THE USE AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR MAXING A VALUABLE WHITE. PAINT OR COLOUR, AND OF MAKING PAINT OR COLOUR PROM THE SAID MATERIALS, WHICH WILL, IN A GREAT DEGREE, ANSWER THE PURPOSES OF WHITE LEAD
Year: 1796

page_text: ATKINSON'S SPECIFICATION. :
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN_
ATKINSON, of Harrington, near Liverpool, in the County Palatine.of
Lancaster, Colour Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of March, in the thirty-sixth year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said John Atkinson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, His especial licence, that I, the said John Atkinson, my executors.
administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention or Discovery of "THE USE
AND APPLICATION OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR MAXING A VALUABLE WHITE.
PAINT OR COLOUR, AND OF MAKING PAINT OR COLOUR PROM THE SAID MATERIALS,
WHICH WILL, IN A GREAT DEGREE, ANSWER THE PURPOSES OF WHITE LEAD;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
John Atkinson, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention,. to .be inrolled in His Majesty's High"
Court of Chancery within one. calendar month next.and immediately after
the date of the said recited. Letters Patent, as by the said recited Letters
Patent,, relation being thereunto, had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Atkinson, in compliance with and
conformity to the said proviso, do hereby particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, as followeth :-
I do declare that the materials of which I have discovered the use and
application for making a valuable white paint or colour arc, a mineral calx
called blind black jack or black jack, lapis caliminaris or calimine, or any
other ore of zinc called or known by the name of zinc, spar, or any other calx,
ore, mineral, or metal reducible to zinc, or from which the same may be
obtained, and that the method of making paint or colour from the said
materials, which will, in a great degree. answer the purposes of white lead,
is as follows; that is to say:-
First convey the mineral calx, calamine, ore of zinc, zinc spar, or other
materials, as aforesaid, to an oven or furnace, commonly called a reverba-
ratory furnace, where the flame must pass over it for the space of six hours or
thereabouts, in which process it parts with or from all the farraginous volatile
principles which it contained; from thence convey it to a mill, and lay the same
upon a flat surface, where, by means of a stone which is to roll over it, it is
crushed or bruised small, or make use of any other machine which will
answer that purpose; and when the same has been so crushed or bruisd,
mix it with about one eighth part of its weight of powdered charcoal, after
which it is to be removed to a furnace commonly called a close furnace,
or muffled furnace. This furnace should be provided with two apertures
or openings, one on each side, and dilated at the one end from the furnace
by à distance of about twenty feet, but a greater or less distance may be
used, as the case may require. The other end immediately joins and
enters the body of the furnace. In this state the ore should be introduced
through the top or crown of the said furnace; and when it is perfectly
ignited, or made red hot throughout, a large thick white cloud or smoke,
with a bright blue flame, will be produced, which will convey itself into the
appértures or openings before mentioned and described, and will be collected
in the form of a very pure white metallic calx. These appertures or openings
should be provided with each a door at the furthest extremity, in height about
five feet, or sufficiently large to admit a man to go in for the purpose of
collecting the colour; it should then be conveyed to a mill or machine, and be
ground, regard being had to the colour being first duly mixed with water
sufficient to dilute it, after which it should be conveyed from the mill or
machine by a plug, to be fixed about twelve inches from the bottom of the
tub, into gutters or spouts to convey it into fine sieves, from whence it
may
be
received into cisterns or vessels, which communicate one with another by means

page_text: of gutters or spouts, or otherwise, by which means the finer particles flont
into the furthest cisterns. I make use of six cisterns, but a greater or less
number may be used; and after standing about twenty-four hours in this state
the water may be drawn from it, and the colour be collected and removed to a
pan or receiver, or other vessel, made of bricks or other materials capable
of bearing heat, by which it may be dried by means of fire or otherwise, in
which state it will become saleable; but when it is wanted in powder it should
be finely ground.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Atkinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named John Atkinson, being
first duly stamped in the presence
of us,
THO SWAINSTON,
JOHN ATKINSON. (L.B.)
Merchant,
Liverpool.
Inrolled the Second day of April, in the year above written.