A NEW OR IMPROVED MIXTURE OB COMPOSITION FOR FUMIGATING PLANTS, AND THEREBY DESTROYING INSECTS INFESTING THE SAID PLANTS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Neal, of Birmingham; in the County of
Warwick, Dentist, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MIXTURE
OB COMPOSITION FOR FUMIGATING PLANTS, AND THEREBY DESTROYING INSECTS
INFESTING THE SAID PLANTS."
Sealed the 23rd October 1860, and dated the 21st August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Neal at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1860.
I, JOHN NEAL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Dentist, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED,
MIXTURE OR COMPOSITION FOR FUMIGATING PLANTS, AND THEREBY DESTROYING
INSECTS INFESTING THE SAID PLANTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a mixture or composition made as herein-after:
explained, which said mixture or composition when burned evolves fumes,
which are destructive of insect life. By making the said mixture or com-
position into pastilles or cakes, and igniting the same, they burn away slowly,
and when burned in greenhouses or elsewhere, the fumes evolved destroy the
insects infesting the plants in the vicinity of the said burning pastilles or cakes.
The said mixture or composition is made by mixing together the following.
ingredients:-
Hemp, forty-eight parts by weight;

page_text: I dissolve the nitrate of potassa in a small quantity of water, and mix the
solution with the other ingredients reduced to powder. The pasty mixture
thus obtained is pressed into moulds, so as to form conical or other shaped
pastilles, which are dried in an oven or stove.
I do not limit myself to the precise proportions described of the several
materials. In place of hemp reduced to powder I sometimes employ brown
paper pulp, which consists essentially of hemp fibre.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Neal in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
February 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NEAL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Dentist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her. Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Neal, Her special licence that I, the said John Neal,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Neal, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others,. from time to time and at all times thereafter
during. the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED MIXTURE-OR. COMPOSITION FOR FUMIGATING PLANTS, AND THEREBY
DESTROYING INSECTS INFESTING THE SAID PLANTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Neal, my executors or administrators, .by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,.
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention;
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next-
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the .said John Neal, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-.

page_text: My Invention consists of a mixture or composition made as herein-after
explained, which said mixture or composition when burned evolves fumes
which are destructive of insect life. By making the said mixture or composi-
tion into pastilles or cakes, and igniting the same, they burn away slowly, and
when burned in greenhouses, or elsewhere, the fumes evolved destroy the
insects infesting the plants in the vicinity of the said burning pastilles or cakes.
The said mixture or composition is made by mixing together the following
ingredients :-
Hemp, forty-eight parts by weight;
Nitrate of potassa or saltpetre, two parts by weight;
Cayenne pepper, two parts by weight;
Tobacco, three parts by weight.
. Or, instead of the proportion of tobacco in the said composition, I.
sometimes use nicotina, in which case I use a quantity of the said nicotina equal
in weight to one-twelfth part of the weight of tobacco for which it is substituted.
I prepare and combine together the ingredients of the mixture or composition:
in the following manner :-I reduce hemp to powder or pulp by any convenient
means, but I have found a revolving ball of iron working in a trough, the action of.
the said ball and trough being sinilar to that of a pestle and mortar, to answer.
the purpose well. I dissolve the nitrate of potassa or saltpetre in two gallons
of water, and in the said solution, I boil the hemp for about three hours; I
strain off the solution from the said hemp and 'subject the said hemp to
pressure so as to squeeze the liquid from it until the hemp is sufficiently dry
to work easily. I now weigh the required proportion of the hemp, treated as
described, and add to it the respective proportions of tobacco or nicotina and
cayenne pepper described. In order to effectually incorporate or mix the said
hemp, tobacco, or nicotina, and cayenne pepper, I prefer to employ machinery
worked by steam or other power consisting of a long trough in which a rake
having a reciprocating motion is made rapidly to work, and thus intimately to
mix the said ingredients. The composition having been properly mixed and
brought to a soft and pasty state I proceed to press it into conical or other
shaped moulds of the required size so as to form pastilles or cakes. The press-
ing of the composition into the noulds may be effected either by a hydraulic
press, or by a powerful press worked by hand. Before pressing the composition
in the moulds I sometimes place calico or other fabric in the moulds, the said
calico or fabric serving as a covering for the pastille or cake. The pastilles or
cakes are removed from the moulds and placed in an oven or stove, the
said even or stove being maintained at the temperature of about a hundred
degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, until the said pastilles or cakes are dry.

page_text: The pastilles or cakes are then ready for use, and when ignited will burn slowly,
without attention, till consumed. In place of hemp reduced to powder or pulp,
brown paper pulp, which, consists essentially of hemp fibre, may be employed,
and. I sometimes add to the powdered hemp, to give it bulk, paper, rags, or other
vegetable matter, the said paper, rags, or vegetable matter having been reduced
to a soft state by boiling in water or otherwise, but I prefer to employ hemp
alone.
:
I do not limit myself to the precise proportions described of the several
materials, as the same may be varied to suit the foliage of the particular kind
of plant which it is intended to fumigate. For example, some plants will not
bear, without injury, being largely fumigated with hemp, as is well known, and
I use a less proportion of hemp when the pastilles or cakes are to be used for
fumigating such plants. Neither do I limit myself to the particular-machinery
described for reducing and incorporating the ingredients of the mixture or
composition, as the said machinery constitutes no part of my Invention, and other
machinery-may-be employed for the same purpose.
... Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention a new or improved mixture or composition for fumigating plants, and
thereby destroying insects infesting the said plants, consisting essentially of the
ingredients or materials herein-before described, the said mixture or composition
being made into pastilles or cakes as described.
..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Neal, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness.
W. P. ALLCOCK.
JOHN NEAL. (L.S.)