IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF FLOORS OR SURFACES FOR SKATING UPON.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Charles Mac Leod, of Shrewsbury, in the
County of Salop, Doctor of Medicine, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF FLOORS OR SURFACES FOR SKATING
UPON.
"3
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Charles Mac Leod
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th August 1881.
ALEXANDER CHARLES MAC LEOD, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop,
Doctor of Medicine. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF
FLOORS OR SURFACES FOR SKATING UPON."
The object of my Invention is to provide a substitute for ice for the purposes of
skating upon with ordinary ice skates, and which after having been made rough
by being skated upon can be easily and quickly restored to its former smooth
condition.
I carry out my Invention as follows:-I take lac or resin, or bitumen, or other
similar fusible substance, or a combination or mixture of these, and after spreading
them evenly I fuse or melt them, and then allow them to cool. I thus obtain a
surface at once smooth and hard, and fit for the purpose of skating upon with
ordinary skates.
I prefer to spread the substance or mixture in a powdered or broken state upon
a flooring of iron or other conducting material, and I then heat this flooring by
means of gas jets or otherwise. The heat will melt the substance, which in cooling
will form a glassy surface, which when much cut up by the skates can be easily
restored to its smooth condition by reheating and recooling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander Charles Mac Leod in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th February 1882.
ALEXANDER CHARLES MAC LEOD, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop,
Doctor of Medicine. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE OF
FLOORS OR SURFACES FOR SKATING UPON."
The object of my Invention is to provide a substitute for ice for the purposes of
skating upon with ordinary ice skates, and which after having been made rough
by being skated upon can be easily and quickly. restored to its former smooth
condition.
I carry out my Invention as follows:-I take lac or resin, or bitumen, or other
similar fusible substance, or a combination or mixture of these, and after spreading
them evenly I fuse or melt them, and then allow them to cool. I thus obtain a
surface at once smooth and hard, and fit for the purpose of skating upon with
ordinary skates, or for sliding upon.
In the formation of my floors or surfaces I may spread the substance or mixture
in a powdered or broken state upon a flooring of iron or other conducting material,
and then heat this flooring by means of gas jets or otherwise; but in practice I
have found it preferable to fuse or melt the mixture or substance by heat applied
from above, and this may be conveniently done by means of the heat of a number
of gas jets in a box or frame, or by a tray of charcoal. The heat will melt the
substance, which in cooling will form a glassy surface, and this when much cut up
by the skates can be easily restored to its smooth condition by reheating and
recooling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Charles MacLeod, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred