IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF COMPOUNDS FOR MARKING ON PAPER AND OTHER FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville, of Number 54, George Street,
Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex, Artist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF COMPOUNDS FOR
MARKING ON PAPER AND OTHER FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 6th July 1860, and dated the 27th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
February 1860.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE, of Number 54, George Street, Portman Square,"
in the County of Middlesex, Artist, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF COM-
POUNDS FOR MARKING ON PAPER AND OTHER FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improved methods of preparing and
manufacturing compounds to be employed for writing, drawing, and marking on
paper and other fabrics and substances, the markings thereby produced being
of an indelible character, and irremoveable by ordinary re-agents. The com-
pounds constituting the subject of this Invention are formed by the following
processes:-
1. Plumbago or other carbonaceous matter is intimately mixed with one
or more of the following substances, that is to say, wax, spermaceti, tar, pitch,
bitumen, resins and gums, or with oils or fatty matters, or the component

page_text: parts thereof, in combination with soap or saponaceous matter, a proportion of
alum, or some one or more of the mineral acids or other oxidising agent or
agents, or other substance or substances capable of rendering the before-
mentioned materials insoluble in water, being added to the composition thus
formed. Any suitable colouring or staining substance or substances may also
be introduced into the before-described composition.
2. Plumbago or other carbonaceous material, and various earthy substances,
such as are used in the manufacture of marking crayons, are mixed with water
and ground to the consistence of paste, the same being afterwards manu-
factured into the desired forms for use, and then saturated with oil or fatty
matter containing colouring or staining principles.
3. Fullers' earth, or other substances containing similar or analogous pro-
perties, is or are combined with wax, spermaceti, oils, tallow, or other fatty
substances, or the component parts thereof, so as to render the same capable
of liquefaction or miscible with water or alcohol, or other fluids included in
the denomination of "bydrocarbons," the compound thus formed being then
incorporated with plumbago or other carbonaceous matter, or with any suit-
able substance or substances containing colouring or staining properties or
principles.
The compounds formed by means of the above processes may be manu-
factured into any desired form, and used either in the ordinary ever-pointed
pencil cases, or in any other convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Melville in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE, of No. 54, George Street, Portman Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Artist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alexander Melville, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Melville, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander
Melville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE OF COMPOUNDS FOR MARKING ON PAPER
AND OTHER FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Melville, 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 Alexander Melville, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention consists of certain improved methods of preparing and
manufacturing compounds to be employed for writing, drawing, and marking
on paper and other fabrics and: substances, the markings thereby produced
being of an indelible character, and irremoveable by ordinary re-agents.
I will now proceed to describe the constitution of the compounds forming
the subject of my Invention, and for the purposes of convenience and refer-
ence, I will distinguish the several processes by numbers.
Process No. 1.-Plumbago or other carbonaceous matter is intimately
mixed with one or more of the following substances, that is to say, wax,
spermaceti, tar, pitch, bitumen, resins, and gums, or with oils or other fatty
matters, or the component parts thereof, or soap; a proportion of sulphate of
alumina (common alum) or other earthy salt or salts, or other oxidising agent
or agents, or other substance or substances capable of rendering such of the
before-mentioned materials as have an affinity for moisture insoluble in water,
being added to the composition thus formed. Any suitable colouring or
staining substance or substances may also be introduced into the before-
described composition.
The following proportions may be given as an example of this process:-
Gum-cowrie, kowrie, or kaurie
15 parts.
17 parts.
Tallow soap-
-
Alum or proto-nitrate of iron or other metallic salt
3 parts.
4 parts.
Coal bitumen (coal tar pitch)
6 parts.
Vegetable.black
Thsee several substances are mixed and fused together at a high tem-

page_text: perature, and are manufactured into the required form while at a sufficient
temperature to be of the consistence of stiff paste or dough.
Process No. 2-Plumbago or other carbonaceous material, and steatite,
kaolin, pipe clay, or any one or more of the various earthy substances, such as
are used in the manufacture of ordinary marking or drawing crayons, are
mixed with one or more of the. salts or oxides of metals, and ground with
water or alcohol, or some other of the fluids included in the denomination of
hydrocarbons, to the consistence of paste, the same being afterwards manu-
factured into the desired forms, and then dried by the application of heat
until sufficiently hard for use, the degree of heat proper for the purpose
varying according to the proportions of the several substances and the pur-
poses for which the composition is to be used. The composition having been
thus made and formed into shape, the same is then saturated with oil or fatty
matter containing colouring or staining principles, such as are contained in
bitumen or such other substances as impart their colour to oily or fatty sub-
stances or compounds.
The following is an example of the proportions employed in the manu-
facture of the compounds under this division:-
Fullers' earth
8 parts.
Fine plaster of Paris or kaolin
.8 parts.
5
Plumbago
8 parts..
Vegetable black
-
8 parts.
Gum acacia
1 part.
Tallow
S parts.
1 part.
And for saturation, as before metioned,
Bitumen of Judea, or other mineral
pitch, or coal tar pitch
-
Process No. 3.-Fullers' earth, or some other substance or substances
possessing similar or analogous properties thereto, is or are combined with
wax, spermaceti, oils, tallow, or other fatty.substances, or the component parts
thereof, so as to render the same capable of liquefaction or miscible with
water or alcohol, or other fluids included in the denomination of bydro-
carbons. The compound thus formed is then incorporated with plumbago or
other-carbonaceous matter, or with any suitable substance or substances, such
as the salts of metals, gallic acid, tannic acid, gum, bitumen or resinous gums,
and such substances as contain staining and dyeing properties or principles,
the same being then intimately mixed and ground with water to the consist-
ence of a stiff paste or dough, and then manufactured into the required form,
and drid

page_text: Vegetable black
Bitumen or coal tar pitch
Tallow
I
Alum, or proto-nitrate of iron, or other
metallic salt or salts
Or the following proportions may be employed:-
Vegetable black
Fullers' earth
Bitumen or coal tar pitch
Tallow
Alum
4 parts.
3 parts.
4 parts.
-
1 part.
2 parts.
parts.
1 part.
-
1 part.
-
part.
The compound formed according to the last example may be 'improved
for some purposes by adding thereto one part and a-half of the following
mixture:-
Sulphate of copper
Prussiate of copper
Proto-sulphate of iron
Gallic acid-
part.
1 part.
part.
1 part.
In those cases where gallic acid or proto-nitrate of iron is employed;
prussiate of potass, prussiate of iron, ferro-cyanide of manganese, or the ferro-
cyanides of any of the metals, may be substituted for the gallic acid or proto-
nitrate of iron, or may be employed in combination therewith, and may be
used as fixing agents.
I may here remark that the examples above given of the proportions of the
several substances to be employed admit of variation and modification,
according to the method of manufacture employed, and the purposes for which
the article is to be used, my object being in such examples to give the
substantial principles of my Invention, with the best proportions and methods
of manufacture known to me. It should also be especially observed that in
every case the excellence of the article produced will, in a great measure,
depend upon the quality of the substances entering into combination, and the
greatest care should therefore be exercised in their selection and preparation;
and their incorporation, by finely grinding the same together.
With regard to the kind of heat to be employed in the before-described
processes, I prefer, for the purposes of fusion and liquefaction, either the heat
obtained from an ordinary furnace or from gas, or a water bath may be

page_text: employed. For drying the compounds, ovens or metal plates heated by any
convenient means may be used.
In the manufacture of the compounds forming the subject of my Invention
any of the known machinery at present employed for similar or analogous
purposes, or any other machinery or mechanical arrangements or appliances
suitable for the same, may be used, such machinery or mechanical arrange-
ments or appliances forming no part of my Invention, which relates solely to
the compounds herein-before mentioned and described.
The compounds made in accordance with my Invention may, for the pur-
poses of sale and use, be formed into any desired shapes, so as to be used
either in the ordinary ever-pointed pencil cases in the manner of "leads," or
in any other convenient or desired manner.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, I would observe, in con-
clusion, that I do not claim the use of the several materials and substances
herein-before mentioned separately and apart from each other; neither do I
restrict or limit myself to the precise details herein-before stated, as variations
may be made therefrom as to the proportions of the several ingredients, and
other substances in the nature of chemical analogues or equivalents may be
substituted for such ingredients, or some of them, and possessing the same
properties, without departing from the principles of my Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as my Invention, are
the several compounds for writing, drawing, and marking on paper and other
fabrics and substances, as herein-before substantially described and set forth, or
any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
E. P. H. VAUGHAN,
15, Southampton Builds.,
ALEXANDER MELVILLE. (L.S.)
Agent for the Patentee.