris to represent marble. The composition consists
of minerals of various kinds, such as flint, granite, fire-clay, chalk, quartz, and
others, which, after being more or less finely crushed, are to be mixed with
silicate of soda or potash, or both, in different proportions of consistency, from
equal parts of silicate of soda or potash and water to one part. silicate of soda
or potash and three parts water. The composition, after being stirred to a
pulp, can be poured into moulds of plaster of Paris to harden. By this process
a perfectly smooth casting is obtained as transparent as marble possessing
numerous advantages over plaster of Paris and other compositions hitherto

page_text: used as substitutes for marble. The artificial marble may be colored or tinted,
according to the purpose for which it is intended, with ochre, vermilion,
ultramarine, or other coloring matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, No. 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in
the County of Middlesex,, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Prince, Her special licence, that I, the said Alexander Prince, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Prince, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and fo 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 "A NEW COMPOSITION FOR CASTING
TO REPRESENT MARBLE," a communication to me from abroad by Johann Philipp
Weimar, Sculptor, resident at Berlin, in the Kingdom of Prussia, upon the
condition, (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Prince, 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 Alexander Prince, 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:
.
This Invention consists of a new composition from which castings may be
taken from moulds of plaster of Paris or other moulds, which castings shall
represent marble and constitute a substitute therefor. The composition consists
of minerals of various kinds, such as the different sorts of marble, blue fluate

page_text: of lime, heavy spar, felspar, talc, chalk, quartz, asbestos, flint, granite, pumice,
common and fire-clay, molybden, graphite, charcoal, and other mineral
substances of similar characters, which are to be reduced to a pulverized state,
after which they are to be mixed with silicate of soda or potash, or waterglass,
or with both silicate of soda and potash, from one part of waterglass and three
parts of water to one part of waterglass and one part of water, in accordance
with the degree of consistency required, and according to the different minerals
employed; the mass is then to be stirred to a pulp or paste, which may then
be poured into moulds and allowed to become hardened or set, after which the
casting is then to be removed, when it will resemble marble, not only in its
outward appearance, but in its strength, weight, solidity, and durability. By
this process a perfectly smooth casting is obtained as transparent as marble
and possessing numerous advantages over plaster of Paris and other composi-
tions hitherto used as substitutes for marble. The composition may be colored
or the castings may be tinted, if the composition or the castings are not
already (by the various admixtures of the above mineral substances in their
various proportions or their various classes) of the required color, by the use
of the different kinds of ochre, magnetic ironstone, vermilion, umbra, ruddle,
ultramarine, pine soot, or other coloring matters or pigments. Each kind of
mineral requires a particular treatment with regard to its mixture and color.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion that I do
not limit myself to the precise details or quantities herein described, as the
same may obviously be varied or changed according as practice and the
various requirements of the composition may suggest, but I claim as the
Invention intended to be secured by the herein in part recited Letters Patent,
the composition formed of minerals and waterglass, or silicate of soda or
potash, or both, substantially in the manner herein specified, constituting a
substitute for gypsum and marble, for the purpose of casting copies of figures
busts, relievos, and articles of sculpture of every kind, and carving work for
ornaments and other useful purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
ALEX PRINCE.
L.S.)