CERTAIN COMPOSITIONS, AND A MODE OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME, FOR COVERING AND FACING HOUSES, AND VARIOUS OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AMBROSE
BOWDEN JOHNS, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Bookseller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of
December, in the forty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me,
the said Ambrose Bowden Johns, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial
licence, that I, the said Ambrose Bowden Johns, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN COMPOSITIONS, AND A MODE OF
MANUFACTURING THE SAME, FOR COVERING AND FACING HOUSES, AND VARIOUS OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Ambrose Bowden Johns, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His Majesty High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation
being thereunto bad, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said Ambrose Bowden Johns, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seven.
A. B. JOHNS. (L.S.)
Rect No. 1. Take of limestone or any other stone powdered, or, what is
preferable, road stuff, where stone is made use of for the purpose of making
and repairing the road; pass it through a sieve of moderate fineness, so as to
let a sufficient quantity of sand pass with it; this may be ascertained by
washing any quantity of the powder in clear water, until you have deprived
it of its carthy particles, by which means you will come at the quantity of
sand that any given measure contains. The proportion of sand should never
exceed one half, otherwise you will have your composition too short, which is
a great defect. Of this powder so prepared take six gallons, and add to it one
quart of lime which has been recently slacked, to it add a pint of the powder
of burnt bones. When you have mixed the whole of these materials together,
put them into the boiler, where they must remain until they are warm and
dry, then add to them two gallons of tar, pitch, or resin, the former of which
I prefer, and boil them to a sufficient bardness for the purpose required; great
care should be taken to prevent the burning of the materials whilst boiling
by constantly stirring them, and for which purpose I have contrived an appa-
ratus, as shown in the Drawing A hereunto annexed.
Rect No. 2.-Take whiting, commonly called Spanish whiting, or lime that
has been slacked for some time, or chalk reduced to powder; pass any or either
of these substances through a sieve of the same fineness as in No. 1, and to
the material preferred add as much sand as will give a sufficient hardness for
your purpose; of this take three gallons, and add to it one gallon of pitch,
tar, or resin, proceeding in the same manner described in No. 1.
Rec No. 3. Take clay of any kind, powder it and pass it through a sieve
as before described, add to it sand, as above directed; of this take two gallons
and a quart, add to it one quart of lime which has been slacked for somo
time, to which must be added two quarts of tar, pitch, or resin, and boil it as
before stated.
Rect No. 4. Or take any calcareous or earthy substance, and add to it as
much sand as you can without destroying the tenacity, then add to it one
fourth part of any pitchy or bituminous substance, and boil it as directed in

page_text: No. 1. When either of the above is boiled, you may toughen them by taking
them out of the boiler on the hot plate B in the annexed Drawing, and by
beating into them hair, hemp, or any other material of the like nature, in the
same manner as hair is usually mixed with mortar when used for facing
npright work, it must be mounted on paper, cloth, or similar substances.
The manner in which it is formed into sheets is as follows:-When the com-
position is taken out of the boiler and the toughening is beaten into it, you take
a sufficient quantity to form your sheet of the size and thickness required,
and work it out into a long roll on a sheet of lead, which must be kept warm
by laying upon the hot plate B, under which the flue to convey the heated
air from the furnace passes; then beat it out into a flat sheet and pass over it
the preparatory roller, as shewn in Drawing C, until you have made it of the
thickness required. When the sheet is thus formed, a board of sufficient size
to receive the sheet when finished is passed through the rollers from behind,
the nose of which board is chamfered away, so as easily to pass under the lead
bearing the composition, which of course is still warm; the board bearing
the composition on the lead is then passed back between the rollers, and comes
out on the back side of the press, where are affixed cutters, as shown on the
Drawing D, which are turned round by a pinion taking in the great pinion
which carries the rollers; these cutters slide on the bar, and may be put more
or less apart, as the sheet may be required of a greater or less width.
PS In all the foremain D