IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Oxland, of Plymouth, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER."
Sealed the 21st December 1860, and dated the 18th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Oxland at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th July 1860.
I, ROBERT OXLAND, of Plymouth, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER," to be as
follows:-
My improvements in the manufacture of gunpowder consist in the employ-
ment of refined nitrate of soda (nitrate of soda from which chloride of sodium
and other impurities has been removed) instead of saltpetre (the nitrate of
potash), the proportions of sulphur and charcoal to be employed being adjusted
according to the chemical constitution of the nitrate of soda; for blasting
purposes I find the following proportions to be good :-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Orland in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
OXLAND, of Plymouth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, 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 Robert Oxland, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Oxland, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Robert Oxland, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Oxland, 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 Robert Oxland, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say:-
These improvements consist in the employment of refined nitrate of soda in

page_text: the manner herein-after described as a substitute for the saltpetre or nitrate of
potash commonly used in the manufacture of gunpowder. I refine the nitrate
of soda by grinding the crude article to powder, then placing it in a conical
vessel, or in a vessel of the form of an inverted pyrainid. The bottom of this
vessel is pierced with holes, through which liquid may flow into a receiver
beneath. The ground nitrate is to be rammed down tightly into the vessel
until full, a quantity of water is then thrown or regularly distributed over the
upper surface of the nitrate of soda. The water as it passes down will dissolve
the common salt or chloride of sodium and other chlorides, and also some of
the nitrate. A saturated solution of pure nitrate is then applied, and allowed
to pass slowly through. The mass when drained nearly dry is taken out of
the vessel and dissolved in water by the aid of steam, so as to form a saturated
solution, to which carbonate of soda in solution, as pure as may be, should be
added as long as any precipitate be produced thereby. The nitrate solution is
then to be filtered, preferably through a set of filter bags, arranged in the same
manner as in the refining of sugar. The purified solution of the nitrate may
then be obtained in fine powder by rapidly boiling it down in an iron pan,
removing the precipitated salt as it settles to the bottom of the pan. The
mass removed from the pan should be allowed to drain as dry, as may be, and
finally made quite dry by exposure to heat in a hot room, or on hot plates.
I would state that I make no claim separately to the purifying nitrate of.
soda for the purpose of carrying out my Invention, neither do I claim the
employment in the manufacture of gunpowder of nitrate of soda which has not
been purified.
Having obtained the purified nitrate of soda, I use it by preference in the
following proportions, which are those of the chemical equivalents. The
proportion of charcoal indicated represents pure charcoal.
Nitrate of soda
- 85 parts by weight.

page_text: These materials should be mixed, and the further processes of manufacture
conducted in the same manner as in the making of gunpowder when saltpetre
is employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Oxland, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ROBERT OXLAND. (L.S.)