Improvements in Processes for Making Plastic Compounds or Compositions.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 7th July, 1892-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1892
[Communicated from abroad by CHARLES WESLEY KENNEDY, of 1430, South
Penn Square, in the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, Merchant.]
Improvements in Processes for Making Plastic Compounds or
Compositions.
I JAMES UNDERHILL ROBERTSON of 32 Blenheim Gardens Willesden Green in
the County of Middlesex, Broker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows :-
The object of the invention is to provide a novel process or method for making
plastic compounds which may be advantageously employed as a substitute for
lumber, flooring, roofing, beams, columns, and building material of wood, brick,
stone, etc. and also for manufacturing railway ties or sleepers, rails, car wheels,
pulleys, journals, telegraph poles, posts, stanchions, conduits, steam pipes, water
pipes, as well as street pavement, tiling, and many other useful purposes.
I utilize many products which at present are waste, and of little or of no value to
man, such as salt hay, spear grass, swamp grasses, reeds, rushes, common hay,
grass, straw, peats, leaves, twigs, husks, bushes with no other preparation than the
tearing into coarse strings or shreds. I use them either in their raw and green or
in their cured and dried states. I also use chips, splinters, sawdust, hair, waste
paper, junk, scraps of all kinds especially those of fibre, such as hemp, jute, flax,
coir, etc. and all material of a fibrous character.
In carrying my invention into effect I take a tank of any suitable dimensions and
shape, and partly fill the same with water. I then add to the water a sufficient
quantity of long fibrous tentacles of hemp, jute or other similar material. A
quivering motion is then given to the tank, which will have the effect of loosely
weaving or intermingling the fibres together. I then add a quantity of finely
powdered silica, or lime cements. Glutinous cements may also be used in con-
nection with the lime or silica cements if desired. After a sufficient quantity of
the cement has been added to coat or cover the woven fibres, I add a filling of any
suitable elastic scrap or waste, such as small pieces of wood, saw dust, or paper
cutting, or clipping, stirring in the same with a slow stirring action. The mass
will now be of a pulpy character and is carried away to suitable molds or dies
subjected to suitable pressure whereby the water is expelled and a compact spongy
body obtained which may be advantageously employed for the purposes above
enumerated.
The proportions of the substances above named should be about fifty per cent. in
bulk, of fibre; twenty five per cent. cements; and twenty five per cent. filling
materials, with sufficient water to form a plastic or pulpy mass when all of such
ingredients shall have been added.
These proportions will of course vary according to circumstances and the nature
of the compound or composition to be produced.
It is necessary that the fibres should be what are known as long fibres, the
longer the better, so that they will be interwoven or intermingled when subjected
to the quivering action while suspended in the water in the tank. The amount of
lime cements used will be sufficient to exclude moisture and swelling and maintain
a spongy nature so as to tenaciously hold nails, screws, or spikes. This is obtained
by the degree of pressure to which the mass is subjected, and the amount of filling
material and cements contained therein.
Dated this 7th day of October 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Processes for Making Plastic Compounds or
Compositions.
I, JAMES UNDERHILL ROBERTSON of 32 Blenheim Gardens, Willesden Green,
in the County of Middlesex, Broker, do hereby declare the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of the invention is to provide a novel process or method for making
plastic compounds or compositions, which may be advantageously employed as a
substitute for lumber, flooring, roofing, beams, columns, and building material of
wood, brick, stone metal and the like; and also for manufacturing railway sleepers,
rails, car wheels, pulleys journals, telegraph posts, conduits, pipes, as well as street
paving, tiling, and many other useful purposes.
.I.utilize many products which may be called waste, being of little or no com-
mercial value, such as salt hay, grass straw, reeds, rushes, common hay, leaves,
twigs, husks, with no other preparation, than merely tearing them into coarse
strings or shreds. I make use of them, either in their raw, and green, or in their
cured and dried states. I may also employ wood-chips, splinters, sawdust, hair
waste-paper, junk, and scraps of all kinds especially those of fibre, such as hemp,
jute, flax, coir, and all material of a fibrous character.
In carrying my invention into effect, I provide a tank of any suitable dimensions,
ard shape, and partially fill the same with water. I then add to said water a
quantity of long fibres, of hemp, jute, or other similar material. A quivering or
vibratory motion is then imparted to the tank which will have the effect of loosely
weaving, felting, or intermingling the fibres together. I then add some finely
powdered silica, or lime cements. Glutenous cements may also be used if desired.
After a sufficient quantity of cement has been added to coat or cover the fibres,
I further add a filling of any suitable scrap or waste, such as small pieces of
wood, saw-dust, or paper clippings stirring in the same, with a stirring action.
The mass, now of a pulpy character, is carried away, placed in moulds, and sub-
jected to pressure, by which means the water is expelled and a compact spongy
body obtained which may be employed for the purposes mentioned above.
This process may be employed for the following purposes and in the manner as
follows:-
For streets, side walks, and paving generally, a thick coating of sand and
hydraulic cement is added to the composition above referred to, and the whole is
subjected to pressure. It may then be divided into squares or cakes and utilized
for paving and similar purposes.
For obtaining a metallic substance :-
I place the composition of fibrous material as above described into moulds and
surround the same with a frame of molten metal within said moulds so that when
cooled the aforesaid fibrous material may project above the frame so formed and
be tightly enclosed thereby, so as to present a briquette of great strength and
durability for oring or paving.
For obtaining a coating of stone I mix with the aforesaid fibrous composition
equal or approximately equal parts of gluten, gelatine, pitch, resin, or silicates of
sodium, or potassium. Around this 1 form a coating of hydraulic cement and sand
mixed with silicate of potassium, and sodium and subsequently reduced, by the
addition of a suitable proportion of water. The mass is then subjected to pressure
in moulds or between rollers and when sufficiently dry, it is immersed in a bath
of calcium chloride and the result is a perfect coating of stone around-a-foundation
of fibrous material.
a

page_text: For artificial wood;
The process in this case, is as follows: A quantity of very long fibres are placed
in the tank or mixer, and subjected to the quivering action as aforesaid. I then
add sawdust wood-chips scraps of paper, leaves, peat, or other like substance, in
combination with hydraulic cements, and subject the whole to pressure.
The
result will be a material capable of receiving and retaining nails, screws, and the
like. The fibres in this case may be obtained from grass, hay, straw, peat, and like
products.
For sleepers for railroads ;
I form the composition as aforesaid into a kind of cable or rope, and subject the
same to great pressure. I then cut it into thick cakes of convenient length, and
while still in a soft or plastic state arrange dovetailed or angular grooves in the
same to receive the rails.
By making use of the before mentioned fibrous substance and compressing the
same into suitably fashioned moulds it can be made to assume given forms for
given purposes such as rails, car wheels, pulleys journals, telegraph poles, posts,
conduits, steam and water pipes, and other forms of general utility.
Said fibrous material may also by suitably moulding be used in the manufacture
of culinary and other ware; such as dishes, basins, bowls, and the like. In this
case the composition is formed into their required shape and coated with any
bitumenous paint, or the like. It is then subjected to heat and fixed so as to retain
its shape.
There are many other ways in which the aforesaid fibrous composition may be
utilized.
Partially decayed railroad ties or sleepers and old wood generally, may be recon-
verted and made fit for use by employing the fibrous composition: This may be
accomplished in the following manner:
The wood is introduced into a tank, heated with steam saturated with soda, or
like caustic alkili. The steam being admitted directly into the tank, soda will be
taken up after sufficient time is allowed to produce a relaxation of the grain, the
wood is taken from the tank, and allowed to partly dry. It is then passed through
rollers, said rollers working in the direction of the grain; The result will be a long
splinter or fibre. This when mingled with a simularly long fibre of stringy texture
and with hydraulic cement, pitch, resin, or glutenous material and subjected to
pressure, will be an effectual reconversion of the wood, which can be again utilised
for its former purpose.
I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not claim any one particular form of
application of the fibrous compositions before described, but in every case I make
use of waste products, such as, those, herein before specified, by tearing the same
into shreds, and preparing them as described.
An increased strength may be obtained by weaving together and intertwining
much longer fibres, and in this case it is evident that a less quantity of cement, or
glutenous material may be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
First. The employment of and process of making a fibrous material extracted
from waste, or partially waste products, in combination with sand and like material,
and mixed with hydraulic or other cements or glutenous substances for paving,
flooring or like purposes, substantially as herein described.
Second. The combination with said fibrous composition of metallic or silicious
substances and alkali, together with cement or gluten, substantially as, and for
the various purposes herein described.
Third. The method of making artificial wood and stone substantially as herein
described.
Fourth. The aforesaid fibrous composition, either alone or in combination with

page_text: other products for the purposes herein described, or for others of an analagous
nature substantially as set-forth.
Doted this 7th day of July 1809
FREDK. WALKER,
11, Furnival Street, Holborn, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.