AN IMPROVED MASTIC OR CEMENT, WHICH MAY BE ALSO EMPLOYED AS AN ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND FOR COATING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BERTRAM, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send greeting,
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of July, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Bertram, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Ifer especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Bertram, my exors, adiñiors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Charles Bertram, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of Iler said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MASTIC OR CEMENT, WHICH MAY BE ALSO EMPLOYED AS AN ARTIFICIAL
STONE, AND FOR COATING METALS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES," communicated to me
by a foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Charles Bertram, shall cause a full and particular
description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the before in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Bertram, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully set forth and ascertained
in and by the following Specification thereof, that is to say :-
I take about seventy parts of turf or peat, as it comes from the field, and
having freed the same, by pressure or evaporation, of the greater portion of the
water which it contains, I mix them with about thirty parts of tar or pitch
(preferring the tar which is to be obtained from the gasworks, and results from
the distillation of coal). I leave this mixture at rest for some hours, then put
it into a cauldron or other suitable vessel, and keep it boiling for about three
hours. The product is a mastic or cement, to which the inventor has given
the name of percollane. It is of a very adhesive and tenacious quality, readily
soluble after it has become hardened, impervious to water and moisture, and
nearly inodorous. When it is desired to use this cement for the purpose of
coating ships, which are liable to become foul from the adhesion of marine
animals and plants, I add to each hundred parts of the peat or turf and tar or
pitch about two parts of common yellow soap, and ten parts of oxide of copper,
or any other metallic salt of the like poisonous quality.
To modify the said artificial composition so as to fit it to be employed as an
artificial stone, I diminish the quantity of peat or turf made use of to thirty-
five parts, and substitute for the discarded thirty-five parts as many parts of
mud or slime, taken from the bottom of rivers, canals, ponds, marshes, &c.
intermixed with a little dry sand, or very fine gravel. I treat this mixture
precisely in the same way as that last herein-before described, and then mould
it into blocks and slabs of any required form and size. For the paving of
streets, terraces, floors, &c. this artificial stone will be found exceedingly well
adapted. It is extremely hard, and not at all affected by changes of tem-
perature or moisture.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the said mastic or cement
is composed of the same materials, and manufactured in the same way as a
certain flux employed in the manufacture or preparation of fuel, for which
William Wylam, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Merchant, has obtained Letters
Patent, of date the Twenty-second day of June last, and which was communi-
cated to him by the same foreigner residing abroad who has communicated the
composition to me for the special purposes of the present Patent, and that I

page_text: therefore lay no claim to the same so far as regards the application thereof to
the manufacture or preparation of fuel.
And I declare that I claim the said improved mastic or cement, and the
several modifications of it before described, in so far only as the same may be
employed for cementitious purposes, or as an artificial stone, or for coating
metals, and other substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bertram, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-three, this Twentieth day of December.