A NEW PIGMENT OR PAINT, AND THE METHOD OF PREPARING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH METHOD IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PREPARING AND TREATING OF OILS, TURPENTINE, VARNISHES, AND GOLD SIZE, WHEN EMPLOYED TO FIX METALLIC POWDERS AND METAL LEAF, OR AS A MEANS OF PROTECTING THE SAME
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BESSEMER, of Baxter House, Saint Pancras, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the
Thirteenth day of January, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, Her especial
licence that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Henry Bessemer, my exors, admors, 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 that part of the United Kingdom
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW PIGMENT OR PAINT, AND THE
METHOD OF PREPARING THE SAME, PART OF WHICH METHOD IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO
THE PREPARING AND TREATING OF OILS, TURPENTINE, VARNISHES, AND GOLD SIZE,
WHEN EMPLOYED TO FIX METALLIC POWDERS AND METAL LEAF, OR AS A MEANS OF
PROTECTING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Henry Bessemer, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to 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 enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
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
Henry Bessemer, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the method of preparing the same, is described and ascertained as follows,
that is to say:
The new pigment or paint consists of certain mixtures of metallic powder
(known as bronze powder) with gum-resins, oil, and turpentine, in such
proportions as to form a fluid capable of being used in the way of ordinary
oil paint, and the method of preparing the same is as follows:-"Take of gum
copal, eight pounds, put the same into a copper or other suitable vessel, and
place it over a brisk fire; the heat should be so managed as to fuse the gum
in about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, in another vessel, heat nearly to its
boiling point two and a half gallons of drying linseed oil. The gum must
be well stirred; and when the fusion is complete, add the oil in small suc-
cessive portions, stirring the whole well all the time. When all the oil has
thus been mixed, increase the heat until it boils, and continue this for two
hours, skimming off any impurities that may arise during the operation. The
vessel and its contents may now be removed from the fire, and allowed to cool
down to about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, when there should
be added twenty-five gallons of spirits of turpentine, previously heated to about
one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The turpentine must be added
very slowly, and the mixture well stirred during the operation, in order to
blend thoroughly the whole of the materials; then add one gallon, dry measure,
of slacked lime in powder, or other alkaline matter, but lime is preferable.
When this has been well mixed, the whole should be left quiet for three days,
then drawn off from the lime or alkaline matter, which will have subsided;
and when made thoroughly clear, it will be in a fit state to mix with metallic
powders, in the proportion of five parts of fluid by weight to four parts of the
powder by weight, and this mixture forms a new pigment or paint. It is
better not to mix the powder with the fluid until required for use. The
metallic powders herein-before referred to are known in commerce under the
title of bronze powders, they should be extremely fine and brilliant. Those
powders manufactured under the Patent granted to me, the said Henry
Bessemer, bearing date the Fifteenth day of June, in the sixth year of the reign
of Her present Majesty, are best adapted to this purpose. I have used these
powders for the new pigment or paint, which I have denominated "gold paint."
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I do declare the nature of
my method, which is "Applicable to the Preparing and Treating of Oils,
Turpentine, Varnishes, and Gold Size, when employed to fix Metallic Powders
and Metal Leaf, or as a Means of Protecting the same," to consist in neu-

page_text: tralizing the acids which are combined with the above-mentioned materials
by means of lime or other suitable alkaline matter, which may be performed
in the following manner:-For gold size, and such varnishes as are employed
to fix metallic powder and metal leaf in the arts of japanning, paper staning,
and painting, &c., I grind with a muller one pound of slacked lime with
as much of the gold size or varnish as will render it of the consistence of
ordinary oil paint; after it is worked perfectly smooth, I add as much of
this compound to the varnish or gold size as will neutralize the acid properties
of the said varnishes or gold size, and thus the injurious action of the said
acids on any metallic substances is counteracted; but for oils, turpentine, or
such varnishes as may be used as a covering or protection to metallic powders
or metal leaf, the lime or alkali added to them (for the purpose of neutralizing
the acid) must be subsequently separated by filtration. But if any of the said
oils or varnishes should not be sufficiently fluid to pass through a filter, I add
as much spirits of turpentine as will make them sufficiently fluid to pass
through; and after they have been thus freed from the lime or alkali, I
evaporate in any convenient way as much of the turpentine as was added
to thin them for filtration. I must here remark that I do not confine myself
to the exact proportions of the various materials herein-before specified for
accomplishing the purposes aforesaid, but I have given those which I con-
HENRY (L.s.) BESSEMER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twelfth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Henry Bessemer 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 Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.