A New or Improved Heat Insulating and Waterproof Material.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Heat Insulating and Waterproof Material.
1, ERNST BIERNATH, of 18 Salzufer, Charlottenburg, in the Kingdom of Prussia
and German Empire, Engineer, 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 :-
This invention relates to a new or improved heat insulating and water-proof
material which is cheap, easily made, and is especially applicable for use in silos,
for the protection and preservation of stored root crops, for lining damp walls, for
covering damp floors, and for other like purposes. It may serve also, incidentally,
as a protection against the ravages of rats, mice and other vermin, in corn and
other stores.
The new or improved material constructed according to these improvements
consists of an admixture or compound of infusorial earth (kieselguhr), with asphalte,
and a material or materials to give sufficient flexibility to it, made as hereinafter
described. Other substances than infusorial earth and asphalte may be employed,
if they possess respectively analogous heat insulating, and water-proof qualities,
and are otherwise suitable.
If the infusorial earth and the asphalte be mixed in the ordina., manner, by
melting the asphalte, the product on drying is brittle and therefore unsuitable for
use. If, to remove this brittleness, the mixture be attenuated with a mineral oil,
it is found that this addition destroys the heat insulating property of the infusorial
earth, since the dissolved bitumen then penetrates and fills up the air spaces, and
destroys the peculiar character of the material. To overcome these difficulties, and
to retain the specific properties of the constituents of the resulting material, the
infusorial earth is mixed with a fibrous material to give flexibility and tenacity,
and sufficient water or other liquid to make a paste or dough. This paste or dough
is then formed into sbects or thin plates which are compressed, dried, and finally
painted or coated with melted asphalte. Before the asphalte has cooled, sand or
gravel may be sprinkled upon the sheets.
The following is a suitable and convenient method of constructing the material,
but it will be understood that the proportions given, and the fibrous material, as
well as the liquid may be varied.
Seventy parts of infusorial earth, ten parts of woollen waste, and twenty parts
of calf's hair, are worked into a thin paste with water and (if desired) a colloid
solution of any suitable kind. This paste is then formed into thin sheets of such a
thickness that fifty or sixty of them are required to make a plate of four milli-
meters thickness. This may be effected by casting the sheets one upon the other
until the desired thickness has been attained. The composite sheet is then subjected
to a pressure of at least twelve atmospheres, and the remaining water is expelled
by heat. The asphalte, previously ground to powder, may then be mixed with a
small quantity of asphaltum oil, and is melted, and brought to about its boiling
point, in which condition it is well brushed upon the plates. Whilst the asphaltum
on the plates is still hot, gravel or stone chippings about the size of barley grains
are thoroughly strewed over the plates, to which they will firmly adhere.
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. The hereinbefore described method of manufacturing a heat insulating and
water-proof material, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
2. As a new article of manufacture, heat insulating and water-proof material for

page_text: the hereinbefore described purposes, composed of infusorial earth, fibrous material,
and asphalte, constructed substantially as set forth.
Dated thin 10th der of Tul D 1909
WILLIAM E. HEYS,
Agent for the Applicant.