IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FABRICATION OF PLASTIC MATERIALS PRESSED IN MOULDS FOR BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES, AND FOR STATUARY
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Bielefeld, of Gower Street, in
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
FABRICATION OF PLASTIC MATERIALS PRESSED IN MOULDS FOR BUILDING AND
ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES, AND FOR STATUARY."
5 Sealed the 19th September 1860, and dated the 19th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Bielefeld
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th March 1860.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK BIELEFELD, of Gower Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE FABRICATION OF PLASTIC MATERIALS PRESSED IN MOULDS FOR BUILDING AND
ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES, AND FOR STATUARY," to be as follows:-
I form a compound consisting of silica and alumina, with or without oxide
of zinc or other inetallic oxides; water glass may either be incorporated with
it or applied after the article is made. The compound is to be placed in the
mixing machine, and fibrous materials added in such proportions as to suit
the purpose required, and the plastic compound thus obtained is thenmoulded
into the desired articles. Any material may be used containing silica and
alumina, as china clay, ground glass, ground lava or pumicestone, marble,

page_text: quartz, carbonate and sulphate of lime, oxide of zinc, and other metals,
magnesia, ochres, and other earths containing the above properties.
A mixture may be made as follows:-1 part lime, 1 part china clay,1 part
rottenstone, together with fibrous materials to be incorporated therewith, and
with or without water glass. If the water glass is not in the mixture, it may
be applied in a solution after the article is made. From the above compounds
articles may be moulded suitable for architectural embellishments, also for
coverings for roofs, floors, walls, and other purposes, also imitations of marble,
and inlaid work, also for water pipes, and for building purposes generally.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederic Bielefeld in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK BIELEFELD, of Gower Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Frederick Bielefeld, Her special licence that I, the said
Charles Frederic Bielefeld, my executors, administrators, and assigns,or such
others as I, the said Charles Frederick Bielefeld, 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 FABRICATION OF PLASTIC
MATERIALS PRESSED IN MOULDS FOR BUILDING AND ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES, AND
FOR STATUARY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Frederick Bielefeld, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Frederick Bielefeld, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in combining fibrous materials with water glass
(solution of silica), lime, and clay. In making or preparing plastic com-
pounds of the materials above mentioned, some one or more of the other
materials hereafter mentioned are generally used, according to the nature of
the compound desired to be produced. These other materials are ground
glass, ground lava or pumicestone, or ground marble or quartz, or carbonate
and sulphate of lime, oxide of zinc, and other metals, magnesia, ochres, and
other earths containing like properties. The coarser ground matters above
mentioned give mass, and the oxides of zinc and other metals, ochres,
and other earths, modify or give color as well as mass to the compounds
of the other matters.
The compound which is generally used by me consists of, one part by
weight of fibrous materials, preferring the fibres to be of very short staple,
such as those which have been subjected to a paper engine; three parts by
weight of water glass (solution of silica), one part by weight of lime, two
parts by weight of clay, one part by weight of sand, or of some one or more of
the ground substances above mentioned, two parts by weight of oxide of zinc
or of other metal, or other matter suitable for modifying or giving color as
well as mass to the compound. These matters or substances are introduced
into a pugmill or other suitable machine, and are well mixed and ground, in
order to obtain a plastic mass suitable for being moulded into the forms
desired. The above compounds are very suitable for the making moulded
architectural ornaments both for exterior and interior work; also, for making
slabs, tiles, and other forms for the covering of floors, roofs, and walls of
buildings. It is not essential in all cases to use both lime and clay, as plastic
compounds for like uses may be produced without, but it is preferred generally
to use one or both in each compound. The workman in making a plastic
compound according to my Invention will be guided in each case in respect to
the quality of the clay used by the result he wishes to obtain, and he will use
china, clay, and ground marble with oxide of zinc when he wishes to produce
white and fine surfaces, whilst he will use the more common clay when he
wishes to make more coarse articles. And although I have given specific
quantities of the matters above mentioned, they may be greatly varied. In
order to obtain fine surfaces in preparing basso relievos, vases, inlaid panelling,
busts, and such like, I combine the matters above described, leaving out the
fibre,and such matters are then made up into a semi-fluid compound, and the
surfaces of the ornamental parts of the work are produced by the use of such

page_text: matters which are first put into the moulds, and such semi-fluid compounds
are then allowed partly to set before introducing the plastic fibrous com-
pounds above described into the moulds.
I would state that it is not new to employ water glass (solution of silica)
as a means of cementing sand, ground marble, stone, and other like matters,
I do not, therefore, claim the cementing of such materials when un-
combined with fibres, or with fibres, lime, and clay; neither is it new in
making plastic compounds to combine lime and clay with fibrous matters;
I do not, therefore, claim such combination when unaccompanied with the
use of water glass (solution of silica).
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Bielefeld, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
CHARLES F. BIELEFELD. (L.S.)