A PREPARATION TO BE USED EITHER IN SOLUTION OR OTHERWISE FOR PRE- VENTING DECAY IN TIMBER OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, ARISING FROM DRY ROT AND OTHER CAUSES
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
NEWMARCH, of Cheltenham, in the County of Gloucester, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
February, in the seventh year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Newmarch, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Benjamin Newmarch, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or any other person or persons whom I might 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 discovery
of "A PREPARATION TO BE USED EITHER IN SOLUTION OR OTHERWISE FOR PRE-
VENTING DECAY IN TIMBER OR OTHER SUBSTANCES, ARISING FROM DRY ROT AND OTHER
CAUSES; "in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Benjamin Newmarch, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His 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 the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully and
at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Newmarch, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
ascertained and displayed in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say)-
My Invention or discovery of a preparation to be used either in solution
or otherwise for preventing decay in timber or other substances arising from
dry rot or other cases, consists in introducing between the fibres of the
wood or into its pores very minute particles of metallic and other poisonous
matters for the purpose of preventing the growth of vegetable fungi and
animalculæ.
Dry rot in timber appears to arise from the decomposition of the vegetable
fluids which all kinds of timber contain, and which in certain situations seem
to be favourable to the propagation of fungi and of worms. It is, however,
generally considered that neither animal or vegetable germination can proceed
in contact with the mineral poisons which I propose to employ, and therefore
in order to prevent the premature decay of timber by the growth of vegetable
fungi or of amialculæ, I propose to treat it in the following manner :-I take
one gallon of linseed or any other kind of oil (but linseed oil I prefer), and
this I add three ounces of sulphate of copper or acetate of copper, three ounces
of white arsenic, and three ounces of allum. These I boil together until the
minerals are perfectly dissolved and mixed with the oil. This mixture, so pre-
pared in any required quantity, is to be placed in a vessel suitable to receivo
the pieces of timber about to be operated upon, which are to be immersed and
boiled in the solution for three or four hours, or any other space of time,
according to the thickness of the pieces of timber, which are
perfectly saturated with the solution before they are removed. The pieces of
timber having been thus treated, it is desirable that they should be immersed
in the solution until cold, in order that the pores of the wood may remain com-
pletely filled with the oil and its mineral ingredients, but this is not absolutely
indispensible, as the effect of boiling of the timber in the solution may be found
sufficient, leaving the pores filled with the mineral matters. I prefer the
mixture in linseed oil, because it appears to be the most effectual solvent that
can be proposed as applicable to timber, it being well known that the excessive
degree of heat requisite to bring it to the point of ebulition exceeds that of
almost every other fluid; consequently the expansion which takes place in the
pores of the timber on being boiled therein, together with the total distruction
or chemical change of all the vegetable or other curruptible matters which the
required to be

page_text: wood contained, and the replacing instead of them such antiseptick agents, as
the acetic or sulphuric acids in combination with copper, will entirely prevent
the formation of vegetable fungi or the propagation of animal life. The oxide
of arsenic is likewise known in a great degree to prevent vegeation, and is
completely destructive to animal life. Again, these compounds readily combine
in solution, and are, when combined with,such an impervious and adhesive
agent as boiled linseed oil, rendered almost indestructible in most ordinary
situations for any length of time but through the agency of fire. The allum
likewise is calculated to take up that partial kind of moisture which may be
floating in the surrounding atmosphere, but its presence may be dispensed with
when the timbers are likely to be immersed in water.
Though I have stated the proportions in which I mix the several ingredients
above named, yet I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to
the use of those exact proportions, but only mention them as the best that I at
present know of to effect my object; and though I have described those minerals
as entering into solution with the oil, yet I do not mean to confine myself
strictly to the term solution, chemically considered, as the said minerals may
be blended or mixed with the oil in a manner that would answer the purpose
without absolutely entering into solution, that is, the said ingredients may be
mixed by grinding, and be applied to wood in the nature of paint. I further
recommend the employment of charcoal in various situations for the prevention
of dry rot in timber, by introducing it in a dry state between confined timbers,
where the circulation of air is prevented, especially between the plankings of
the deck of a ship, and in various other situations, as charcoal would be found
particularly beneficial on ship board, and from its anticeptic and purifying
qualities.
Lastly, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention the above
preparations and processes for preventing the distructive effects of dry rot and
worm on timber (viz), the boiling of timber in oil which has been impreg-
nated with the mineral substances above named, and which preparation may
be also usefully employed in preventing decay in various other substances
besides wood.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Newmarch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
BENJAMIN (L.s.) NEWMARCH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid Benjamin Newmarch came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, 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.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.