A NEW MANUFACTURE OF PORTLAND STONE CEMENT AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS FOR GENERAL BUILDING PURPOSES AND HYDRAULIC WORKS
Year: 1852

page_text: MCANASPIE, of Liverpool, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of Novem-
ber, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Patrick McAnaspie, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Patrick
McAnaspie, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Patrick McAnaspie, my exors, adors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all
Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A
NEW MANUFACTURE OF PORTLAND STONE CEMENT AND OTHER COMPOSITIONS FOR
GENERAL BUILDING PURPOSES AND HYDRAULIC WORKS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Patrick McAnaspie, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
D077

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Patrick McAnaspie, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say-
The nature of my said Invention consists in the manufacture of certain
combinations of well-known materials, matters, or substances obtained from
various sources in the manner herein-after fully explained, so as thereby to
produce Portland stone cement and cement used for hydraulicor general pur-
poses; and, secondly, in the use and application of a peculiar arrangement and
construction of kilns for accomplishing the purposes of the said manufacture,
which kilns, together with the inanner of working the same, are hereafter
fully described, set forth, and represented by the illustrative Drawing hereunto
annexed.
I will now proceed to describe, first, the chemical and other materials,
matters, or substances which I employ in the said manufacture, and the means
for treating and preparing the same.
Cement No.1. To make cement which shall resemblestone very extensively
used for the fronts of buildings and hydraulic work, similar to that known and
distinguished as Portland stone, and obtained from the Island of Portland, I pro-
ceed as follows: I take one measure of the quantity of an ordinary shovelfull of
yellow clay, one measure of coal clay, one measure of bottle, one measure of
sill clay, one measure of sea clay, four measures of copper dross, six measures
of coal slack, two measures of common salt, forty measures of lime, ten
measures of soap waste, and six measures of ground chalk, and treat them in
the following manner:-I take the four measures of copper dross, and pound
or grind it under a pair of edge runners, or in any other convenient manner,
working in a cast-iron pan until the particles are reduced to the state of very
coarse sand or fine gravel, and, placing this in the revolving pan, I add thereto
in the following order :-First, the two measures of salt; second, the six
measures of coal slack; third, the ten measures of soap waste; fourth, the
measures of clay of the qualities above described; fifth, the forty measures of
lime, slacked either in the ordinary way or by immersing it in water until it
attains a humid state or between wet and dry. And I would remark that
great care should be taken in slacking the lime to protect it from the weather,

page_text: so as to admit of its being reduced to the finest possible powder, and the lime
should be well tossed and thoroughly mixed by the workman while the heat is
in the lime. It will also be found desirable in practice not to slack a greater
quantity of line at one time than would be used in half a day, and to this
I add the six measures of ground chalk. The above-mentioned ingredients,
with the exception of the lime, I then place in the revolving pan, and grind
under a pair of heavy-edge runners with a sufficient quantity of clean water to
reduce the mass to a soft pulpy consistence. I then throw in the lime, and
add thereto liquor made from the residue of burnt sulphur stone, originally
known as copper pyrites or mundic, together with iron borings or any other
suitable description of old iron. And I would observe, the strength of the
above-mentioned liquor should never be of less strength than that indicated by
No. 2 on the acid gauge, and if the cement is required to be stronger than
this the liquor should then be made stronger on the acid gauge; No. 5 on the
acid gauge will be found a very good medium of strength. These materials
are to be well ground, dried, and burned or calcined in a furnace on the
reverbatory principle or in a kiln, such as are herein-after described and
shewn in the annexed Drawing. I add about three measures of copper slag
well ground and dried, and from one to four pounds of the common resin or
rosin of commerce to ten measures of the above calcined or burned materials,
and mix these well together, and grind them between a pair of flat stones, or
by any other convenient means. The cement so manufactured may be put
into casks or barrels ready for use. In cases where it is required to have the
cement rich and very plastic, I then add to the above from two to ten
measures of lime or chalk, as before mentioned, or, what I consider to be
better, ten measures of ground limestone in a powdery state. The cement
manufactured as above described will resemble in colour Portland stone. Ifit
is desired to have a colored cement resembling granite, different kinds of sand-
stone, oolite, and other native and foreign stones which are used for general
building and ornamental purposes, I employ certain materials as follows,
namely, scoria or slags, the residue from ironworks, the waste sand from iron
foundries, slags from copper works, pozzolano, protoxide or peroxide of iron,
and the oxides of zinc, the residue from the manufacture of tin, salt, soda, and
the potash of commerce, as well as the residuum from chemical works, such
as the residue of prussitate of potash, blue ash, black ash, and white ash,
chrome or bichrome, or the residue of chrome or bichrome obtained by the
manufacture of chrome at chemical works, the residue from soap manufactures,
containing lime, soda, and potash, and vat waste, coal slack from coal mines
and coal yards, oxide of manganese and other oxides, and alum, copperas,and

page_text: other crystals and astringents. These colouring materials I treat and employ
in the following manner:
Cement No. 2.-If it is desired that the cement shall resemble Bath stone,
I effect the same by adding as much copperas liquor to the liquor employed in
the manufacture of cement No. 1 as will raise the strength from five to
fifteen on the acid gauge.
Cement No. 3.-In case it should be desired that the cement should
resemble the Yorkshire white sandstone, or any other of the light colored
sandstones employed for building purposes, I use the following chemical
ingredients: I take about one pound weight of the carbonate of soda, and
half a pound weight of roch alum, and two pounds weight of the sulphate of
of copper, cominouly called blue stone, and I crush or pound these salts or
crystals in an iron mortar or other suitable vessel into a fine powder, mixing
them and incorporating them well together; and this quantity in powder
must be ground fine, and may then be thrown into the revolving pan and
ground up with the raw stuff used as the basis of the cement under the edge
of the runners, or by any other convenient means; but in making this cement
the copperas or iron liquor before mentioned (in reference to cement No. 1)
should be omitted.
Cement No. 4.--To make cement which shall resemble the Yorkshire
cream-colored sandstone, add to each panfull of the raw material, as before
described, from one to two gallons of the copperas or iron liquor above
mentioned, taking care not to grind the stuff too soft, but keeping it as stiff as
possible consistent with the grinding operation, which I effect under edge-
stones in the revolving pan. The materials are to be well ground, dried, and
burned or calcined in a furnace on the reverbatory principle or in a kiln,
such as are herein-after described, and shewn in the annexed Drawing.
Cement No. 5. To make strong dark cement to represent black or bluish
limestone, I take from about twenty to twenty-five per cent. of black, blue, or
yellow clay, very fine and soft to the touch; and I. further take from ten to
forty per cent. of the black oxide of manganese, and the remainder of the one
hundred I make up with lime or chalk. To this I add, for the purpose of
giving the proper color to the cement, and also to make it bind, from three to
ten per cent. of the residue from black ash, three to ten per cent. of soda ash,
and from three to ten per cent. of white ash, still adding thereto in equal
proportions either raw lime ground fine or raw chalk, so as to make the
cement sufficiently strong and rich for general building purposes; or, instead
of the lastly above-mentioned coloring and binding materials, I use from ten
to forty per cent. of the residuum obtained from iron foundries and smiths'

page_text: forges, and which I have found equally good for the above purposes; or, instead
of the foregoing, I employ from ten to twenty-five per cent. of the residuum
from the manufactories of bleeching ash and the residue obtained from the
manufacturing of sulphur or vitriol; from ten to forty per cent. of these will
be found to answer equally well. I also in some instances employ vitriol in
its pure state in the proportion of from half pound to one pound to every pan-
full of raw materials, such pan containing about four barrels of cement, equal
to three and half hundredweight each. These materials are to be well
ground, dried, and burned or calcined in a furnace on the reverbatory
principle or in a kiln, such as are herein-after described, and shewn in the
annexed Drawing.
Cement No. 6. To make cement to represent granite, I take one third of
the cement No. 1, one third of the cement No. 2, and one third of the
cement No. 5, after being calcined, and mix and incorporate them well
together, and grind them between flat stones.
Cement No. 7.-To manufacture cements other than those above inen-
tioned, and which shall be more particularly applicable to hydraulic works,
I employ for such purpose pozzolano in the proportion of 10 to 50 per
cent. to the lime or chalk, from 10 to 50 per cent. of basalts, from 10 to 50
per cent. of natural stone called plinth; I also use from 10 to 30 per
cent. of the tuff mica slate or decomposed granite, schistus, and other argil-
laceous or silicious earths, together with from 10 to 30 per cent. of tuffas
and other marly clays. I also use from 10 to 40 per cent. of ground flints,
and when these substances contain less than 40 per cent. of lime add
lime thereto.
Instead of preparing the crystals or salts in the manner above mentioned,
they may be prepared in the following manner :-I take the above-mentioned
quantities of salts or crystals, and crush or pound them into a very fine
powder; I then dissolve them in about four gallons of boiling water, taking care
to mix and incorporate them well together, and I throw this liquor or mixture
into the revolving pan alternately with the lime, stirring it about continually.
I then grind it under edge runners, as before mentioned, until it attains the
consistence of very stiffmortar; I then dry it upon one of the kilns herein-after
described, and when it is properly calcined I mix therewith fine powdered slag
or scoria, brick clinkers, over-burnt or flux'd lime from lime kilns, and other
residuum of a similar description, in the proportion of three parts of the slag
to 10 of cement, and from 1 to 3 parts of the brick or other clinkers to 10
of cement. These materials are to be well ground, dried, and burned or
calcined in a furnace on the reverbatory principle or in a kiln, such as are

page_text: herein-after described, and shewn in the annexed Drawing. I add three
measures of copper slag, well ground and dried, to 10 measures of the above
calcined or burned materials, and mix these well together, and grind them
between a pair of flat stones, or by any other convenient means.
In order to improve the adhesive qualities of these cements, I use from
1 to 4 lbs. of sugar of lead or the same quantity of litharge, or about
1lb. of coarse sugar to ten or twelve gallons of warm water, to one panfull
of raw materials; I have also found that starch answers well in producing
a strong adhesive quality, and about one pound will be found sufficient for
a barrel of 3 cwt. in powder as above stated. Any of the lastly above
mentioned materials, matters, or substances, excepting the resinous gums and
starch, may be added, and placed in the revolving pan during the mixing of
the burned cement with the copper slag, as before mentioned, and when the
above-mentioned materials cannot be easily procured, I then use the following
matters or substances in the manufacture of cement; that is to say, I use
the clays before mentioned, arenes, psammites, and schists properly calcined,
smithy slags, the refuse of turf and coal, and pounded earthenware, and
lastly tile and pot shards, all which substances unite with lime in forming
calcareous cements, and will be found very efficient in the manufacture
thereof.
Instead of the iron liquors employed in the manufacture of cements, as
above described, I use borax and sal-ammoniac in the proportion of 1 lb.
each to gallons of water well boiled till both be dissolved; this will be
found sufficient for i panfull of raw materials, or instead of the foregoing
I use borax and crude tartar, combined in equal proportions, in the manufacture
of cement. The limestones which I prefer to use in the manufacture of
cement according to my Invention are one of the following:-Mountain
limestone, such as is procured at the quarries of Malahide, Feltran, and
'Saint Doolah, near Dublin; calp limestone, similar to that procured at
Lucan and Donnybrook; magnesian limestone, such as is procured at the
north extremity of Howth, near Suttou, and at Milltown, near Dublin,
Similar materials to those lastly above mentioned may and can be obtained
in many places in England, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as in other
'countries. Instead of the above I sometimes employ the broken refuse or
powdered sawings from the slates or other slate waste procured in the slate
quarries in Wales. Magnetian stone and other stones composed of lime,
alumina, and magnesia—such as come into Liverpool from foreign countries
in the form of ballast and employed for ballasting ships-chalk, or alumina,
chalk with silica-which comes into Liverpool from France also in the form

page_text: of ballast oyster shells or other coarse sea shells, coral or rock coral,
procured in the sea. The addition of 1 to 4 parts of black clay, marl, or
other clays, which are soft to the touch, will improve the above mixtures
where good cement is required; the whole being ground up in the revolving
pan under edge runners, as before stated. Into each panfull of this mixture
also, the addition of about one bushel of saw dust from any kind of timber,
together with a small quantity of bone or bone dust, will be found to assist
or forward the drying of the raw stuff after it leaves the revolving pan, as well
the calcination of the cement when in the kilns, and operates as a preventive
against the kiln locking, and may also be used with advantage in open kilns of
the ordinary construction to prevent them from locking. The saw dust or
bone dust also assist in spreading or diffusing the fire through the kilns or
furnaces employed for calcining; and I would remark that all the materials
after being ground in the revolving pan should be thoroughly dried before
placing them in the kiln for final burning or calcination.
The construction of kilns which I employ for the above purpose is repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings. Figure 1 exhibits a front elevation
thereof; Figure 2 is an end elevation; Figure 3 is a transverse and vertical
section taken through the line A, B (at Figure 1); Figures 4, 5, 6, are
sectional plan views of the kiln taken through the lines C, D, E, F, G, H,
at Figure 8. A marks the external wall of the building. B. B, are fire-
places or furnaces. C the bridge of the fireplace. D, the ashpit. E. F, G,
are three floors or chambers upon which the material to be operated upon
is placed at Figures 3 and 5. a is an opening for establishing a communi-
cation between the chambers E and F; and 6 is an opening for establishing
a communication between the chambers E and G. H is a party wall for
separating the chambers and furnaces. I, I, are doors for obtaining access
to the said chambers; and K is a window for the admission of light to the
upper chamber G. The front of this chamber is open to enable the workmen
to throw up the material to be dried, and also to allow the vapour emitted
from the material to pass off freely. Z marks a hot-air chamber, which
serves to assist in drying the materials in the chamber G. The operations of
this kiln are as follows:-The materials of which the cement is to be com-
posed are placed upen the floor of the top chamber G, and arranged in a
heap over the hole b, as shewn at Figure 3; and having lighted the fires in
the furnaces B, B, the heat therefrom passes through the hole a into the
chamber F, and from thence through the hole b, and through the materials
which cover the same, the smoke passing off through the flue c, and chimney
L. By these means the moisture contained in the materials will be evaporated,

page_text: and the stuff thereby dried, the workman determining the state of the stuff
by looking into the chamber from time to time, and when the stuff has been
thoroughly dried the workman rakes down as much of the dried stuff through
the hole as will fill the chamber F when heaped up. The workman now
closes the door 1, which he previously opened to rake down the stuff, and he
submits the stuff to a brisk heat for the space of five or six hours; he then-
rakes it down through the hole a, into the lower chamber E, and immediately
after fills the top chamber G, as before stated; he then closes the doors of
the kiln, first taking care to spread the stuff all over the floor of the lower
chamber E, and lutes the doors, in the manner usually practised, for the
purpose of excluding the atmospheric air; he then attends to his fire, so as
to give the kiln a brisk heat for about one hour, after which he opens the
door of the lower chamber, and turns over the hot stuff with a long iron
rake, taking care at the same time to break all the lumps, so as to have
the whole mass of stuff evenly burned, and he repeats this operation four or
five times, at regular intervals of one hour each, for the space of six hours
or thereabouts, taking care cach time to break any lumps that may present
themselves. The hot stuff is then removed from this chamber in a large
sheet-iron wheel-barrow, and deposited in a covered shed. By the above
process charge the chamber F and draw the chamber E every five or six
hours, and I regulate and ascertain the temperature of the furnace or kiln
by Fahrenheit's thermometer or Wedgwood's pyrometer; and for the first
hour's burning the heat may be about three hundred and three degrees by
the Fahrenheit scale, and by Wedgwood about one hundred and fifty
degrees, and after the first hour the heat must be rapidly raised to a very
high temperature or white heat.
By the use of a kiln constructed, arranged,
and worked as above described, I am enabled to perform the operation
of burning or calcining in one fourth the time, and with one third less
fuel, than the kilns as hitherto constructed and employed in the manu-
facture of cements; and further, I am enabled, by the use of this
kiln, to ascertain with certainty the quantity of materials which may be
burned or calcined in a given time, having full control over the temperature
of the furnace so as to regulate it will by means of a damper or dampers
suitably placed. An important feature in the manufacture of cement, ac-
cording to the process above described, is the excluding the atmospheric air
from the kiln during the operations of burning and calcining. The system
hitherto practised in England and France of performing these operations with
an open kiln is subject to the objections that the kiln is liable to lock and
slacken in burning, and that one portion of the materials or stuff in the kiln

page_text: may be too much burned and the other portion scarcely burned at all, thereby
injuring the energetic or setting qualities of the cement.
Another form of construction of the kiln is exhibited at Figures 7 and 8.
Figure 7 is a transverse and vertical section of the kiln taken through about the
middle thereof. Figure S is a horizontal section taken through the line A, B,at
Figure 7. A, A, marks the body of the kiln formed of brick or other suitable
material. B, B, fireplaces or furnaces in the form of a hypocost, each of
which is surrounded at the back, the top, and the sides by iron boxes or hot
air chambers C; and I employ these chambers or hypocosts for two purposes:
first, to dry the raw material before putting it into the kiln; and, secondly, to.
thoroughly dry and heat the raw material when in the kiln, by admitting
rarified air heated to a temperature of two hundred or three hundred degrees
of Fahrenheit. And those parts of the chamber C, D, and flue C, which join
the body of the kiln, I place and secure fire-clay tiles a and pipes b for the
two-fold purpose of preventing these parts from being burnt and the materials
from entering said chambers and flue. e marks a pipe, one end of which is
attached to the under side of the box or chamber C, and the other end is open
to the atmosphere, or it may be connected to a fan blast so as to force heated
air into the kiln. E marks a damper for shutting of the passage of heat from
the hot air chambers or boxes C and D to the kiln, or for admitting the
heated air thereinto from both chambers at the same time, which may be
effected by pulling the damper E quite up. I also arrange and dispose cir-
cuitous flues G around the kiln, which flus communicate with tho hot air
chamber D, D, and I cover the tops of these flues with tiles and adapt.
dampers thereto, by which I am enabled to direct the heat to any particular
part; and I propose to employ the upper and tiled surface of the said flues for
the purpose of drying the materials before placing them in the kiln to be
calcined. H, HI, are doors for charging the kiln by placing therein alternate
layers of the materials to be calcined, and coke, coal, or culm, or other suitable
fuel, in the manner usually practised; and I, I, are moveable furnace bars for:
drawing the charge after the material has been sufficiently burned or calcined,.
a fire being kindled upon the bars I. 1, to assist the process. K is a chimney
for carrying off the vapours and gases emitted from the material and fuel
during the burning or calcining operation. L is a flue extending from the
furnace or hypocost at B to the bottom of the kiln, about which another flued
is formed, as exhibited at Figure S, from which proceed jets marked e, which
communicate with the inside of the kiln, the purpose thereof being to admit.
heated air to the bottom of the kiln at pleasure, and there are pipes or flues
M, N, arranged and disposed about the exterior of the kiln, as exhibited at

page_text: Figure 7, for the purpose of surrounding the kiln at such parts with heated
air, which may be directed to any particular part of the kiln by placing
dampers across said flues, the opening or closing of which will establish or cut
off the circulation of the heated air which passes from the air chambers D
along the upright pipes or flues 1, 2, into the pipes or flues M and N, as
exhibited at Figure 7: and in conjunction with these arrangements I employ
a water tuyere, such as is frequently used in smiths' forges and iron smelting
furnaces, and consists in surrounding the tuyere with water, which is con-
tinually circulating around and about it, the cold water entering at one end
and passing out heated at the other; and by the use and application of the
above-mentioned kiln for the purpose of burning or calcining licor cements,
I am enabled not only to effect a saving of nearly fifty per cent. in fuel, but am
enabled also to perform the calcining operation more perfectly and in one half
the time which would be required in using open kilns, as hitherto constructed.
The operations of this kiln are conducted in the following manner :-The
workman charges the kiln with materials, as before stated; he then lights the
fires in the furnaces B, B, and raises the dampers E, by which the heated air
will be admitted into the kiln,and passing through the materials will have the
effect of expelling all the moisture therefrom, and when this is thoroughly
done, which may be ascertained by the workman noticing the period at which
vapour ceases to be emitted from the chimney, the workman then lights the
fire at the bottom of the kiln, when the heat therefrom passing through and
amongst the materials which have already been dried or heated, will burn or
calcine the mass of materials uniformily, or nearly so, throughout.; and to
insure this uniformity of action it is necessary for the workman to look into
the kiln occasionally to see how the operation of burning is going on, for which
purpose doors are built in the front and back of the kiln, and according as he
finds the heat in the kiln to be greater at one part than another, and by which
the burning or calcining would not be going on uniformly throughout, in like
manner, by the means before stated, he directs heated air to those parts of the
kiln which requires it, and shuts it off from those parts which have more than
sufficient, and continuous doing so,according to his judgment, for about twelve
hours, by which time the perfect burning or calciuing of the materials will
have been effected without destroying or injuring the energetic or setting
qualities of the materials.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be and may be performed, I desire it to be distinctly understood
that I do not claim the excluse use of the substances or processes above
mentioned and referred to, except when the same are employed in the

page_text: manufacture of cement, as herein-before particularly described and set forth.
And hereby declare my said Invention to consist in the manufacture of
Portland stone cement and other compositions for general building and
hydraulic works, by combining the earthy matters containing lime with certain
chemical and other substances, and treating the same so as to produce stone
cements and other compositions for building purposes and hydraulic works, as
above described.
Secondly, I claim, in and for the manufacture of cement, lime, and similar
compositions for building purposes and hydraulic works, the burning and
calcining the substances in kilns, constructed and worked in such manner
as to exclude as much as possible the atmospheric air during the calcining
operation.
1
Thirdly, claim, in and for the manufacture of cement, lime, and similar
compositions for building purposes and hydraulic works, the use of heated
air applied and directed to the materials under operation, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patric McAnaspic, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.