IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND FOR FORCING LIQUIDS INTO POROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Spice, of 40, Cirencester Place, Fitzroy
Square, London, W., for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND FOR FORCING LIQUIDS INTO POROUS
SUBSTANCES." A communication from abroad by Arthur Pye-Smith,
of Marino Lines, Bombay.
Sealed the 26th April 1870, and dated the 2nd November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Spice at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd November 1869.
I, ROBERT SPICE, of 40, Cirencester Place, Fitzroy Square, London, W.,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND FOR FORCING LIQUIDS INTO POROUS
SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
I prepare a chamber of such a size as may be required of iron or
other material capable of bearing a pressure from within, with a
moveable bottom of a porous material or pierced with small holes, which

page_text: may be attached to the chamber by bolts or other means so as to form a
tight joint. Either the plate or the chamber must be moveable verti-
cally and horizontally. The moveable part being removed from proximity
to the fixed part, the artificial stone while in a soft state is turned out
of the moulds on to the bottom plate until it is covered, and those holes
in the plate which may happen to be not covered by the stone aro closed
up by wooden plugs or other suitable means. In the case of harder but
still porous materials, such as hardened artificial stone, natural stone,
wood, etc. should the surfaces of the material & the plate not be
exactly coincident a bedding of suitable material may be interposed,
such as clay, felt, cloth, sand, india-rubber, etc. The moveable part is
now brought into contact with the fixed part by means of suitable
guides, and the joint between them made. The chamber is now filled
with the liquid required to penetrate the material operated on, & then
pressure is applied to it by means of a force pump or by a column of
liquid of the required height. The liquid in the chamber is thus forced
out through the holes in the bottom plate, to reach which it is compelled
to pass through the porous material which it is desired to act upon.
When the material is composed of a mixture of a soluble silicate of soda
or other alkali with sand, silex, or other material described in the
Specification of the Patent granted to F. Ransome, 9 April, 1861,
No. 877, having saturated it in the manner afore described with chloride
of calcium, chloride of magnesium, lime, or other suitable salt or salts,
water may be forced through in a similar manner in order to remove
any. soluble salts that may remain in the pores of the stone. In this
and other cases a succession of liquids may be used if desired without
removing the material until it is finished.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Spice in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SPICE, of 40, Cirencester Place, Fitzroy Square, London, W., send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year of a

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Spice, Her special licence that I,
the said Robert Spice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Robert Spice, 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, AND FOR FORCING LIQUIDS INTO POROUS SUBSTANCES," a communication
to me from abroad by Arthur Pye-Smith, of Marine Lines, Bombay,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Spice, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Robert Spice, 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 :-
My Invention has for its object the forcing of liquids into porous
substances, and is especially adapted for making artificial stone and
for creosoting timber.
I place the material to be operated upon in a strong chamber and
apply hydraulic pressure inside; but I also provide means for the
escape of the air contained in the material, so that the saturating liquid
may be able to enter into its pores which are thus become vacuous.
This object may be attained in various ways. In the case of hard
materials small incompressible pipes made of lined india-rubber, lead,
iron, or other suitable material may be used, connected to the material
by insertion or suction, which are led either singly or collected into one
larger duct through the wall of the chamber into the air. In the case
of softer materials I prefer to make the bottom of the chamber a stiff
flat plate either porous or perforated, upon which the materials to be
treated are placed, overlying the holes or pores, any of which that

page_text: may remain uncovered being temporarily plugged or closed. If the
material by its conformation should not sit close to the plate a bedding
must be interposed, as india-rubber, cloth, felt, pug, sand, clay, or other
suitable material, which must be pierced to coincide with the per-
forations of the plate when necessary. It is usually most convenient to
make the bottom plate fixed and the upper part of the chamber
moveable, but in some cases, especially when the chamber is large, it
is best to have one or both ends moveable. Whichever side of the
chamber is thus made detachable arrangements must be provided for
forming a tight joint at its junction with the chamber by means of 1
flanges and bolts or clamps closed by eccentrics, inclined planes, levers,
screws, or other means, or by a return flange, against which the plato
will press by means of the pressure from within or by any other well
known means. The bottom plate being loaded up the detachable side is
brought into contact with the rest of the chamber and the joint made;
it is then filled with the saturating liquid, and hydraulic pressure is
applied by means of force pumps or of a column of liquid carried to a
reservoir erected at the requisite height to obtain the required pressure or
by other means. The pressure of the liquid in the interior of the chamber
forces the air from the pores of the material through the porous or
perforated bottom plate, and following it itself passes through the
materials, saturating them, and escapes through the bottom plate into
suitable ducts. When the material to be saturated is composed of a
mixture of a soluble silicate of soda or other alkali with sand, silex, or
other material having passed through it in the manner herein-before
described, with chloride of calcium, chloride of magnesium, lime, or
other suitable salt or salts, water may be forced through in a similar
manner in order to remove any soluble salts that may remain in this
and other cases; a variety of liquids may be passed through the
material without removing it.
The Drawing attached represents the arrangements I prefer, but I do
not confine myself to these provided that the general character of my
improvements be maintained, which consists essentially in the providing
means for the spontaucous escape of the air contained in the porous
body without the aid of an air pump, so that the saturating liquid may
be able to enter the pores of the material freely, which it cannot do
when pressure is applied equally upon every side of the porous body.