CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR STATUES AND ORNAMENTING PURPOSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of 39,
Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING ARTIFICIAL
STONE FOR STATUES AND ORNAMENTING PURPOSES."-A communication.
Sealed the 27th February 1857, and dated the 6th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 6th September 1856.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING
ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR STATUES AND ORNAMENTING PURPOSES," to be as follows,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of artificial metallic stone for
statues and ornamenting purposes by the following means:-Red ochre,
earthy or any other iron ore, is mixed with clay, in the proportion of about one-
fifth, or a sufficient quantity, and then pulverised or sifted, or placed in its
natural state in a hole in the earth, to be dissolved or acted upon by water
mixed with a suitable acid. By this process a plastic material is obtained
which may be easily worked. After this operation the clayey material is

page_text: pressed into moulds or shells by an hydraulic or other press to form the desired
objects. Hollow ornaments, such as handles, which moulders of porcelain add
to their products in baking, may be made by hand. The moulded articles are
now placed on a carriage, or in stoves to be dried, and afterwards in a furnace
to be baked, the temperature of which must be equal to that employed for
fire clay.
The articles then become vitrified, which gives them a varnished
appearance and a blueish tint. They may be afterwards coated or ornamented
with paint, if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 5th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, and
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license that I, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MAKING ARTIFICIAL STONE FOR STATUES AND ORNAMENTING PURPOSES," com-
municated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition, amongst
others, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the sanie
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of artificial stone for statues
and ornamenting purposes by the following means:-I mix argil with red
ochre or iron ores, in the proportion of about one-fifth argil. This mixture
is pulverised and sifted and thrown into recipients prepared for the purpose;
it is then sprinkled with acidulated water. The product of this operation
resembles ordinary plastic clay, and may be moulded and manipulated by
pressure, or by any other known means. When required to produce orna-
ments, like porcelain handles, the ordinary hand process is adopted, the joints
being imperceptible after the baking. The material, thus prepared and
moulded to the required form, is passed to the drying chamber and thence
to the kiln, where it is submitted to a temperature at least equal to that
required for fire bricks. At this degree of heat the product undergoes
a certain amount of vitrification, which gives to it a polish, and blueish color,
between that of iron and polished slate, and at the same time a hardness of
texture, which enables it to be advantageously substituted for, first, granite and
marble for pavements, chimney pieces, table tops, statues, &c.; secondly,
baked earths for retorts, boilers, and vessels of all kinds employed in chemical
manufactures, the composition being in no degree altered by the acids.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein laid down so long as the peculiar character
of the Invention be retained; but what I claim is, the production of an artificial
stone for the purposes and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of March,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
L'DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)