A CEMENT OR COMPOSITION, WHICH I DENOMINATE' RANGER'S ARTIFICIAL STONE
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RANGER, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most. Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,"
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fourth day of December, in the third year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give and grant unto ine,"
the said William Ranger, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority;!
that I, the said William Ranger, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Ranger, my exors, admors, or assigns; should
at any tiine 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 "A CEMENT OR COMPOSITION, WHICH I DENOMINATE'
RANGER'S ARTIFICIAL STONE;'" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said William Ranger, shall cause a particular description*
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be'
performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months uext and 'immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, réferénce being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I," the said
William Ranger, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the'
following description thereof (that is to say)

page_text: My said cement or composition is intended, as above mentioned, to form
blocks or masses of artificial stone to be used in the construction of buildings
in place of brick or stone, or in union with either or both of them as occasion
may require, and I compose it of siliceous or other fit and proper hard and
unchangeable matters, of powdered lime in its pure or caustic state, and of
water, boiled or heated, and which said water I employ as hot as conveniently
may be, in mixing the different ingredients. I likewise occasionally dissolve
a portion, more or less, of sulphate of iron in this water, as well also as
gaseous and other matters when thought desirable. I prefer to use such
stone lime as contains a portion of iron, such for instance as that procured in
the neighbourhood of Dorking or Reigate, in the County of Surrey, also
greystone, lime, lime from blue or yellow lias, or any other lime which is
fit and proper for the purpose, and I employ it in the state of a dry powder,
not slacked as usual. The siliceous or other hard materials or matters
may be such as are commonly employed, for instance river or sea sand,
skreened shingle from the sea shore or beach, the two latter however well
washed in fresh water to free them from sea-salt; or I can employ broken
flints, freestone, copper slag, or other fit and proper materials of similar
natures. Any or either of these substances, as well as the lime, I separate or
reduce into finer or coarser parts, either by hand or by the employment of
machinery similar to that used in making Roman cement, or any other which
is fit and proper for the purpose agreeably to the nature of the artificial stone
I design to employ them to form. In general I prefer to use them in the
following proportions, videlicit, siliceous or other hard materials or matters,.
thirty pounds, powdered lime three pounds, and boiling or hot water, either
containing or not the above matters in solution, one pouud twelve ounces. I
can, however, vary these proportions occasionally, although I have hitherto
found them the best in practice. I avoid mixing more of these materials at
once than will be sufficient to fill the mould, as owing to the heat produced by
the boiling or heated water the setting or concreting action begins to com-
mence instantly they are put into the mould, and in general the mass of arti-
ficial stone becomes sufficiently firm in the course of about teu minutes to
admit of the sides and ends of the mould being removed and the block left
upon the bottom of it ready to be taken to the place where it is to remain to
dry and harden, and which will usually happen in the course of a fortnight,
when the block or mass will be fit for use. I cause the materials to be care-
fully rammed close in all their parts whilst filling the mould with them in
order to expel the air, and remove any excess thereof by passing a straight
iron bar or scraper along the top of the mould. I can then likewise, when

page_text: thought desirable, fill any interstices or cavities left in the face of the block
with materials of a finer consistency. The moulds will of course vary in their
forms and manner of fraining them according to the shapes intended to be
given to the masses or blocks of artificial stone; as, for instance, whether they
are to be plain or moulded in flutings or otherwise ornamented or decorated,
or whether to be square, circular, or of any other shapes, so that it is quite
impossible to afford examples thereof to any extent; as however, it may be
desirable to give some idea of their construction, I shall proceed to do so by
describing the several Figures contained in the Drawing which as aforesaid
is annexed to this Specification, and which represent the various parts of a
wooden mould inten ded to forin plain oblong blocks of artificial stone, each
part being designated by a similar letter of reference in all the Figures. e is
the bottom of the mould, resting upon and strengthened by the two cross
pieces f.f; g.g,are the sides of the mould, each having two upright grooves
formed in it as shewn at h, h, h, k, in the plan, Fig. 1, to receive and retain
the ends i, i, of the mould in their proper situations; these sides and ends are
held together by means of four iron bars j. j. j.j, whose ends are bent at a
right angle so as to form clamps, as shewn in Fig. 1, between the inner ends
of which said clamps, and the sides of the mould wooden wedges may be lightly
driven to hold the mould together in use, and be as easily removed again when
it is to be taken asunder. There are also two wooden ledges k, k, affixed upon
the bottom of the mould, as shown in the end section Fig. 5, to retain the
sides and ends of it steadily in their places upon it in use. Fig. 2 is a side
elevation and Fig. 3 an end elevation of the mould; and Fig. 4 is a side ele-
vation and section of it, taken at the dotted line a, b, in Fig. 1, Fig. 5 being an
end elevation and section taken at the dotted line c, d, in Fig. 1. l, in all
the Figures, is a bar passed through hole s made in the sides of the mould
to form a hole through the block of artificial stone. I prefer to place the
blocks or masses of my artificial stone in the open air to harden, and
even to wet them occasionally during that operation. I do not mean or
intend hereby to claim as my Invention the use of hot water in mixing mortar
for building with; but I do hereby claim the employment of boiling or hot
water in combination with dry powdered caustic lime, and siliceous or other
hard matters, in the manner and the proportious herein-before des cribed as
my Invention, and as essential to the forming of my said blocks or masses
of artificial stone.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ranger, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of Juue, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
WILLIAM (Ls.). RANGER,

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1833, the aforesaid William Ranger came before our said
Lord the King in his 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 Fourth day of June. in the year of our Lord One thousand
Inrolled the Fourth day of June.in the year of our Lord One thousand