IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH THE APPLICATION OF SILICATE COTTON OR SLAG WOOL FOR BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Daniel Henry Dade at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th July 1880.
DANIEL HENRY DADE, of New Church Street, Bermondsey, in the County of
Surrey. "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND CONNECTED WITH THE APPLICATION OF SILICATE
COTTON OR SLAG WOOL FOR BUILDING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
According to this Invention I protect pipes which run along walls by forming a
cover of canvas of the required width for enclosing the pipe so as to leave an
intermediate space to be filled with silicate cotton, and I glue a thin wooden lath
along cach edge of the canvas; the laths have nail holes for fastening to the wall.
The canvas overlaps the laths at one end, and this overlap is glued on to the
adjoining cover to form a continuous surface.
The cover may be conted with silicate paint or other anti-hygroscopic coating; or
the cover may be made of wire gauze, or of tin or zinc, with flanges pierced for nail
holes along each edge.
For protecting pipes or vessels the fluid in which is cold or not very hot, I in
some cases apply the silicate cotton with plaster of Paris, or other cement, with or
without whiting; it may be applied in the form of a paste when mixed with water,
which may be combined with liquid glue or other material for binding it, and for
counteracting the hygroscopic properties of the silicate cotton; or I may give it a
coating of silicate paint or tar after application.
Sometimes I apply first a rough layer of plaster of Paris, alone or mixed with
some silicate cotton, then a second rough layer of silicate cotton mixed with some
plaster of Paris, and then an outer coating of silicate cotton and plaster of Paris
for finishing off and smoothing.
I apply silicate cotton for building purposes for making walls or partitions, for
preventing radiation of heat and transmission of sound. For this purpose I form it
in sheets, slabs, or bricks. Silicate cotton has been made in sheets or strips by
weaving, but the objection to them is that the thread used therefor becomes
charred with the heat, and if wire be used, the conduction of heat is thereby
furthered.
Bricks or pads have also been made of slag wool by enclosing the same in
a perforated mould, and dipping same in diluted alkaline silicate. But it has been
found that the silicate cotton so treated gradually pulverizes or loses its fibrous
condition, or changes its character by the clogging of the fine air spaces; and these
ID 211

page_text: air spaces are important for the non conducting properties of this material.
The slabs are also stiff and brittle, and thus unsuitable for curved or uneven
surfaces.
Now according to my Invention I obviate the above objections in the following
manner: I coat slabs, bricks, or sheets of silicate cotton by steeping, painting over,
or otherwise covering them with a coat of plaster of Paris and clay, or either mixed
with a gelatinous or binding substance, such as an Irish moss decoction or liquid glue;
or I give it a coating of clay alone, or Irish moss decoction alone; but if it is required
to protect the slag against the influences of an acid, I apply a soda solution coating
on the clay or other aforesaid coating, or I may combine it therewith at the first.
Sometimes, and in order more particularly to protect against mildew, and to ensure
great-pliability, Lalso apply a tannic extract such as from Peruvian bark. I may
use a box formed wire mould with hinged sides and loose lid, and when the silicate
cotton has been put in, I hook the lid on and dip the mould into the coating-
solution, or brush it over therewith. When partly dried, the slag may be taken out
and have a final coating given to it.
Or I may form a brick or slab of a composition of silicate cotton and plaster of
Paris or clay, with or without some gelatinous material mixed therewith;
such
brick or slab being formed with a proportionately large cavity or recess or recesses
in the middle or across the face thereof, and I fill this recess with silicate cotton;
the top and ends if open may be coated with one of the aforesaid solutions. The
bottom and sides of the brick will when dry be of a porous and non-conducting
nature, as the silicate cotton therein prevents the clay from solidifying bodily, which
clay-alone-would do. In the bricks and slabs made according to any of the above
modes, the interior or the silicate cotton proper remains intact, and its characteristics
are not changed.