AN IMPROVED MANU- FACTURE OF FIRE-LIGHTERS."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cole, of Ilfracombe, in the County of
Devon, Ironmonger, for the Invention of " AN IMPROVED MANU-
FACTURE OF FIRE-LIGHTERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cole at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th October 1875.
I, WILLIAM COLE, of Ilfracombe, in the County of Devon, Iron-
monger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " AN
IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FIRE-LIGHTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention, which relates to the manufacture of an instantaneous
fire-lighter, consists in making the same of turf, peat, or bog, which
materials are procured at a very cheap rate, and generally from marshy
and waste lands, and in saturating such material or materials with
mineral or vegetable oil in combination with rosin, pitch, or tar.
The turf, peat, or bog I propose to mix or compound with a sufficient
quantity of rosin, pitch, or tar; such compound material will then be

page_text: dipped in the mineral or vegetable oil, and afterwards it will either be
compressed or cut into cakes, blocks, or pieces of a convenient size and
shape ready for use.
The proportions of the ingredients used will necessarily vary, according
to the quantity of fire-lighter compound required to be manufactured, but
they must always be such as far as regards the inflammable qualities
thereof that they will be capable of lighting fires instantaneously.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Cole in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COLE, of Ilfracombe, in the County of Devon, Ironmonger, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Cole, Her special licence,
that I, the said William Cole, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cole, my executors,
administrators, and 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 " AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF FIRE-LIGHTERS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Cole, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Cole, 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 in writing, that is to say:-
This Invention, which relates to the manufacture of instantaneous
fire-lighters, has for its object the making of the same from cheap,
waste, and casily procurable combustible materials, and it consists in
effecting the said manufacture from turf, bog, or peat (procured generally
from marshy and waste lands) as a basis.
The raw turf, bog, or peat is cut into cakes of about three inches in
length by three inches in breadth, and about one inch in thickness, or
it may be cut of any required size; it is then first dipped in mineral or
vegetable oil, and then in pitch, tar, or resin, after which the cakes
are wrapped in paper. The pitch, tar, or resin, may or may not be mixed
with coal or tallow.
The proportions of the ingredients used will necessarily vary, as the
fire-lighters are made of an uneven size, and consequently some will soak
up more of the ingredients than others, but the precise proportions will
readily be ascertained in practice; or the turf, bog, or peat may be
ground and compressed with resin into suitable cakes, blocks, or pieces
first, then dipped into the mineral or vegetable oil, and then into the
pitch, rosin, tar, or combustible material.
Having now described the nature and object and the manner of
carrying my said Invention into practice, I would remark in conclusion
that I claim as my Invention, the improved manufacture of instanta-
neous fire-lighters from turf, bog, or peat, as a basis, cut in pieces, and
dipped into or compounded or mixed with rosin, pitch, or tar, and with
mineral or vegetable oil, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said William Cole, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.