AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING THE MATERIALS FOR, AND IN PRODUCING, A CEMENT APPLICABLE TO BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES, WHICH I DENOMINATE METALLIC CEMENT
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NICHOLAS
TROUGHTON, of Swansea, in the County of Glamorgan, Copper Smelter, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eighth day of September, in the third year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Nicholas Troughton, His especial licence that I, the said Nicholas Troughton,.
my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Nicholas
Troughton, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING THE MATERIALS
FOR, AND IN PRODUCING, A CEMENT APPLICABLE TO BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES,
WHICH I DENOMINATE METALLIC CEMENT;" in which said Letters, Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Nicholas Troughton, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Nicholas Troughton, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist,

page_text: First, in washing the stamped or powdered slag of which the cement is to
be partly composed, in order to separate from it the mineral which discolors
it when exposed to the action of the atmosphere.
Secondly, in a new mode of sifting the said powder, so as to separate it
into sorts of different degrees of fineness.
if
Thirdly, in a new mode of combining it with the lime and other materials,
when in a dry state, in order to reduce it to a state fit for working up
with water for use.
any,
And.
Fourthly, in working it up with water for use by means of machines and
apparatus adapted to perform each process herein-before mentioned.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Nicholas
Troughton, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to
be performed by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to
say):―
purpose
of
And whereas, previously to entering upon the description of the Drawings,
the various Figures of which represent the mode of carrying into effect the
improvements alluded to under the first, second, third, and fourth heads of
my said Invention, it is necessary to premise that various slags, the refuse of
smelting furnaces, have been heretofore suggested as useful for the
being reduced to powder in order to be converted into cement; and whereas
the slags from copper-smelting furnaces have been found the best adapted for,
and beyond the memory of man have been used, in a powdered state, for
mixing with lime to form a cement for building and other purposes; but
whereas it is found that the particles of copper which remain in the slag after
the operation of smelting discolor the cement made from such powdered slag
when exposed to the action of the atmosphere; and it is for the purpose of
extracting or separating the aforesaid particles of copper from the powdered
slag that the process of washing herein-before alluded to as the first head of my
Invention is had recourse to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a section of the apparatus I use to wash the powdered
slag, which, in all cases, I reduce to powder, in the first instance, by one of
the ordinary modes of stamping or grinding. A is a hopper into which I put
a quantity of the said powdered slag; B is a small cylinder furnished with
spikes or teeth over its external surface, and kept constantly revolving in the
lower part of the bottom of the hopper, in order to cause the powdered slag to
fall gradually from the hopper; C is a board placed on an inclined plane

page_text: under the hopper, and furnished with short longitudinal divisions, one of which
is shown at D, to make separate channels for the water which performs the
washing to run down; E is a tank or reservoir of water, fed from any conve-
nient source by the cock F. This tank should be a little higher at the sides
and back than the highest part of the inclined plane C, so that the water
introduced by the cock F may flow over the front edge of the tank, and run
down the channels of the inclined plance C. By this operation the light-
powdered slag will be carried down the inclined plane, while the pieces of
copper contained in it will, by their weight, be left at the head of the trough
G, which trough is for the purpose of receiving the powdered slag so washed
down the board or inclined plane as aforesaid. This trough is furnished with
plugs at different heights at one end to let off the water above the powdered
slag as it collects in the trough. H is a space or open chamber to enable a
workman to get at the plugs, and J is a gutter or drain to carry off the waste
water so let off as aforesaid.
Figure 2 is a plan of the tank E, inclined plane C, and trough G; and
similar letters being used to denote similar parts in both this and the foregoing
Figure, no further explanation will be necessary.
Figure 3 represents a large open-work wire cylinder, with meshes of the
size of about ten to the square inch at K, 20 to the square inch at L, and
twenty-four to the square inch at M, mounted on an axis at an angle of eleva-
tion from the floor such as here shewn, and placed over a box N containing
O is a
three compartments, one under each variety of mesh. hopper with a
shoot or spout P, from which the cylinder is fed with washed powdered slag.
This cylinder being turned by hand or otherwise, the slag is sifted through
into the box below, each compartment receiving powder of a different degree
of fineness. The powder which falls into the compartment under K is for
the first coat, whether of inside or outside work, and should be mixed with
two parts of slacked lime to four parts of slag; the powdered slag which is
collected under L is for the second and last coat of outside work, and should
be mixed with an equal quantity of slacked lime; and that which is collected
under M is for the last coat for inside work, and should also be mixed with
an equal quantity of slacked lime.
Figure 4 represents what I call the mixer, or machine in which the slacked
lime and powdered and sifted slag are mixed together. Qis a large wire
open-work cylinder with a door and opening at R, furnished with a receiving
box S underneath, and mounted like a barrel churn. The powdered and sifted
slag and lime, in proper proportions for the work required, are to be put into
this cylinder, which is then to be turned by hand or other wise; and the

page_text: powder which falls through into the receiving box S will be properly mixed
with cement powder in a dry state.
Figures 5 and 6 represent a front elevation and cross section of a machine
for working up the cement powder when properly mixed, as aforesaid, with
water for use. In Figure 5, T is a barrel mounted like a barrel churn, with
a door and opening at V, and furnished at certain distances over its interior
surface with long teeth or pins, shown in the section, Fig. 6. The said mixed
cement powder being put into the barrel at V, and the proper quantity of
water added to bring it to the required consistence for use, the door V must
be fastened, and the barrel turned by hand or otherwise till the whole is
thoroughly worked together, and fit for immediate use, when the door V must
be opened, and the contents of the barrel emptied into the trough W placed to
receive it. Similar letters being used also in these two last-mentioned
Figures to denote similar parts, no further explanation of Figure 6 will be
necessary.
Now whereas I claim as my Invention the following improvements; (that
is to say,) first, washing the powdered slag intended for cement, and
abstracting the pieces of copper therefrom, to prevent subsequent discoloration
in the cement, as also the apparatus by which the said washing is performed;
secondly, the application of a revolving cylindrical sieve on the principle of
those used for sifting wheaten flour, for the purpose of sifting powdered slag
and lime intended for cement; thirdly, the mixing machine shown at Figure
4 applied to the purpose herein-before described of mixing the lime and slag
powder to form the cement powder; and, fourthly, working up the cement
rowder with water for use by means of the machine shown at Figures 5 and
6; and such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, or 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 my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nicholas Troughton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
NICHOLAS (L.S.) TROUGHTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1832, the aforesaid Nicholas Troughton came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation 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 Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.