Greenwich.
In 1747 it appears there was a small manufactory of china here, but nothing is known of its history. In the London Tradesman of that year occurs this note:—“Of late we have made some attempts to make porcelain or chinaware, after the manner it is done in China and Dresden. There is a house at Greenwich, and another at Chelsea, where the undertakers have been for some time trying to imitate that beautiful manufacture.”
Fig. 368.
Fig. 369.
Ransome’s Patent Stone Works.—These works, situated at Blackwall Lane, East Greenwich, were established at Ipswich in 1844, and removed to this locality in January, 1866. In 1871 the present company was incorporated in extension of the preceding firm. Mr. Frederick Ransome, the inventor of the processes, is a member of the well-known Ipswich family, and was in early life connected with the Orwell Works firm of Ransomes and Sims. It was while there, and noticing a workman engaged in dressing a millstone, that he conceived the idea of producing artificial stone, capable of being moulded to any form, and to be a perfect imitation, both in appearance and substance, of the blocks taken from our best quarries. At the commencement Mr. Ransome had, as I have said, his stoneworks at Ipswich. For ten years the difficulties he had to encounter were very great, but he persevered, and, though often discouraged, toiled and experimented on scientific principles until he succeeded in making not only perfectly equable and homogeneous grindstones, with keen cutting powers, and that need no dressing, but also ornamental and decorative stonework of ornate character, which has been well introduced in the Brighton Aquarium, London Docks, Albert Bridge, the Indian Court, Whitehall, St. Thomas’s Hospital, &c., the University of Calcutta and other buildings in India, and for ornamental buildings in France, Belgium, Holland, Egypt, Turkey, China (where a splendid fountain of Ransome stone adorns the public gardens at Hong Kong), and other countries. The demand for this artificial stone becoming much extended, the inventions were taken up by a company, and extensive works were erected at East Greenwich, to which the business was transferred, Mr. Ransome continuing with the company as managing director.
The works are of great extent, and occupy a space of about four acres, that was formerly a dreary waste, on the banks of the Thames. They are connected with the river by a tramway and a jetty, supplied with a powerful derrick. The works consist of a large covered building, with a dividing wall across the centre, in which there are two openings for the tramways that are laid from one end to the other, and on which the work is conveyed from one point to another as the different processes require.
The material is, to all intents and purposes, a pure sand-stone, whose silicious particles are bound together by a cement of silicate of lime—a mineral substance well known to be of the most indestructible nature; its composition, mechanically and chemically, is precisely that of the Craigleith and other best quality building-stones. It can be moulded to any form while in a plastic state, and can be worked with the chisel the same as any natural stone. The process of manufacture is based upon one of the most beautiful of chemical reactions; flints are dissolved by means of caustic alkali under high pressure, so as to form silicate of soda, a kind of waterglass. This viscous and tenacious substance is then rapidly mixed with a proportion of very fine and sharp silicious sand in a pug mill, so as to form a soft, plastic mass, which can be moulded into any shape that is desired. The soft stone is next immersed in a bath of chloride of calcium solution, which is made to penetrate every pore by means of hydraulic or atmospheric pressure. Whenever this solution comes into contact with the silicate of soda the two liquids are mutually and instantaneously decomposed, the silica taking possession of the calcium and forming the hard, solid silicate of lime, and the soda uniting with the chlorine to form chloride of sodium in a small quantity. Instead, then, of the particles of sand being covered with a thin film of the liquid silicate of soda, they are covered and united together with a film of solid silicate of lime—one of the most indestructible substances known. The small quantity of soluble chloride of sodium, one of the results of decomposition, is then washed out of the stone by a douche of clean water, or by hydraulic pressure, its complete removal being ensured by chemical tests. The stone is then dried and is fit for use.
Fig. 370.
Fig. 371.
The productions of these works may be said to comprise most of the useful as well as ornamental purposes to which stone can be applied. In the ornamental departments, vases of admirable design and of great variety, fountains, tazzas (in these three departments some two hundred different designs are produced), terminals, flower-boxes, flower-pots, tree-pots, garden edgings, &c. Figures and busts are also produced. In the more useful architectural departments, chimney-pieces, balustrades, chimney-shafts and tops, window-heads, vases, plinths, capitals, and many other articles are made, as well as memorial crosses, gravestones, cemetery numbers and labels, and other mortuary articles, of such excellent design and finish as to take the place of real stone, at a great reduction of cost. Another speciality of the productions of these works is the manufacture of grindstones and scythe-stones. These are said to preserve their cutting edges better than stones dressed in the ordinary way. Filters, too, for reservoirs, are made extensively, and have the reputation of being the most effective of any introduced. Pavement tiles, both red, white, grey, and other colours, and also inlaid in different patterns, are made. These, among other places, have been adopted on the new Albert Bridge, at Chelsea, with good effect, and are giving entire satisfaction, on account of their great hardness, strength, and non-liability to become slippery.
Fig. 372.
Fig. 373.
Another admirable and important element of Mr. Ransome’s inventions is the applying of the silicate of lime to the preservation of stone. The sculpture on St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, the Custom House at Greenock, Trinity College, Dublin, and many other public buildings, have been successfully treated with this solution, which hardens and renders the surface indestructible by time or weather.
The trade mark of the company, which is the only mark used in this manufactory, is a winged genius grinding an arrow, from an antique gem at Rome. It is shown on Fig. [373]. The works are under the personal superintendence of Mr. A. Pye-Smith, with Mr. Frederick Ransome as consulting chemist; Mr. Bessemer is the chairman.