A CANNON CARTRIDGE PAPER MANUFACTURED ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1.
JOHN DICKINSON, of Saint Martin Ludgate, in the City of London,
Stationer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the
Twelfth day of November, in the forty-eighth year of His reign,
give and grant unto me, the said John Dickinson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said John Dickinson, my executors,
adiiors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within Eng-
land, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of
A CANNON CARTRIDGE PAPER MANUFACTURED ON AN IMPROVED PRINCIPLE;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said John Dickinson, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar

page_text: month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
:
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Dickinson, do hereby declare that my said Invention is
described-in manner following, that is to say:
.
My Invention consists in the addition of a certain proportion of wool
or woollen ags-to-the-linen rags or other material, consists of hemp
or flax that have hitherto been made use of for manufacturing
this kind of paper, by means of which, in consequence of the inter-
mixture of the woollen fibres with those of the hemp or flax, when the
paper is lighted by the explosion of the powder in the gun it. is pre-
vented from retaining sparks of fire after the flame goes out. The
mixture should consist of about two fifths woollen and and. three fifths
linen, or some other fabric composed of hemp or flax! The linen and
the woollen should be washed and made into half stuff' in separate
engines, and afterwards mixed in their proper proportions and beat-off'
together in the beating engine. But if wool is made use of, or woollen
rags that are of very loose texture, they may in that case be washed in
the same washing engine with the linen, as well as beat off together in
the same beating engine. The woollens require a roll, tlie bars of
which must be so round or dull that they will not cut, otherwise any
close woven rags will be chopped up into small pieces; of course the
roll must be heavy or the process of making thereinto half stuff will bo
very tedious. The linen should be very strong and sound, and beat as
wet and at the same time as long as possible, otherwise, with the
proportions mentioned above, the paper will not be sufficiently strong.
The greater quantity of woollen there is introduced the more effectually
will the paper be prevented hanging fire, but as it contributes very
little to the strength of the paper it would not be practicable to use a
larger proportion than what is mentioned above, except the linen
materials were new and particularly strong. On the other hand, a
smaller quantity of woollen in a less degree produce the effect of
preventing the paper hanging fire, while from containing more linen it
would possess greater strength; but I consider the above proportion

page_text: most eligible, as combining (if the paper is properly manufactured) a
sufficient degree of strength with the property of not retaining fire.
The paper should be "engine sized" with alum only, in the proportion
of about ten pounds to one hundred and twelve pounds of stuff, and no
oil or spirits of vitriol or any other ingredient should be put into the
engine. The paper should not be picked. This paper is adapted to be
cured in the usual manner, previous to being made use of.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dickinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seven.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of December,
in the forty-eighth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the
Third, the said John Dickinson came before our said Lord the King,
in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all
and everything therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made in the forty-fourth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Twelfth day of December, One thousand eight hun-
dred and seven.