A WATER CEMENT, OR STUCCO, FOR BUILDING, REPAIRING, AND PLAISTERING WALLS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1779

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRYAN
HIGGINS, of the Parish of Saint Ann, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor of
Physick, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date the Eighth day of January, in the nineteenth year of His reign, give
and grant unto me the said Bryan Higgins, His especial licence that
I, the said Bryan Higgins, during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales.
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "A WATER CEMENT, OR STUCCO, FOR
BUILDING, REPAIRING, AND PLAISTERING WALLS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe obliging me, the said
Bryan Higgins, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of
the nature of my said Invention, and how the same is to be prepared, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisoc, I, the said
Bryan Higgins, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a Water Cement
or Succo for Building, Repairing, and Plaistering Walls, and for other
Purposes, is described in the manner following (that is to say):-
Drift sand, or quarry sand, which consists chiefly of hard quartose, flat-
faced grains with sharp angles, which is the freest, or may be most easily
freed by washing from clay, salts, and calcareous gypseous, sor other grain

page_text: less hard and durable than quartz, which contains the smallest quantity of
pyrites or heavy mettallic matter inseperable by washing, and which suffers the
smallest diminution of its bulk in washing in the following manner, is to be
preferred before any other, and where a course and a fine sand of this kind,
and corresponding in the size of their grains with the course and fine sands
hereafter described cannot be easily procured. Let such sand of the foregoing
quality be chosen, as may be sorted and cleansed in the following manner :-
Let the sand be sifted in streaming clear water thro' a sieve, which shall give
passage to all such grains as do not exceed one sixteenth of an inch in diameter,
and let the stream of water, and the sifting being regulated so that all the sand,
which is much finer than the Lynn sand commonly used in the London glass-
houses, together with clay and every other matter specifically lighter than
sand, may be washed away with the stream, whilst the purer and courser sand
which passes thro' the, sieve subsides in a convenient receptacle; and, whilst
the course rubbish and shingle remain on the sieve to be rejected let the sand
which thus subsides in the receptical be washed in clean streaming water
thro' a finer sieve, so as to be further cleansed and sorted into two parcels:
a courser which will remain in the sieve, which is to give passage to such
grains of sand. only as are less than one thirtieth of an inch in diameter, and
which is to be saved apart under the name of course sand, and a finer which
will pass thro'. the sieve and subside in the water, and, which is to be saved
apart under the name of fine sand. Let the course, and the fine sand be
dried seperately, either in the sun or on a clean iron plate set in a convenient
furnace in the manner of a sand heat. Let lime be chosen which is stone
lime, which heats the most in slaking, and slakes the quickest when duly
watered, which is the freshest made and closest kept, which dissolves in
'distilled vinegar with the least effervescence, and leaves the smallest residuc
insoluble, and in this residue the smallest quantity of clay, gypseous, or
'martial matter. Let the lime chosen according to these important rules be
put in a brass wired sieve to the quantity of fourteen pounds. Let the sieve
be finer than either of the foregoing, the finer the better it will be. Let the
lime be slaked by plunging it in a butt filled with soft water, and raising it
out quickly and suffering it to heat and fume, and by repeating this plunging
and raising alternately, and agitating the lime untill it be made to pass
through the sieve into the water; and let the part of the lime which
does not easily pass thro' the sieve be rejected, and let fresh portions of the
lime be thus used until as many ounces of lime have passed thro' the
sieve as there are quarts of water in the butt. Let the water thus
impregnated stand in the butt closely covered untill it becomes clear,

page_text: and thro' wooden cocks placed at different heights in the butt let the clear liquor
be drawn off, as fast and as low as the lime subsides, for use. This clear liquor
I call the cementing liquor. The freer the water is from saline matter the better
will be the cementing liquor made with it. Let fifty-six pounds of the aforesaid
5 chosen lime be slaked by gradually sprinkling on it, and especially on the
unslaked pieces, the cementing liquor in a close clean place. Let the slaked
part be immediately sifted thro' the last-mentioned fine brass wire sieve. Let
the lime which passes be used instantly or kept in air light vessels, and let
the part of the lime which does not pass thro' the sieve be rejected. This
finer, richer part of the lime which passes thro' the sieve I call purified lime.
Let bone ash be prepared in the usual manner by grinding the whitest burut
bones, but let it be sifted to be much finer than the bone ash commonly sold
for making cupels. The most eligible materials for making my cement being
thus prepared, take fifty-six pounds of the course sand and forty-two pounds
of the fine sand, mix them on a large plank of hard wood, placed horizontally,
then spread the sand so that it may stand to the height of six inches, with
a flat surface on the plank. Wet it with the cementing liquor, and let any
superfluous quantities of the liquor which the sand in the condition described
cannot retain, flow away off the plank. To the wetted sand add fourteen
pounds of the purified lime in several successive portions, mixing and beating
them up together, in the mean time, with the instruments generally used in
making fine mortar; then add fourteen pounds of the bone ash in successive
portions, mixing and beating all together. The quicker and the more perfectly.
these materials are mixed and beaten together, and the. sooner the cement
thus formed is used, the better it will be. This I call the water cement,
course grained, which is to be applied in building, pointing, plaistering,
stuccoing, or other work, as mortar and stucco now are; with this difference,
chiefly, that as cement is shorter than mortar or common stucco, and dries
sooner, it ought to be worked expeditiously in all cases, and in stuccoing it
ought to be laid on by sliding the trowell upwards on it, and that the materials
used along with this cement in building, or the ground on which it is to be
in stuccoing, ought be well wetted with the cementing liquor in the instant
of laying on the cement; and the cementing liquor is to be used when it is
necessary to moisten the cement, or when a liquid is required to facilitate the
floating of the cement. When such cement is required to be of a finer
texture, take ninety-eight pounds of the fine sand, wet it with the ce-
menting liquor, and mix it with the purified lime and the bone ash, in the
quantities and in the manner above described, with this difference only, that
fifteen pounds of lime or thereabouts are to be used instead of fourteen

page_text: pounds if the greater part of the sand be as fine as Lynn sand; this I call
water cement, fine grained. It is to be used in giving the last coating or the
finish to any work intended to imitate the finer grained stones or stucco;
but it may be applied to all the uses of the water cement, coarse grained,
and in the same manner. When for any of the foregoing purposes of pointing,
building, &c. such a cement is required much cheaper and coarser grained,
then much coarser clean sand than the foregoing coarse sand or well washed
fine shingle is to be provided. Of this coarsest sand or shingle take fifty-six
pounds, of the foregoing coarse sand twenty-eight pounds, and of the fine
sand fourteen pounds; and after mixing these and wetting them with the
cementing liquor, in the foregoing manner, add fourteen pounds or somewhat
less of the purified lime, and then fourteen pounds or somewhat less of the
bone ash, mixing them together in the manner already described. When
my cement is required to be white, white sand, white lime, and the whitest
bone ash are to be chosen. Grey sand and grey bone ash, formed of half-
burned bones are to be chosen to make the cement grey, and any other colour
of the cement is obtained either by choosing coloured sand, or by the admixture
of the necessary quantity of coloured tale in powder, or of coloured vitreous
or mettallic powders, or other durable colouring ingredients commonly used
in paint.
To the end that such a water cement as I have described may be made
as usefull as possible in all circumstances, and that no person may imagine
that my claim and right under these Letters Patent may be eluded by
divers variations which may be made with the foregoing process, without
producing any notable effect in the cement, and to the end that the principles
of this act, as well as the act itself of making my cement, may be gathered
from this Specification, and perpetuated to the publick, I shall add the following
observations:-This, my water cement, whether the coarse or fine grained,
is applicable in forming artificial stone by making alternate layers of the
cement, and of flint, hard stone, or brick in moulds of the figure of the
intended stone, and by exposing the masses so formed to the open air to
harden. When such cement is required for water fences, two thirds of the
prescribed quantity of bone ash are to be omitted, and in the place thereof
an equal measure of powdered terras is to be used; and if the sand employed
be not of the coarsest sort, more terras must be added, so that the terras
shall be by weight one sixth part of the weight of the sand. When such a
cement is required of the finest grain and in a fluid form, so that it may be
applied with a brush, flint powder, or the powder of any quarton or hard
earthy substance may be used in the place of sand, but in a quantity smaller

page_text: as the flint or other powder is finer, so that the flint powder or other such
powder shall not be more than six times the weight of the lime, nor less than
four times the weight. The greater the quantity of the lime within these
limits the more will the cement be liable to crack by quick drying, and vice
versa. Where such sand as I prefer cannot be conveniently procured, or
where sand cannot be conveniently washed and sorted, that sand which most
resembles the mixture of coarse and fine sand above prescribed may be used
as I have directed, provided due attention is paid to the quantity of the
lime, which is to be the greater as the sand is finer, and vice versa. Where
sand cannot be easily procured any durable strong body or baked earth, grossly
powdered and sorted nearly to the sizes above prescribed for sand, may be
used in the place of sand, measure for measure, but not weight for weight,
unless such gross powder be as heavy specifically as sand. Sand may be
cleansed from every softer, lighter, and less durable matter, and from that
part of the sand which is too fine, by various methods preferable in certain
circumstances to that which I have described. Water may be found
naturally free from fixable gas, selenite, or clay; such water may without any
notable inconvenience be used in the place of the cementing liquor, and water
approaching this state will not require so much lime as I have ordered to
make the cementing liquor, and a cementing liquor sufficiently usefull may
be made by various methods of mixing lime and water in the described
proportions, or nearly so. Where stone lime cannot be procured, chalk lime,
or shell lime, which best resembles stone lime, in the characters above written
of lime, may be used in the manner described, except that fourteen pounds
and a half of chalk lime will be required in the place of fourteen pounds of
stone lime. The proportion of lime which I have prescribed above may be
increased without inconvenience when the cement or stucco is to be applied
where it is not liable to dry quickly; and, in the contrary circumstances, this
proportion may be diminished, and the defect of lime in quantity or quality
may be very advantageously supplied, by causing a considerable quantity of
the cementing liquor to soak into the work in successive portions, and at
distant intervals of time, so that the calcareous matter of the cementing
liquor, and the matter attracted from the open air, may fill and strengthen
the work. The powder of almost every well dried or burned animal substance
may be used instead of bone ash, and several earthy powders, especially the
micaccous and the metallic, and the clixated ashes of divers vegetables, whose
earth will not burn to lime, and the ashes of mineral fuel, which are of the
calcarious kind but will not burn to lime, will answer the ends of bone ash
in some degree. The quantity of bone ash described may be lessened without

page_text: injuring the cement, in those circumstances especially which admit the
quantity of lime to be lessened, and in those wherein the cement is not liable
to dry quickly and the art of remedying the defects of lime may be advan-
tageously practised to supply the deficiency of bone ash, especially in building
and in making artificial stone with this cement.