A CERTAIN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE FINE ART, AND TO USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARGARET
HENRIETTA MARSHALL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifth day of October, in the seventh year of Her reign, and in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Mar-
garet Henrietta Marshall, 1er especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Margaret Henrietta Marshall, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Margaret Henrietta
Marshall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter, during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVED PLASTIC COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE
FINE ART, AND TO USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Margaret Henrietta Marshall,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, 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 recited Letters l'atent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Margaret Henrietta Marshall, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following explanation thereof
(that is to say):
This improved plastic composition, applicable to the fine arts and to useful
and ornamental purposes, I intend to denominate "patent intonaco," and
consists of the following formula:-To six parts, by measure, of vegetable
gluten, gelatine, or albumen, add one part of animal gluten, gelatine, or
albumen, boiled to the consistence at which a joiner uses his glue, add one
twenty-fourth part of oil or of animal fat, and if the vegetable matters used be
(as most British vegetables are) deficient in the principle of caoutchouc, this
must be supplied by adding a forty-eighth part of indian-rubber. These
materials called "the bind
must be very intimately united, and when at the
boiling point or not much below it, thirty to thirty-four pounds of sulphate of
lime worked into them, till quite smooth. This is the pure "intonaco." To
bring the above to weight instead of measure, and assuming rice or starch of
any kind as the vegetable used, then it will be thus:-One pound of vegetable
matter, quarter of a pound of animal matter, half a pound of oil or aninial fat,
quarter pound of indian-rubber, twelve pounds of water, thirty pounds sulphate
of lime. These proportions may be changed or even reversed, the product will
still be a substance extremely plastic when wet, and extremely hard when dry,
but these are given as the proportions productive of the best results. Any
vegetable gluten, gelatine, or albumen, even that from sea-weed, may be used,
but the product of boiled rice, Indian wheat, buckwheat, wheat flour, sago,
tapioco, arrowroot, and starch of every description, is the best. When too
much damaged to be used for food, these articles are still available for making
this "intonaco," provided the glutinous quality has not been destroyed by
fermentation or otherwise. Any animal gluten, gelatine, or albumen may be
used, even the water in which fish has been boiled, but the product produced
by using common joiners' glue (or the glue obtained by macerating bones in
weak muriatic acid) is the best. Any oil or animal fat may be used, but the
product obtained by the use of linseed oil is the best. The best and easiest
form of indian-rubber for making the "intonaco" is Macintosh's patent indian-
rubber varnish. The "intonaco" being made as above, it must be worked up
into the state suited for the purpose to which it is to be applied. If for
plastering walls, it must be used of rather thicker consistency than common
plaster. If the walls are not vertical, they must be made perfectly so by the use
of common lime or mortar, and the intonaco applied one-fourth inch in thickness,

page_text: and at once brought to a fine surface, skimming being neither necessary or
advantageous to it. When fully set, it is to be polished by using a wet "water
of Ayr" stone, or any other method the operator finds best. It will polish
better when quite dry, but it is more tedious. It sets in from two hours to
seven, but it may be retained for any number of hours up to twenty-four by
the addition of a certain proportion of pure sulphate of barytes (it may also be
remarked that it sets under water), and its best qualities are at the same time
heightened by this mixture. It dries in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours.
When intended to make imitation of marble, the pieces of coloured "intonaco"
are to be stuck upon the wall or any other surface in the proper pattern, and
then trowelled smooth. Pillars, pillasters, &c. may be made with lath, well
spread with good lime, and the "intonaco" thus applied when the lime is
nearly but not quite dry, or it may be re-damped for the purpose. When
intended to be coloured all through, the colour must be intimately mixed
with the "bind" previous to adling the sulphate of lime. The pure "intonaco"
will firmly agglomerate any pulverized body, even metal filings, mixed with the
boiling bind "before the sulphate of lime is added. A useful species of fuel
may even be male, by agglomerating with it sawdust and coal culm; it burns
not unlike charcoal. Many of these agglomerations are extremely curious,
but not many of them useful. The following is the best proportions for the
cement for architectural use:-Into six quarts of the "bind" (at the heat above
mentioned) work in eighteen pounds of dry hill or rivers and and two pounds
of white or red lead, as the colour may be desired; when fully combined, add
as much sulphate of lime as will bring it to the desired thickness and spread
it immediately; it takes nearly as long to dry thoroughly as does common
mortar, but when dry it is very hard, and by repeated coats of oil may be
rendered water-proof and also very highly fire-proof. If the sand cannot be
procured dry, then the strength of the "bind "must be as much increased as
will balance the probable quantity of water introduced by the sand; but dry
sand is best. The following may be named as the principal uses of the
"intonaco" First, as a fire and water resisting plaster for walls, interior and
exterior; second, imitations of marble and other stones; third, architectural
mouldings and ornaments; fourth, for covering the unplanted side of fruit
walls, to prevent the radiation of heat of that side, so that it takes place
entirely on the side with the plants, and at the same time removing from
the garden landscape unsightly lines of red brick walls; fifth, for ornamental
garden architecture, alcoves, grottoes, rockwork, &c.; sixth, for covering wooden
shelving in shops and warehouses, as a preservative from fire; seventh for imita-
tions of ancient wainscotting and all other manner of carving in wood; eighth, as

page_text: a ground for gilding, possessing advantages over every other in use; ninth, as
a ground for decorative painting in fresco, tecco-tempora, and encaustic, and a
new style peculiar to itself, and more rapid in execution than any now in use;
tenth, for making casts and models of all natural forms, even of landscapes;
eleventh, for making tesselated pavement and ornamental tiles; twelfth, as
paint for ceilings and walls; thirteenth, for all domestic uses to which marble
is at present applied, as baths, wash-hand stands, plinths, and pedestals, mantel-
pieces, hearths, and sides of grates; fourteenth, for making moulds for various
purposes, particularly for ornaments formed of itself; fifteenth, for making
artificial globes; sixteenth, for all purposes to which putty is at present applied,
and a great variety of other useful and ornamental purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Margaret Henrietta Marshall, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
Extraordinary in
Chancery.
MAN
(L.S.) MARSHALL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of April, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Margaret Henrietta Marshall came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Innalled the Thounth day of Ammil