IMPROVE. MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR BUILDINGS, FLOORS, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: 1.ETTERS PATENT to James O'Friel, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR BUILDINGS, FLOORS,
AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
Sealed the 15th January 1875, and dated the 17th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James O'Friel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th July 1874.
I, JAMES O'FRIEL, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United
States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL Stone for BUILDINGS,
FLOORS, AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is improvements in the manufacture
of artificial stone suitable for buildings, floors, and other purposes.
The compounds in. which tar and ashphaltum forms a part are liable to
soften in warm weather, and mixtures of lime and sand or ordinary
hydraulic cement do not resist the action of frost, especially when
[Price 8d.1

page_text: employed for walks or pavements. My composition is made for use
under circumstances of greater or less exposure of atmospheric influence,
frost, dampness, and water.
In preparing my artificial stone I first make a cement composed of
lime (carbonate of) 55 parts, alumina 8 parts, silica 24 parts, potash and
soda 3, iron 7 parts, or other with equivalent properties when mixed
with soluble or water glass (in solution), silix, gravel, broken stone, and
the like. This is then allowed to set or harden, when it will become
very tough and strong, also waterproof; at the same time it will not be
liable to disintegration or deliquescence. I then take clear sharp silix
or sand 5 parts, cement of the foregoing description, or its equivalent,
3 parts, and mix them thoroughly while in a dry state. I then wet it
with an aqulous solution of soluble or liquid-glass (one volume of liquid
glass to 16 of water), and stir the mass of sand and cement to the proper
consistency or plastic state. This composition may also contain where
the process of induration is required to be hastened about one pound of
oxide of silicium mixed with the above proportions; and when it is
desired to cause the compound to harden with greater rapidity a solution
of nitrate of lime, either in cold or hot state, and either by washing or
in a bath of said salt, as desired, where chemical interchange by virtue
of chemical affinities take place, the nitric acid of the soluble nitrate of
lime having a greater affinity for the potassa or soda than for lime united
with the potassa or soda, and the lime left free unites with the silicio
acid forming the insoluble silicate of lime, which is the cementing
property throughout the mass or stone.
The nitrates of potassa or soda being both soluble salts are easily
removed from the stone by means of warm or hot water, they being
washed out in solution, and the stone thus freed from salt has only to be
dried to be ready for use. The stone thus formed will withstand all the
usual atmospheric tests, and is not disintergrated by frosts nor dissolved
by the acids in common use, and may by using an exhaust during the
induratory process be made as hard as granite in a very short time.
When this composition cement is to be applied to roadways, side
walks, or floors, broken stones or chips, gravel, or other like colouring
bodies can be added in any desired proportion so long as the said plaster
cement is sufficient to fill the interstices and form a perfect bond for
said chips or gravel, or large and small stones. The foregoing pro-

page_text: "
portions can be changed as desired for places not exposed to atmospheric
influences.
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of c
This composition may be used for, building purposes or for any desired
object.
When it is intended to be used for side walks or paths, and in colors
às desired, the blocks are to be divided by strips of tinfoil placed between
the said mass of different colors, so that the same may not bleach, or
blur.
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5
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SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James O'Friel in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
O'FRIEL, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of
America, send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July; in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James O'Friel, Her special licence
that I, the said James O'Friel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James O'Friel, 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 FOR BUILDINGS, FLOORS, AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
O'Friel, 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.
"
$6

page_text: 4
3. NOW KNOW, YE, that I; the said James O'Friel, 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 statement thereof, that is to say:-
: >
The object of this Invention is the manufacture of artificial stone
suitable to lay down as pavement, facings of buildings, for roofings,
coverings. of yards or floors, and linings for iron ships, reservoirs, and
tanks; the material when set not being liable to disintegrate or crack
under changes of temperature, or heat, frost, or moisture, as the various
combinations of cement and sand do when used for the above purposes.
The compounds of which tar and asphaltum form part are liable to
soften in warm weather, and mixtures of lime and sand or ordinary
hydraulic cement do not resist the action of frost especially when
employed for walks or pavement.
....)
In the main feature of my artificial stone I first make a cement com-
posed of carbonate of lime 55 parts, alumina 8 parts, silica 24 parts, potash
and soda 3 parts, and iron in solution 7 parts; or I make use of Portland
or other cements containing equivalent proportions, as I have specified.
I then take, say, 2 parts of the above cement and mix, say, from 2 to
3 parts of sand or silex. I thoroughly incorporate, the ingredients by
stirring while in a dry state, and then pour in an aqueous solution of
neutral silicate of soda in the proportion of 1 volume of the silicate of
soda to 16 volumes of water, until the whole becomes plastic, when it is
ready for use.
* In some cases for the purpose of hastening induration in the finished
work I add one pound of pulverized oxide of silicum to every three
bushels of the mixture.
1
For application I take the plastic mass, made as before described, and
spread it by hand with wooden floats or other appliances upon the
surface to be covered to any desired thickness. I exert sufficient
pressure to combine the material and such surface. After a short time
I make the surface of this material smooth with a steel, or what is better,
a glass float. The surface thus rendered smooth is shortly after (say
one hour) washed with water, and then, say, within two hours, I give
the surface a washing with a liquid composed of 1 volume of silica of
soda and 5 volumes of water, and when this is dry with a final washing
composed of 1 volume of sulphuric or muriatic acid and 10 volumes of

page_text: Fastings may
тор
ingredients used as washings may be modified as desired, which will be
found essential if the artificial stone is not exposed to atmospheric
influences.
I produce any desired colour in the finished work by mixing colour
with the cement in a dry state, and previous to the cement and silex
or sand being incorporated together and treated with the silicate of soda,
as before described.
For obtaining ornamental effects I either stamp the surface of the
laid or spread artificial stone with a pattern; or I form blocks of my
artificial stone in different colors and shapes, and I fix them in position
by my wet composition, taking care to keep the edges of one block from
the edges of the adjoining ones by means of tinfoil, so that the different
colors shall not blend or blur.
When I form blocks, tiles, or slabs by pressure in moulds I prefer to
immerse them in a bath of nitrate of lime, in which bath chemical
interchange by virtue of chemical affinities takes place, and the nitric
acid of the soluble nitrate of lime having a greater affinity for the potash
or soda than for lime unites with the potash or soda, and the lime left
free unites with the silicic acid and forms the insoluble silicate of lime
which is the cementing property throughout the mass or stone. The
nitrates of potash or soda being soluble salts are easily removed from
the stone by means of hot or warm water, they being washed out in
solution, and the stone slabs thus freed from salt have only to be
dried to be ready for use. The stone thus formed will stand all the
usual atmospheric tests, and is not disintegrated by frost, or dissolved by
the acid in common use, and may by using an exhaust during the
induratory process be made as hard as granite in a very short time, and
thus the composition in this form may be used for building purposes
generally.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of carrying the same into practice for the purposes mentioned,
I declare that I claim, the improvements in the manufacture or pro-
duction of artificial stone, as and for the purposes above specified.
Secondly. I claim, the combination of ingredients above set forth,
and the employment of the mass as a cement or plastic compound that

page_text: can be spread or formed into blocks or slabs to serve as pavements,
roofings, facings of walls, or for building purposes generally, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James O'Friel, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-five.
JAMES O'FRIEL. (L.S.)