IMPROVE- MENTS IN PURIFYING WATER
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Lipscombe, of 233, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Water Filter Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PURIFYING WATER."
Sealed the 17th April 1863, and dated the 27th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Lipscombe
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th October 1862.
I, FREDERICK LIPSCOMBE, of 233, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Water Filter Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PURIFYING WATER," to be as follows:-
The whole or portion of any tree or shrub is cut into small pieces and
steeped in a strong solution of caustic soda or caustic potash for several days;
the aforesaid pieces are then taken out of the solution, dried, and converted
into charcoal in well covered crucibles, or otherwise; the charcoal is afterwards
ground and treated in the usual way, it may then be used by itself or in com-
bination with one or more of the materials used by filter makers as filtering
media for impure water to pass through.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Lipscombe in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
LIPSCOMBE, of 283, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Water Filter
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Lipscombe, Her special license, that I, the said Frederick
Lipscombe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick Lipscombe, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during 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 PURIFYING WATER," upon the condition. (amongst others)
that I, the said Frederick Lipscombe, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and
seal of one of them, 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 Frederick Lipscombe, 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 :-
.:
My said Invention relates to the treatment of vegetable matter preparatory
to its conversion into charcoal for filtering. purposes.
According to my Invention, the whole or portions of any tree or shrub is or
are cut into small pieces and steeped in a strong solution of caustic soda or
caustic potash, or a combination of the two in any proportion for several days;
the aforesaid pieces are then taken out of the solution, dried, and converted into
charcoal in well covered crucibles, or otherwise; the charcoal is afterwards
ground and treated in the usual manner; it may then be used by itself or in

page_text: combination with one or more plates or slabs of porous stone, or with ordinary
charcoal, or in combination with one or more of the materials used by filter
makers as filtering media for impure water to pass through.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the steeping of wood in a solution
of caustic soda or caustic potash, or both combined, before the wood is con-
verted into charcoal for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Lipscombe, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
FRED. LIPSCOMBE. (L.S.)