Improvements in the Manufacture of Refractory Materials for Building and other Purposes.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st July, 1899
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Mar., 1900-Accepted, 12th May, 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Refractory Materials for
Building and other Purposes.
'I, ALFRED GORDON SALAMON, Consulting Chemist, of 1, Fenchurch Avenue,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
This invention has for its object the production of an improved refractory
material suitable for use in building and for other purposes as a substitute for
slate, plaster, wood, corrugated iron and other substances.
In the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to A. Imschenetzky
and dated 24th February 1898, No. 4628 there is described the production of
a refractory material wherein chalk or other kindred substances and asbestos
are cemented together with gelatinous silica, which latter is precipitated on to
the fibres of asbestos and on to the particles of chalk from a solution of silicate
of soda by causing the latter to act upon a solution of bicarbonate of soda. The
product of this process is subsequently dried.
My present invention comprises an improved process of producing refractory
material of the kind described in the said former specification, whereby I avoid
wholly, or in part, the employment of the bicarbonate of soda, thus effecting
a considerable economy in production.
In my improved process, I add less chalk or kindred substances than would
otherwise be used and I effect a chemical precipitation of chalk amidst and upon
the fibres of the asbestos along with the gelatinous silica, whereby the amalgama-
tion of the constituents of the product is rendered more complete and when the
drying is effected a stronger material is obtained.
In carrying on my improved process, I pass carbonic acid gas into water in
which chalk is suspended, continuing the passage of this gas until the chalk
has disappeared and the solution is fluid and substantially clear. I introduce the
fluid thus prepared into a bath of silicate of soda in which the objects made
from the mixture of asbestos and chalk are being steeped.
The result is the decomposition of the silicate of soda with the production
of gelatinous silica and the simultaneous production of chemically precipitated
chalk within the pores of the asbestos or upon the particles of chalk.
The steeping in the manner above described may be well continued until all
the silicate of soda has been decomposed, when the solution should consist
mainly of monocarbonate of soda, which can be washed out of the refractory
material subsequently to be dried. The monocarbonate of soda thus produced
can be made available in the arts according to methods well known to chemists.
The improved material produced as above described can be used not only for
building purposes, but also as an available shield for field-guns, and in ship-
building and for a variety of other purposes.
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Refractory Materials for
Building and other Purposes.
I, ALFRED GORDON SALAMON, Consulting Chemist, of 1, Fenchurch Avenue,
in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 has for its object the production of an improved refractory
material suitable for use in building and for other purposes as a substitute for
slate, plaster, wood, corrugated iron and other substances.
In the Specification of former Letters Patent granted to A. Imschenetzky
and dated 24th February 1898, No. 4628, there is described the production of
a refractory material wherein chalk or other kindred substances and asbestos
are cemented together by gelatinous silica, which latter is precipitated on to the
fibres of asbestos and on to the particles of chalk from a solution of silicate of
soda by means of a solution of bicarbonate of soda. The product of this process
is subsequently dried.
My present invention comprises an improved process of producing refractory
material of the kind described in the said former specification, whereby I avoid
wholly, or in part, the employment of the bicarbonate of soda, thus effecting
a considerable economy in production.
In my improved process, I add less chalk or kindred substances than would
otherwise be used and I effect a chemical precipitation of chalk along with the
gelatinous or colloidal silica, amidst and upon the fibres of the asbestos and the
granules or fragments of the chalk or kindred substances mixed with the asbestos
whereby the amalgamation of the constituents of the product is rendered more
complete and when the drying is effected a stronger material is obtained than
is possible by the process described in the above mentioned specification.
In carrying out my improved process, I pass carbonic acid gas into water in
which chalk is suspended, continuing the passage of this gas until the chalk
has disappeared and the solution is fluid and substantially clear. I then use
this liquid for saturating the asbestos which has been previously mixed with
chalk or kindred substances and impregnated with sodium silicate solution.
The result is the decomposition of the silicate of soda with the production
of gelatinous silica and the simultaneous production of chemically precipitated
chalk within the pores of the asbestos and upon the particles of chalk.
The operation is continued and may be repeated until all the silicate of soda
has been decomposed, whereupon the monocarbonate of soda is washed out of
the refractory material and the latter is subsequently dried. The monocarbonate
of soda thus produced can be made available in the arts according to methods
well known to chemists. Though bicarbonate of soda is practically the most
useful, I may employ, as Imschenetzky points out, potassium or ammonium
bicarbonate.
I can carry out my invention as above described without the use of bicarbonate
of soda for separating the colloidal silica, but I find it is more advantageous
first to use sodium bicarbonate following the silicate of soda, as set forth in
Imschenetzky's specification, while the material is in a soft condition, and then
to roll or press and dry the material and soak in silicate of soda again after
which I apply my calcium bicarbonate solution to the hardened sheets, thereby
decomposing this silicate solution and obtaining a deposition of calcium car-
bonate and colloidal silica in the said sheets. Any of these processes may be

page_text: repeated if desired. These sheets become considerably harder when thus pre-
pared than when sodium bicarbonate alone is used. The reason for this is that
calcium silicates are produced under these conditions more readily than when
colloidal silica is left to act slowly upon calcium carbonate naturally produced
or in other words upon chalk; whereas in my process the calcium carbonate is
generated by a chemical reaction with the elimination of carbonic acid from the
bicarbonate, and may with strict accuracy, be described as being in the nascent
condition, whereby it is, as is well known to chemists, more capable of entering
into such a reaction as would lead to the formation within the material of
calcium silicates. In lieu of calcium bicarbonate I may of course employ the
bicarbonate of any other alkaline earth, as strontium or magnesium, which has
a substantially soluble bicarbonate and a substantially insoluble monocarbonate.
The improved material produced as above described can be used not only for
building purposes, but also as an available shield for field-gun's, and in ship
building and for a variety of other purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. In the manufacture of refractory materials, the deposition of colloidal
silica along with calcium carbonate within and upon the ingredients of the said
materials by soaking the same, after proper impregnation with sodium silicate,
in a bath of calcium bicarbonate, or of chalk held in solution by carbonic acid
in excess, substantially as described.
2. In the manufacture of refractory materials, the precipitation of colloidal
silica simultaneously with the precipitation of calcium carbonate, both being
in the nascent condition, so that they can readily react with formation of silicate
of calcium, substantially as described.
3. In the manufacture of refractory material the use of the bicarbonates of
calcium, or other suitable alkaline earth, either alone or in addition to sodium
bicarbonate, together with sodium silicate, substantially as described.
4. As a new article of manufacture, refractory material made by the deposition
in the ingredients thereof, of carbonate of calcium, or of other suitable alkaline
earth, and of colloidal silica, substantially as hereinabove set forth.
5. As a new article of manufacture, refractory material made substantially.
according to the process hereinabove described containing in addition to the
substances produced under the British Patent No. 4628 of 1898, either actual
or potential silicates of calcium or other suitable alkaline earth produced by
the reaction of colloidal silica upon carbonates of calcium or other suitable
alkaline earth, the said bodies being generated within and upon the ingredients
of the refractory material, substantially as described.
Dated this 8th day of Wah
1000
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.