Improvements in the Manufacture of Ceramic Stone.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Ceramic Stone.
I, LOUIS ANTOINE GARCHEY, of The Demi-Lune, near Lyons, France, Ceramic
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my Specification No. 5772 of 1896 I have described the manufacture of
ceramic stone articles by heating powdered glass almost to fusion and moulding
it to the desired forms.
My present invention relates to improvements in this process which are as
follows:-
Instead of pulverising all the glass operated on, I pulverise only such a quan-
tity as is required to form the visible surface or surfaces of the articles and to
cement together a number of fragments of glass which may be of greater or less
size according to the scale of the article to be moulded. I agglutinate the glass
powder with silicate or gummy or adhesive matter and lay the mixture within an
iron frame on a heated refractory slab which may be of fire brick. I arrange
the fragments of glass below most of the powder when the upper is to be the visible
surface, or between a lower and an upper layer of the powder when both surfaces
are to be visible. I also may introduce into the layer of powder fragments of
glass of various colours.
I place the slab and glass material on it in a suitable furnace until the glass
has assumed a partly fused plastic condition. I then transfer the glass material
on to the bed of a suitable press provided with a die or dies of the desired form.
The glass material after being pressed to the desired form is removed to an anneal-
ing chamber when it is slowly cooled.
Dated LL
BELL
J
Tanne
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Ceramic Stone.
I, LOUIS ANTOINE GARCHEY, of The Demi-Lune, near Lyons, France, Ceramic
Manufacturer, 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:-
In my British Specification No. 5772 of 1896 I described the manufacture
of ceramic stone by heating powdered glass almost to fusion and moulding it
to the desired form. By this treatment the glass becomes devitrified, losing its
017

page_text: transparency, and attaining a condition like porcelain so that it cannot be cut
by a diamond.
My present invention relates to improvements in the process whereby I pro-
duce articles more varied in appearance and of greater strength than were pro-
duced by the treatment previously described.
I may explain, in the first place, that devitrification of glass had been to a
certain extent known, and attempts had been made to utilise this phenomenon
by Reamur the great physicist among others. Vessels had been made of glass
and highly heated for a long time in plaster or earthenware moulds, but owing
to the great cost of the process and the loss by breakages this manufacture was
not developed.
It was under these conditions that I applied devitrification of glass in the
manufacture of stones, slabs and moulded articles suitable for building, paving
and decoration. My process, the reverse of Reaumur's, was, in the first place,
to devitrify pulverised glass and then to shape it, a method which presents two
main advantages over those previously employed, that is to say:-
1. The glass being in small pieces is devitrified more quickly than if it were
in mass, for the devitrifying action attacks the particles when separate more
rapidly than when they form part of a thick piece.
2. As the devitrification causes certain deformation owing to the soft condi-
tion of the material, this disadvantage is avoided by not forming the article
until the glass is devitrified and agglomerated by heat.
Such are the fundamental principles of my invention, which, after numerous
trials, I have carried to the practical condition which I will now describe.
The glass to be employed naturally depends on the character of the articles
to be produced. It consists of pieces of waste glass, broken bottles and other
glass articles with which may be mixed slag, scoriæ, pottery and other clays
or generally any materials that can be vitrified. These materials are pulverised,
and preferably graded by sifting so that by mixing selected grades, granite or
other rocks can be imitated. When clay or material not easily fusible is employed,
the pieces or grains are agglutinated by silicate or gum to form a paste which can
be roughly shaped to the desired form. Also glass pieces and grains may be
similarly agglutinated and roughly shaped.
The devitrification is then effected in either of two ways according as the
material is in the loose or in the agglutinated condition. When loose, the picces,
grains or powders are placed in a mould of refractory material lined on the
bottom and sides with sand or other infusible lining. The mould is first highly
heated, and, when charged, is replaced in the furnace. When the materials
are agglutinated, the piece is placed on a peel or shovel and introduced into the
mould in the furnace. The mould, instead of being of steel which was rapidly
damaged by the heat, is made of refractory earth, with three sides and a bottom.
The time occupied in devitrifying depends on the character of the materials
treated, and on the degree of agglomeration desired, both results being attained
by the same operation, thus saving fuel and labour. The mass devitrified and
agglomerated is withdrawn in the form of a cake by means of a fork the prongs
of which are inserted in the layer of sand on which the material rests.
The mass is then shaped and ornamented as desired. For this purpose, it is
carried on the fork to a press and placed between a punch and die of the required
form, and subjected to pressure by which the surfaces are flattened or embossed
the edges being pared off by the sides of the punch or die.
For certain products, instead of using pulverised glass, I may run molten glass
directly into a mould which roughly shapes it, and then devitrify and definitely
shape it by pressure as above described. Also instead of pulverising all the glass,
fragments of various sizes may be embedded in pulverised layers, the whole
becoming cemented together by the heat.
When only glass is employed, the articles have a uniform surface like porce-
lain; when it is desired to decorate their surface with colours, pieces of coloured

page_text: glass or other suitable material can be introduced into the soft devitrified mass
as it is withdrawn from the furnace, these pieces becoming incrusted in the
material by the pressure.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Preparing the glass and other material in the form of pieces, grains and
powder agglutinated by silicate or gum and roughly shaping the paste so formed.
2. Introducing the roughly-shaped mass or of the dry material into a highly-
heated mould of refractory material lined with sand or the like, and subjecting
it to heat of such degree and for such time as to effect devitrification and agglo-
meration.
3. The admixture, when desired, of slag, scoriæ, or vitrifiable minerals with
the glass, and the introduction of pieces of coloured material into the soft
devitrified mass.
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