The patent for Portland cement (Joseph Aspdin 1824)
One of the main thrusts for binder development was to develop binders which had the strength and qualities of Parker’s Roman cement (Patent 1796) but with acolouring that could be described as matching natural stone such as Portland stone.
Felix Austin was a prominent manufacturer of English garden ornaments in composition stone. He was active in London from before 1827 until 1850.
Having from 1826 worked with marble, in about 1828 he bought moulds or dies from a bankrupt company he had acquired, Van Spangen and Powell, which had manufactured artificial stone.
For the van Spangens see my post - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-van-spangens.html
Around 1840 he merged with John Seeley and
renamed the firm Austin and Seeley. In 1872 Seeley late Austin and Seeley was still in existence.
John Seeley (1789 - c. 1870) had trained at the Royal Academy
Schools and sculpted sevral funeral monuments, as well as making an artificial stone,
which he called ‘ artificial limestone’.
John Seely - (1789 -
Austin was in business as an “Artificial Stone Ornament
Manufacturer” by 1826 at the latest, and
had held
a sale of a large quantity of stock, as well as the leasehold of some
premises in Albany Street Regents Park in June 1827. But he was more than a maker of garden
ornaments. According to Ray Desmond’s Dictionary of British Botanists and
Horticulturist he was originally a
nurseryman, whilst trade
directories describe him as an
architect, statuary mason and sculptor.
Page 237 from The Gardener's magazine and register of rural & domestic
improvement - 1826.
Pub. by Loudon, J. C. (John Claudius).
Loudon also recommends Austin's Chimney pots on page 554.
Clipping from the Morning Advertiser – Wednesday 13 June 1827.
The Gardeners Magazine 1831.
The Architectural Magazine Vol I - 1834.
.............................
Advertisement from The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal - 1835.
https://archive.org/details/SelectSpecimensOfAustinSeeleysWorksInArtificialStoneManufactory/mode/2up
It appears that john Seeley died in 1870 because adverts appear in early 1871 selling off stock from “the late firm of Austin and Seeley …which had stood through the present winter.”
Whatever remained was eventually
auctioned off, without reserve in 1877.
.................
Austin and Seeley - the end.
Clipping from John Bull - 19th
November 1881.
of Tangential Interest.
Portland Cement and Artificial Stone.
Joseph Aspdin patented his "Portland Cement" in
1824 (Patent No 5022: granted 21 October, enrolled 18 December). The text
follows:
Specification for Artificial Stone.
A.D. 1824 No. 5022.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of
October, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Aspdin, His especial
licence, that I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Joseph Aspdin, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MODES OF PRODUCING AN ARTIFICIAL
STONE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Joseph Aspdin, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in his Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said part recited Letters Patent (as in and
by the same), reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I,
the said Joseph Aspdin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say):-
My method of making a cement or artificial stone for
stuccoing buildings, waterworks, cisterns, or any other purpose to which it may
be applicable (and which I call Portland cement) is as follows:- I take a
specific quantity of limestone, such as that generally used for making or
repairing roads, and I take it from the roads after it is reduced to a puddle
or powder; but if I cannot procure a sufficient quantity of the above from the
roads, I obtain the limestone itself, and I cause the puddle or powder, or the
limestone, as the case may be, to be calcined. I then take a specific quantity
of argillaceous earth or clay, and mix them with water to a state approaching
impalpability, either by manual labour or machinery. After this proceeding I
put the above mixture into a slip pan for evaporation, either by heat of the
sun or by submitting it to the action of fire or steam conveyed in flues or
pipe under or near the pan till the water is entirely evaporated. Then I brake
the said mixture into suitable lumps and calcine them in a furnace similar to a
lime kiln till the carbonic acid is entirely expelled. The mixture so calcined
is to be ground, beat, or rolled to a fine powder, and is then in a fit state
for making cement or artificial stone. This powder is to be mixed with a
sufficient quantity of water to bring it into the consistency of mortar, and
thus applied to the purposes wanted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Aspdin, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
JOSEPH (L.S.) ASPDIN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Joseph Aspdin 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 Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
