IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS, AND IN LUBRICATING RAILWAY AND OTHER MACHINERY
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PALMER, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifth day of June, in the eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself,
Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Palmer,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Palmer, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Palmer, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKING ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS, AND IN
LUBRICATING RAILWAY AND OTHER MACHINERY," in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said William Palmer, shall 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 Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Palmer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in applying tallow-oil or other fatty matter prepared
in the form of soap, insoluble in water, to line the tubes of atmospheric
railways, and the said Invention also consists in applying such materials to the
Jubricating railway and other machinery, and in order that the Invention may
be most fully understood and readily carried into effect I will proceed to
describe the means pursued by me.
I take any quantity of tallow-oil, that is, oil which is obtained in pressing
tallow or fatty matters after saponification, and bringing back, or otherwise
brought to what is known as being in an acid state, as is now extensively
practised in preparing fatty matters for the manufacture of candles, and I heat
such tallow-oil or fatty matter in a copper, or other suitable boiler, to the point
of boiling, or nearly so, and 1 stir in litharge, so long as the same is taken up
by the tallow-oil, and until I find that the litharge falls to the bottom and is
not taken up by the tallow-oil. After stirring for half an hour from the time
the last quantity of litharge has been introduced I remove the melted matter
into casks or other suitable receptacles; by this means a soap insoluble in,
water will be produced suitable for the purposes of my Invention. I would
remark that I have mentioned tallow-oil of the description above mentioned
because of its cheapness, and its being otherwise, I believe, the best fatty
matter for the purpose, but I do not confine myself to the use of such oil, as
the oil obtained from tallow or fatty matters when pressing the same, without
their having first been brought into an acid state, or other fatty matters or oils
may be used, combined with litharge or other metalline matter, suitable for
rendering the same into a soap insoluble in water. It should be stated that I
do not claim to have discovered that oils and fatty matters may be converted
into a soap insoluble in water, chemists having described the production of such
descriptions of soap, my Invention consisting in applying such preparations to
the purposes herein mentioned. It should be stated that although litharge
and other metalline matters are capable of converting oils and fatty matters into
soap insoluble in water, yet it will be found that the process is more readily per-
formed after such matters have been saponified and brought back or decom-
posed, or otherwise brought to an acid state than when in what may be called
the raw state, and although chemists have discovered that other metalline
compounds than litharge will, when combined with oils or fatty matters,
produce soap insoluble in water, yet, I believe none are so applicable as

page_text: litharge for such purpose. In using insoluble soap prepared from oils or fatty
matters and metalline matters, I have found it desirable to mix the same with
hard unsaponified tallow with the more fluid part taken from it; thus, for the
purposes of lining or smearing over the interior of the traction tubes of atmo-
spheric railways, I mix the insoluble soap with one fourth of its weight of
hard tallow, and melt them together; and for lubricating the piston rods of
steam engines, whether for atmospheric railways or other works, and for
lubricating other machinery, I apply more or less tallow or fluid oil, according
as it is desired to have the same to melt more or less readily, the more tallow
or oil which is added making the compound of it with the insoluble soap
melt at different temperatures. ⚫
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would wish it to be understood that
what I claim is, the application of tallow-oil or other fatty matters or oils
prepared in the form of soap insoluble in water by means of litharge or other
metalline matters to line the interior surfaces of the traction pipes of atmo-
spheric railways, and also for lubricating machinery, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Palmer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of December, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid William Palmer came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord One