IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Carrington Sellars, of Birkenhead, in the
County of Chester, Manufacturing Chemist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Carrington Sellars
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1874.
I, JOHN CARRINGTON SELLARS, of Birkenhead, in the County of
Chester, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE," to be as
follows:-
M. Tution walates to that class of autificial stone made into books

page_text: bricks, tiles, or other forms by subjecting to pressure or by moulding into
form mixed silicious sand or other granular substances, and Portland or
other cement, powdered lime or clay, and consists essentially as means
for hardening and rendering said stone more durable in wetting
or soaking the said blocks, bricks, tiles, or other forms after pressure or
moulding, and after they have been exposed to the atmosphere for some
time with or in water containing or holding lime in solution or
suspension.
In practice I prefer to expose the stones after they are formed into
the required shape to the atmosphere for about fourteen days, and then
to immerse them for about twelve hours in a strong solution of lime
water. Occasional agitation of the lime water facilitates the process of
hardening.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said John
Carrington Sellars in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 22nd Junc
1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CARRINGTON SELLARS, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, Manu-
facturing Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, 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 suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Carrington Sellars, Her
special licence that I, the said John Carrington Sellars, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Carrington
Sellars, 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

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL STONE;" upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Carrington Sellars, my executors or admini-
strators, 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 on or
before the 25th day of June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Carrington Sellars, 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 in writing, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to that class of artificial stone made into blocks,
bricks, tiles, or other forms by subjecting to pressure or moulding into
form mixed silicious sand or other granular substances, and Portland or
other cement, powdered lime or clay, and consists essentially as means
for hardening and rendering said stone more durable in wetting or
soaking the said blocks, bricks, tiles, or other forms after pressure or
moulding, and after they have been exposed to the atmosphere for some
time with or in water containing or holding lime in solution or
suspension.
In practice I prefer to expose the stones after they are formed into
the required shape to the atmosphere for about fourteen days, and then
to immerse them for about ten to twelve days, or longer, in a strong
solution of lime and water; occasional agitation of the lime water
facilitates the process of hardening. The hardening process may also be
facilitated by the application of heat to the lime water during the
immersion of the stones.
'The above described process is specially applicable to stones formed of
hydraulic lime, Portland cement and sand, or hydraulic lime and sand.
Stones formed of hydraulic lime may be immersed direct into the lime
water.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention so that others
will be enabled to carry it into practice I claim,—

page_text: (1). The process of hardening artificial stone substantially as above
described.
(2). The use of lime water for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Carrington Sellars, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
In the presence of
JAMES JOHNSON,
Patent Office,
4, Clayton Square,
Liverpool.
JNO. C. SELLARS. (L.S.)