IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Shand Hemming, of Westminster, County
of Middlesex, Mining Agent and Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS."
Sealed the 8th September 1857, and dated the 9th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Shand
Hemming at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th March 1857.
I, FREDERICK SHAND HEMMING, of Westminster, County of Middlesex,
Mining Agent and Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RAILWAY CHAIRS AND
SLEEPERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
I propose to manufacture railway chairs and sleepers of substances not
hitherto so made use of. These substances consist of any suitable kind of
animal or vegetable fibrous materials, such a spent tan, spent hops, rags,
paper, wood, hair, rope, and such like matters. These substances are reduced
to a dough or thick pulp, and may be mixed with oil, tar, and other such
products to render them more cohesive; they are then put into moulds of
the required shape, and subjected to hydraulic or other similar pressure.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Shand Hemming in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
SHAND HEMMING, of Westminster, County of Middlesex, Mining Agent and
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Shand Hemming, Her special license that I, the said
Frederick Shank Hemming, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Frederick Shand Hemming, 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 therin
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF RAILWAY CHAIRS AND SLEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Frederick Shand Hemming, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent..
. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Shand Hemming, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, that is to say :-.
I take spent tan, spent hops, rags, paper, hair, old rope, woody fibre, peat,
'moss, grass, or other suitable animal or vegetable substances not hitherto So
made use of, for, the manufacture of railway sleepers. and chairs; I mix
them in various proportions so as to possess a good fibrous constitution; I
then subject them to the rubbing or triturating action of rollers or other
suitable machinery, so as completely to separate the fibres; I then mix it
thoroughly with, oil, or tar, or india-rubber, or gutta percha, or any other
gummy or cohesive substance; or I form a cohesive compound, by combining
one or more or all of these last-named substances together, and then mix it

page_text: with the fibrous compound. I prefer to commingle these at a high tempera-
ture, although this is not absolutely necessary. I prefer also at this stage, in
order to render it more highly non-combustible, as well as to obviate the
effects of dry rot in warm climates, to add to the above-named ingredients a
quantity of some of the metallic oxides or salts which are known to produce
that effect. I then put the heated mass into moulds of the proper form, and
subject it to hydraulic or other great pressure; after standing for some time
they are taken out of the moulds, and in some cases may be again exposed
to a final heat to evaporate the superabundant moisture. In preparing the
fibrous mixture for chairs it is preferable to wash out the earthy or pul-
verulent particles, retaining only the fibre, so as to increase the cohesibility, of
the substance.
Having now particularly ascertained and described my Invention, and how
the same is to be performed, that which I claim, and wish secured to me by
the said Letters Patent, is, the application of spent tan, spent hops, rags,
paper, hair, old rope, woody fibre, peat, moss, grass, or other such like
suitable animal or vegetable substances not hitherto so used, to the manu-
facture of railway sleepers and chairs, and in the manner substantially as
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Shand Hemming, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JAMES WRIGHT,
10, Alfred Place,
FREDERICK SHAND HEMMING. (L.S.)
Witness.
Newington Causeway,