Improved Plastic Composition, and Process of Combining the same.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Dec., 1895-Accepted, 27th June, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Plastic Composition, and Process of Combining
the same.
I, WILLIAM LYTLE WOODS, of 222 New Jersey Avenue, Northwest,
Washington, in the District of Columbia, United States of America, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of my invention is to produce a composition of matter for use in the
plastic arts, which can be used either as a binding substance for concreting lithic
substances and the metallic earths and oxides, or, in the fine arts without the
addition of coarser material for the production of casts, imitation bronzes etc. and
for the manufacture of various utensils for use in the arts where such utensils
require material in their coustruction possessing the characteristics of plasticity,
elasticity and resistance to acids.
I attain these objects by combining silica, magnesia, mineral wax, and crude
sulphur, with or without the addition of a filler of coarser material, such as broken
stone, sand, gravel, or any lithic substance, or the metallic earths or oxides. The
process of effecting the combination of these materials in such a manner as to avoid
and overcome the difficulties which inhere in the use of sulphur as a binder for
various other substances as ordinarily practised, constitutes one of the salient
features of my invention and, together with the composition of matter which is best
adapted to my purpose will be bereinafter described and particularly pointed out in
the claims.
Heretofore the great difficulty experienced in the employment of sulphur as a
constituent element in plastic compounds, consisted in the fact that in all such
compounds the sulphur, sooner or later loses its power of coherence and proves to
be an element of disintegration, causing the article to become tender and brittle and
eventually useless for any practical purpose requiring strength and hardness of
material.
Another difficulty, which has seemed to be inherent in plastic compounds of
which sulphur forms an element consists in the tendency of the articles manufac-
tured from such compounds to crack in cooling, owing to the rapid crystallization
of the mass after it is poured into the molds. I overcome all of these difficulties
by the process and the combination of materials which I will now proceed to
describe.
I first prepare the magnesia and silica to be used by grinding it to an impal-
pable powder or as nearly so as may be, and sifting it through bolting cloth of
not less than 20 mesh. I then place the pulverized material in a dry oven and
expel all its moisture by heat, when it is ready for use. 1 then prepare the sulphur
by melting it and pouring it into cold water. repeat this operation many times
or until it becomes a waxy and pasty mass. I then treat the mineral wax which
may be either ozokerite, gilsonite, or wax tailings (although I prefer the first-
named) in precisely the same way as I treat the sulphur. I combine the above
described materials prepared as stated by melting them together in a suitable
close vessel and thoroughly incorporate them by heat at a temperature of about
300 degrees Fahrenheit, constantly stirring the mass. 1 then gradually raise the
temperature to 500 degrees, or as much higher as it will bear without ignitiou and
continue to cook it at the higher temperature until the sulphurous smell ceases.

page_text: I then press
At this state the mass becomes exceedingly viscid and tenacious.
it into cakes, bricks or pigs, when it is in a condition to be stored for future use.
The proportions of the above named materials which produce the best results
are substantially as follows, although they may be varied within certain limits,
and I do not, therefore, limit my invention or claims to the proportions named.
Magnesia, thirty (30) parts.
Silica, sixty (60) parts.
Sulphur, sixty (60) parts.
Mineral wax three to ten (3 to 10) parts, (according to quality).
Ozokerite being the best for my purpose, the first named proportion of that material
may be employed.
Pigs or bricks of this material may be stored for any length of time and used by
remelting or it may be used when it is first compounded.
The materials to be mixed with ard concreted by my plastic I generally reduce to
a powdered state and free them from moisture, but it will bind and concrete any stony
material of any size and shape from sand to rubble. The mixing must, of course,
be done while the plastic is in a melted state, and the mass must be thoroughly
incorporated. It can then be molded or pressed into any desirable shape, and it
will readily free itself from the molds as it slightly contracts when cooling rendering
the impression clean and sharp.
The plastic itself without the addition of a filler of coarse material will copy
the texture to the minutest detail, of any surface upon which it is poured or
pressed.
The rationale of this invention may be stated as follows:
The liability to crack, which characterizes most compounds into which sulphur
enters as an element, is counteracted in this composition by its slowness in cooling,
and this property is due to the mixture of silica and magnesia which enters into it.
Its immunity from disintegration is due primarily to the peculiar process of
manipulating the sulphur by which it is deprived of its decomposing gases, whilst
the addition of mineral wax neutralizes the caustic properties of any of the disin-
tegrating elements which I have failed to volatilize, and at the same time imparts
an additional plasticity and elasticity to the compound. I am thus enabled to
take advantage of the well known good qualities of sulphur as a concreting agent,
without impairing its crystallizing power, and at the same time counteract that
tendency to disintegration which has heretofore proved so destructive in the
plastic arts.
:
My plastic and its concretes will withstand all natural thermal changes, and may
be used in any place and for any purpose where it is not subjected to combustive
heat. It is exceedingly hard, but yields to the file and other steel instruments; it
is water proof, and resists all acids except hydro-fluoric. Its field of usefulness in
the fine arts and in the mechanic arts is very wide. It is far superior to plaster-
of-Paris in the plastic arts as to sharpness and beauty of finish, durability, etc., etc.
It can be made to imitate bronze and other metals in color, by adding pigments of
the proper color and it will take colors and modifications as high as the tertiaries,
and its surfaces may be painted, tinted or gilded in the most lasting way, and any
color may be imparted to the mass by the admixture of suitable pigments.
It is very valuable in the manufacture of water ducts, sewer pipes, wash-tubs,
bath tubs, kitchen sinks, acid tubs, electrical battery jars, and it is particularly
valuable for ornate architectural work casts, bas-reliefs, etc. also for monuments,
burial caskets, and sarcophagi, and for grave linings and all underground work it
is imperishable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A composition of matter consisting of silica, magnesia, sulphur, and mineral
wax, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 2. A composition of matter consisting of silica, magnesia, sulphur, mineral wax,
and a filler, substantially as set forth.
3. A composition of matter consisting of silica, sixty parts, magnesia, thirty parts,
sulphur, sixty parts, and mineral wax, three to ten parts, substantially as set
forth.
4. A composition of matter consisting of silica, magnesia, sulphur, and ozokerite,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
5. The process herein described of mixing or compounding a composition of
matter consisting of silica, magnesia, sulphur, and mineral wax, which consists of
grinding the silica, and the magnesia to a fine powder, melting the sulphur and
pouring it into cold water, and then melting the mineral wax and sulphur together
and adding the silica and magnesia, substantially as set forth.
6. The process herein described of mixing or compounding silica, magnesia,
sulphur and mineral wax which consists in grinding the silica and magnesia, to a
fine powder and expelling the moisture therefrom by heat, repeatedly melting the
sulphur and pouring it into cold water, preparing the mineral wax the same as the
sulphur and then remelting the sulphur and mineral wax and thoroughly incor-
porating the various ingredients together, substantially as set forth.
7. The process herein described of compounding silica, magnesia, sulphur, and
mineral wax which consists in grinding the silica and magnesia to a powder and
expelling the moisture therefrom, repeatedly melting the sulphur and the mineral
wax and pouring them into cold water, remelting the sulphur and the mineral wax
at a temperature of about three hundred (300) degrees Fahrenheit, adding the silica,
and magnesia and thoroughly incorporating the same, and then gradually increasing
the temperature to about five hundred (500) degrees Fahrenheit, and continuing to
cook the mass until the sulphurous fumes are expelled substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
Dated this 31st day of December 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.