A MASTIC CEMENT OR COMPOSITION, APPLICABLE TO PAVING AND ROAD MAKING, COVERING, BUILDINGS, AND VARIOUS PURPOSES TO WHICH CEMENT MASTIC, LEAD, ZINC, OR COMPOSITION ARE EXPLOYED
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
TAPPIN CLARIDGE, of Salisbury Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Tappin Claridge, Her especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said Richard Tappin Claridge, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Tappin Claridge,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed; should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"A MASTIC CEMENT OR COMPOSITION, APPLICABLE TO PAVING AND ROAD MAKING,
COVERING, BUILDINGS, AND VARIOUS PURPOSES TO WHICH CEMENT MASTIC, LEAD, ZINC,
OR COMPOSITION ARE EXPLOYED;" communicated to me by a certain foreigner'
residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Richard. Tappin Claridge, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Tappin Claridge, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,
to consist in a combination, by means of heat, of certain substances herein-after!
described, into a mastic cement or composition, applicable to paving and road
making, and various purposes to which cement, mastic lead, zinc, or com-
position are employed; and one of such substances is a natural compound, con-
sisting principally of carbonate of lime and bitumen, with a small portion of
aqueous and other matter; and such natural compound is commonly called or
known by the name of asphalte or asphaltos, or calcareous asphalte, asphaltic
mineral, or asphaltic rock, or asphaltic stone; and such natural compound is
hercin-after called asphalte; it is found at Pyrimont, near to Seyssel, in the
Department de l'Ain, in the Kingdom of France, and in other parts of the
Jura Mountains, and in other places, in great abundance; and the other of such
substances is bitumen, or mineral or other pitch.
And I do hereby describe the manner in which the said Invention is to bo
performed by the following statement:-I take the said asphalte in its native
state, as it is extracted in masses from the mine; and I greatly prefer, for the
purpose of my Invention, the asphalte from Pyrimont aforesaid; the said
asphalte from Pyrimont aforesaid contains, in addition to a small portion of
aqueous and other matter, carbonate of lime and bitumen in about the proportion
of ninety parts carbonate of lime to about ten parts of bitumen; and the cement
formed according to the said Invention from the said asphalte of Pyrimont and
bitumen is better than that formed from any other asphalate which I have yet been
able to procure, although asphalte is found in other places; and I reduce the
asphalte to powder. The asphalte may be reduced to powder solely by mecha-
nical means; but the reduction thereof to powder is facilitated by heat. I
usually place the masses of native asphalte in a furnace or oven, the bottom
whereof is made of plate iron; in about half an hour, by the application of a
brisk fire, the asphalte falls, or is readily reduced to powder. The asphalte,
after having been exposed to heat, as above-mentioned, or otherwise, or
reduced to powder or small parts by mechanical means, is then passed through
a sieve, the meshes of which are about one-fourth of an inch square; the
asphalte which has passed through such sieve is in a fit state to be mixed with
the bitumen; or mineral or other pitch is found in a natural state, combined with
earthy or other matter, in great quantities in the neighbourhood of Pyrimont,
aud in other places. I have ordinarily used the bitumen found in
the neighbourhood of Pyrimont, but the bitumen as found elsewhere may

page_text: be used without injuring the quality of the cement produced; or other pitch
may be used instead of such mineral pitch as aforesaid. The bitumen is freed
from its extraneous matter in the ordinary way. In forming the cement or
composition according to the said Invention, when I use the asphalte of
Pyrimont and the bitumen or mineral pitch also from the neighbourhood
of Pyrimont, I take about ninety-three parts of asphalte, reduced to powder
and passed through such sieve as aforesaid, to about from seven to ten parts
of such bitumen or mineral pitch. The quantity of bitumen intended to be
used is first placed in a melting cauldron or furnace, and when it is dissolved
the powdered asphalte is added gradually; the mixture is kept carefully
stirred in order that it may not be burnt; and also, that the asphalte and
bitumen may be perfectly amalgamated, the mixture is kept over the fire care-
fully stirred until the whole is thoroughly combined and is nearly fluid; this
combination is the mastic cement or composition according to the said Inven-
tion. The melting cauldron or furnace should be kopt over rather a slow fire
until the mixture is nearly in a state of ebullition; it then gives out a light white
smoke in jets, and it is fit for use. When other asphalte is used, instead of the
asphalte of Pyrimont, the quantity of bitumen to be added will vary according
to the particular nature of the asphalte, and the proper quantity will easily bo
found by trial; and when bitumen or mineral or other pitch than that from
the neighbourhood of Pyrimont is used, the pricise proportion will easily
be determined by trial.
In applying the said cement or composition to paving, I add to about
every two hundred pounds weight of the nearly fluid mastic cement, about
half a bucket full of very small clean and hot gravel or sand; this is
carefully stirred up with the mastic, and as soon as it is sufficiently
fluid, that is, as soon as the mastic begins to give out the light white smoke
previously described, it is fit for use. It may then be run into moulds and
remain until cold, when it will form blocks or slabs, which may be laid upon
any proper foundation, one consisting of concrete and mortar is usually
adopted. These blocks or slabs are cemented together by pouring the fluid
mastic cement, either mixed as aforesaid with fine gravel or sand, or without
fine gravel or sand between the interstices of the blocks or slabs; sometimes
a thin coating of mastic cement is spread over the foundation, and the blocks
or slabs are embedded therein; in such case the cement is also poured in
between the interstices, as above described.
If it be desired that the pavement should be ornamented so as to
represent Mosaic or other work, the process of forming the blocks or
slabs is as follows:-First, a large surface is formed, either of wood or

page_text: plaster, upon which the required pattern is drawn; this surface, or a con-
venient portion thereof, is enclosed with iron bars, of the intended thick-
ness of the slab; over this surface a thin coat of transparent glutinous size
is spread; as the following work advances pebbles of various colours,
pieces of porcelain ware earthenware, glass, or other materials of the
required forms and colours are deposited upon their allotted portions of the
pattern, either to represent foliage or fretwork, or any other device; by means
of the weak size they are very lightly retained in their places. The mastic
cement or composition, heated as above, and either mixed with fine gravel or
sand as aforesaid, or unmixed, is poured into the space enclosed with iron bars
as aforesaid; this mastic cement or composition fills up the interstices between
the pebbles, pieces of porcelain ware, earthenware, glass, or other materials,
and forms with them a hard slab; this is inverted, and slabs thus formed
are cemented together in the same manner as blocks or slabs are previously
described to be cemented.
In forming ways or paths, I usually proceed thus:-Upon a proper
foundation I place two flat iron bars, parallel to each other, at a con-
venient distance from each other, say, from three to four feet; these
bars are of the thickness to which the mastic cement or composition is
intended to be spread, usually about half an inch thick; between these bars
the fluid mastic and fine gravel or sand, mixed as aforesaid, is poured_and
spread, and the surface made regular and uniform by passing a thick piece of
wood with one straight edge backwards and forwards upon the iron bars; upon
this surface while still in a semifluid state, I usually sift fine hot gravel,
which I beat into the mastic with wooden stampers; when the mastic is set
the operation is repeated until the surface required for the way or path is
covered. As the operation proceeds the surface of the cement already set
renders the use of one of the iron bars unnecessary.
I apply the said cement in road making, either superficially, in manner
herein-after mentioned, that is to say, upon the surface of a road formed
of the usual materials in the usual way, and the bottom whereof has undergone
the usual preparation, I pour the said mastic cement or composition, either
with or without fine gravel or sand, when the same is heated just so as to
give out the light white smoke aforesaid, and the said mastic cement or com-
position forms with such stones a hard and compact surface; or, I apply the
said mastic cement under the hard materials, and in such case I spread a thin
coating of the said cement, either mixed with or without fine gravel or sand,
between the substratum and the hard materials for the purpose of preventing
the hard materials being injured by the land springs,

page_text: . In applying the said cement or composition for the purpose of covering
buildings I usually cover the roof with canvas similar to that used by paper
hangers, stretched tolerably tightly; and upon this canvas I spread a layer of
the said mastic.cement, heated as last aforesaid, to about the thickness of four-
tenths of an inch; and upon the surface of the said mastic, and when the same
is in a semifluid state, I sift gravel, previously heated in a cauldron; and as the
mastic sets I beat the said gravel into the said surface of the said mastic with
flat wooden stampers about fifteen inches long and nine inches broad until the
gravel is incorporated into the substance of the said mastic.
The process of applying the said mastic to the lining of tanks, reservoirs, and
various purposes to which cement mastic, lead, zinc, or composition is employed is
very similar to that previously described. In such linings no gravel or sand is used
with the said mastic, but a coating thereof is applied whilst the said mastic is of
the heat herein before mentioned, (that is to say,) when it just begins to give out
a white light smoke, previously described. For the bottom surface of tanks or
reservoirs, a simple covering of the said mastic applied in the manner aforesaid
is sufficient. For the sides of such tanks or reservoirs, the face of each brick
which is intended to be inwards and exposed to the water is first covered with
a thin coat of the said mastic cement or composition; this is done by laying
the bricks side by side on a level of ground as if they were to form a pavement;
then the fluid mastic is thinly spread over their whole surface as soon as it
begins to set, which is in a few seconds, and before it becomes hard; the blade
of a large knife is passed between the bricks cutting the mastic through; at the
same time the process leaves each brick with one face covered with the said
mastic cement; this done, the walls or sides of the tanks or reservoirs are built,
and each brick is set in fluid mastic instead of calcareous mortar or cement.
And for greater security a space of about half an inch is left between the inner
and outer bricks which form the side walls of the tanks or reservoirs, this space
is filled up with the fluid mastic as the brickwork advances; this is the process
usually adopted.
From the above descriptions of the said mastic cement or composition it
may easily be applied to various other purposes to which cement mastic, lead,
zinc, or composition is employed.
And whereas I do not claim as the said Invention the mode of reducing
the said asphalte to powder, or the separate use of the said asphalte, or
bitumen, or mineral, or other pitch as a mastic cement or composition,
but I do claim as the said Invention the combination by means of heat
of asphalte, meaning thereby a natural compound consisting principally
of carbonate of lime and bitumen, with a small portion of aqueous, and

page_text: other matter, by whatever namo or names such natural compound be
called or known, and bitumen or mineral or other pitch into a mastic
cement or composition applicable to paving and road making, and various pur-
poses to which cement mastic, lead, zinc, or composition is employed; and
such Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and
never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, called England, Her said Majesty's Dominion
of Wales, or the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this to
be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguise
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent
contained, wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Tappin Claridge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousan
R. T. (Ls.) CLARIDGE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1838, the aforesaid Richard Tappin Claridge came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-ffith day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.