Improvements relating to the Saturation of Plaster, Cement, and like Material with Water.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 20th May, 1899
[Communicated from abroad by SACKETT WALL BOARD COMPANY, of Caven Point
Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States of America, Manufacturers.]
Improvements relating to the Saturation of Plaster, Cement, and
like Material with Water.
HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:---
My invention relates to improvements in a process of mixing or saturating
cement, plaster of Paris and other heavy and similar articles. It is customary
to mix plaster of Paris, cement and similar substances by mingling the same with
water and maintaining a sufficient agitation to incorporate the water and
cement, &c., but where it is necessary to make the mixture on a larger scale the
process just described is inadequate, for the reason that the containing vessel
becomes so coated with the mixture that it is practically useless. I have found
that if plaster of Paris, cement or a similar substance in a ground state be immersed.
quietly and without agitation in a liquid, the latter soon permeates the plaster
or cement thoroughly saturating the same, but the cement, &c., remains practically
undisturbed and, if placed on a flat vessel for instance, can be raised from the
liquid without any appreciable dimunition of the cement and without causing the
same to adhere to the liquid containing vessel. Acting on this principle, I provide
means for a constant and continuous saturation of the plaster or cement by pro-
ducing an apparatus having a movable carrier passing through a liquid and pro-
viding also means for feeding the substance to be immersed suently upon the
aforesaid carrier and then providing further means for automatically removing
the saturated matter from the carrier. In this way I am enabled to handle great
quantities of plaster or cement in a relatively short space of time
and further to accomplish a perfect saturation and mingling of the water
and cement or plaster. Besides, my process is used for mingling large quantities
of cement and plaster, which is made into plaster board and used for other purposes,
and as the mingled matter soon hardens it is necessary to have it delivered ready
ixed at a specified rate of speed, that is in a definite quantity at a given time at
a given point, and by making the saturation and mingling continuous as described
the mixed material is deposited in just such quantities as needed. As the material
is used in large quantities, usually at the rate of at least one or two tons an hour,
it will be seen that this is important.
To these ends my invention consists of a process of mixing plaster, cement and
similar materials, which process will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts
in all the views.
Figure 1 is a broken side elevation of the apparatus forming a part of my
invention.

page_text: Figure 2 is an end view of the apparatus.
Figure 3 is a plan view with feeding hopper removed.
Figure 4 is a broken vertical section on the line IV-IV of Figure 3; and
Figure 5 is a broken longitudinal section illustrating an auxiliary feeding
device,
My process is not dependent upon the precise apparatus described, but the latter
is particularly well adapted to the process. As illustrated, I have a substantial.
frame 10, mounted on suitable supports 11, and this carries an elongated open
topped tank 12 containing the liquid in which the plaster or cement is to be
immersed, this tank being preferably, though not necessarily, deeper in the middle
than at the ends.
Through the tank 12 passes a movable carrier 13, which as illustrated, is a
broad belt, although it may be of any suitable and flexible structure, the belt or
carrier passing over drums 14 mounted on suitable bearings at the ends of the
frame 10, and the shaft of one drum is provided with a suitably driven pulley 15
driven by a belt 16, the pulley as illustrated being a sprocket wheel and the belt
a chain, but of course the driving mechanism is immaterial. At the front end
of the machine the upper strand of the carrier 13 passes over a supporting roller 17,
this latter being journaled on suitable brackets 18, thus leaving the part between
the roller 17 and the front drum 14 comparatively level so that the plaster or
cement can be suently delivered upon the carrier.
The middle portion of the carrier is depressed into the tank 12 to the requisite
depth by means of a wheel 19 which is journaled on brackets 21, and which rides
on the top of the carrier as the drawings clearly show. It is, of course, evident
that this wheel may be made of a size to make the requisite depression of the
carrier.
The feeding is accomplished by means of the main feeding apparatus shown in
Figures 1 to 4, or the auxiliary feeding apparatus shown in Figure 5. The first
form of the feeding apparatus comprises a suitable hopper 22 into which the plaster
or cement is placed, and this hopper is supported on brackets 23 and delivers into
a feeder 24 which is of a generally rectangular shape, being open at the top and
bottom, and which lies close to the top of the carrier 13 at the level part thereof
between the front drum 14 and the roller 17. On the rear wall of the feeder 24
is a vertically adjustable plate 25, held by thumb-screws 26, the height of which
regulates the depth of material which passes out from the feeder on the carrier 13.
This feeding apparatus is all right for most purposes, but if it is desired to have
the material delivered lightly and in as porous condition as possible on the carrier,
to the end that quick saturation may be obtained, an auxiliary feeding device
shown in Figure 5 is preferably used which consists essentially of a belt 27 running
on drums 28, one of which can be suitably driven in any usual way and the belt 27
is arranged beneath a feeder 24 of the kind already described, while the belt dis-
charges at its rear end upon the main carrier 13. As the carrier 13 leaves the
tank 12 it passes close to a scraper 29 which is held to the back end of the frame 10
and which removes the saturated material from the carrier. As the material falls
it can be caught in any suitable receptacle or conveyed away in the customary
manner.
It will be noticed that if the material is supplied in sufficient quantity to the
hopper 22, it will be conveyed either directly from the feeder 24, or by the
auxiliary conveyor or carrier 27 so as to lie at an even depth along the top of the
same, and as the material is heavy and the speed of the carrier not too fast the
material is carried gently into the tank 12, being depressed by the wheel 19, and
emerges completely saturated and is finally scraped off by the scraper 29. It is
evident, of course, that the time required for saturation can be controlled by the
speed of the carrier, the size of the tank or the feeding device as desired.
I find that this process enables the material to be very rapidly and very
thoroughly saturated, and that it is disturbed so little during immersion that the
wheels of the tank remain comparatively clean.

page_text: It will be noticed that by carrying a definite and regular amount of the material
to be mixed through the water, as specified, and then depositing it at the end of
the carrier, the speed of the carrier can be timed, so that not only will the right
amount of saturation be produced, but the mixed material will be passed in such
quantities and so regularly that it can be used to advantage while soft.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The herein described process of mixing plaster, cement or similar material,
which consists in moving through a liquid bath in an unagitated condition a sub-
stantially even or suent layer of material to be mixed at such a rate of speed that
the said material is thoroughly saturated, and then discharging the same.
2. The process of mixing plaster, cement and similar materials, substantially
as described in the foregoing specification and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.
45, Sonthampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.