IMPROVE- MENTS IN OBTAINING A PRODUCT FROM THE WOOD OF THE CACTUS
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
FRANCOIS TOUSSAINT, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of September, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Henri Francois Toussaint, Her especial license,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henri Francois Toussaint,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Henri Francois
Toussaint, my exors, adñiors, and 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, within the
Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also within all
Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN OBTAINING A PRODUCT FROM THE WOOD OF THE CACTUS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Henri
Francois Toussaint, 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

page_text: in Her 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henri Francois Toussaint, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
described and ascertained by the words following, that is to say:--
My Invention consists in the preparation and application to various pur-
poses of the woody part of the "opuntia" or fig tree of Barbary, of the family
of the "cactus." The trunk and branches of the opuntia or cactus, though
apparently a solid mass of wood, when deprived of their bark and exposed to
damp and heat, will become disorganized, and be found to be composed of a
leafy matter, or a kind of leaves superposed on each other, which may then be
easily separated. The interior of these leaves is composed of woody fibres
which, when freed from their covering, display a kind of net work having the
most varied designs. The process employed to lay bare this fibrous portion is as
follows: With a knife, or any other suitable implement, the exterior surface
of the leaves of the "opuntia" or cactus must be scraped and deprived of the
skin, and freed from all roughness. These leaves must then be boiled in
slightly acidulated water, either with a weak acid or with an alkali. One
hour's ebullition suffices for the maceration and disorganization of the pulpy
parts. Steam may be also employed, and the leaves afterwards washed in
water, and the different layers of wood superposed and contained in the leaves,
branches, trunk, and roots of the opuntia or cactus. After this operation the
woody part only remains; that is to say, the product that I apply to the
manufacture and ornamenting of a great number of articles. When this
woody product is perfectly dry it acquires great solidity, which I encrease still
further by means of a varnish, that which is generally employed for woods and
I many articles. I strengthen it by wires, which may be covered with cloth
or paper. I also use metallic strips, or, in fact, any other suitable means for
giving greater solidity. The wood of the opuntia or cactus, when only
seasoned by the air and rain, may be employed, but the woody fibres do not
then offer the same solidity as when prepared by the above-described process.
I will not enumerate the numerous applications that I make of this product.
The list of the several articles, such as baskets, tables, plates,. bookbinding,
vases, candlesticks, frames, bonnets, &c., &c., would be too lengthy. But what
I claim as my Invention is, the product itself; that is to say, the preparation
for

page_text: of the woody portion of the leaves of the opuntia or cactus, and its application
o the manufacture or ornamenting of a great number of articles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henri Francois Toussaint, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
HENRI FRANCOIS (L.S.) TOUSSAINT.
Taken and acknowledged by Henri
Francois Toussaint (party thereto), at
Paris, in the Empire of France, this
Fourth day of March 1853, before
Seal.
at Paris.
This is the Specification referred to by Auguste Edouard Loradoux Belford
in the annexed Affidavit sworn before me, this Tenth day of March 1853.
D. DREW.
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with tho
manner and character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Britannic
Majesty's Consul at Paris, in the Empire of France. And this deponent
further saith, that the signature "Thomas Pickford" set, subscribed, or
written in the margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A, and
dated the Fourth day of March instant, and purporting to be executed by
Henri Francois Toussaint, of Paris, whereby it is stated that the Specification
was acknowledged by him, the said Henri Francois Toussaint, before the said
Thomas Pickford, on the Fourth day of March, at Paris aforesaid, is of the
proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford, the Specification aforesaid was enrolled word for word as
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord, One thousand