IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOSITIONS TO BE APPLIED AS COATINGS TO PRESERVE THE SURFACES OF METALS, WOOD, STONE, AND ALL SUCH LIKE MATERIALS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Alexander, of Islington, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOSITIONS
TO BE APPLIED AS COATINGS TO PRESERVE THE SURFACES OF METALS, WOOD,
STONE, AND ALL SUCH LIKE MATERIALS."
Sealed the 11th October 1867, and dated the 13th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Alexander at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th April 1867.
I, ROBERT ALEXANDER, of Islington, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPOSITIONS TO BE APPLIED AS COATINGS TO PRESERVE THE SURFACES OF METALS,
WOOD, STONE, AND ALL SUCH LIKE MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the above improvements.
The improvements consist in novelty, cheapness, applicability, durability,
and efficiency for the objects for which they are intended.
The means by which I propose to effect the said improvements consist in
the use of the following ingredients in proportion as found necessary in
practice.
Composition No. 1.-I take one or more of the liquid hydrocarbons, coin-
prising spirits of turpentine, rosin, bisulphide of carbon, phosphorous, one or
more of the carbonates of lime, or hydraulic lime, and occasionally a little
dry hydrate of lime, one or more of the various dry colouring materials used
by paint manufacturers, or paint already ground in oil or ground in varnish ;

page_text: and when necessary I add a little gutta percha or india-rubber dissolved in
naptha, which ingredients I dissolve where required, and mix and grind by the
process herein-after described, and apply with a painter's brush.
Composition No. 2.-I take copal varnish or amber varnish, or such like
bard varnish, phosphorous, bisulphide of carbon, and paint already prepared
and ground with oil, and mix and thin with one or more of the hydrocarbons,
and apply with a painter's brush.
Composition No. 3.-I take composition No. 1, and I add to the same as
much carbonate of lime, or both with an addition of a little dry bydrate of
lime, as to form a composition of the consistency of soft putty, which I apply
with a trowel.
Composition No. 4.-The same as No. 1, with the addition of a little tar,
pitch, and asphalt, with or without the addition of copal or other hard
varnish, to be applied with a painter's brush, or with a trowel, according to
the consistency given to it.
Composition No. 5.-I take dry hydrate of lime, or one or more of the
carbonates of lime, or hydraulic lime, or parts of each, colouring matters,
cocoa-nut oil, or boiled linseed oil, rosin, phosphorous, one or more of the
liquid hydrocarbons, which I mix to a paste, to be applied as a cement with
a trowel.
Composition No. 6.-I take gum shellac, gum sandrac, one or more of the
balsams, fusel oil, colouring materials, which I dissolve and mix together, to
be applied with a painter's brush.
Composition No. 7.-I take borate of soda, gum shellac, soft soap, rosin,
glue, linseed oil, water, colouring matters, which I dissolve and mix by a
particular process and grind as paint, to be applied with a painter's brush.
The process of mixing referred to above consists in placing the ingredients
in an iron cylinder with a quantity of small iron balls, to which cylinder I give
a semi-rotary motion backwards and forwards on a bed by a crank appliance,
causing a slight jerk each time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Alexander in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ALEXANDER, of Islington, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send 35
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Alexander, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Alexander, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Alexander, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPOSITIONS TO BE APPLIED AS COATINGS TO PRESERVE THE SURFACES OF METALS,
WOOD, STONE, AND ALL SUCH LIKE MATERIALS OR SUBSTANCES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Alexander, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Alexander, 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:-
This Invention relates to improvements in compositions for coating the
surfaces of metals, wood, stone, and such like substances, as described in my
Provisional Specification of the 13th April 1867.
And in order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying out the
same in practice.
Composition No. 1, applicable to submerged surfaces, which I denominate
liquid cement. I take one or more of the hydrocarbons, from 30 to 40 parts;
bisulphide of carbon, from 3 to 5 parts; rosin, from 5 to 10 parts; phosphorus,
from toparts; carbonate of lime, hydraulic line, hydrate of line, or one
or more of these limes, from 30 to 40 parts; colouring materials of the nature
of those made use of by paint manufacturers, from 6 to 8 parts. I manipulate
by dissolving the rosin and phosphorus in the above-mentioned liquids by heat,
and I mix and grind with these solutions the other ingredients in a closed
cylinder. If I require a harder cement I make use of hydraulic lime, or L

page_text: make use of a hard varnish, such as damar varnish, or amber and copal;
or copal varnish instead of or mixed with the rosin, always using the phos-
phorus solution; and I use in the latter case the carbonate with some hydrate
of lime proportioned to the use for which it is required, generally the pro-
portions are one of bydrate to 40 of carbonate. When the composition is
required to be permanently submerged I add gutta percha dissolved in one of
the hydrocarbons, in the proportion of from 10 to 20 ounces of gutta percha
to the gallon of hydrocarbons above mentioned; previous to dissolving the rosin
and phosphorus in it, and if I find it necessary, I add a solution of bichloride
of mercury or other mercurial salt in a slightly acidulated mythelated spirit by
heat, in the proportion of one ounce of mercurial salt to 3 ounces of mythelated
spirit, and 2 ounces of very dilute sulphuric acid to every 2 lbs. of the liquid
cement; and when I add the mercurial solution I may omit the solution of
gutta percha, except as I have above stated; the surfaces to be coated are to
be permanently submerged, then I hold the gutta percha solution in the com-
position. If I require a composition to be laid on with a trowel instead of a
paint brush (as I propose laying on the liquid cement) I add to this liquid
cement as much hydrate of lime as will make the composition of the con-
sistency of glaziers' soft putty; or I take linseed oil or refined cocon-nut oil
and dissolve in one or the other oil as, much phosphorus as will saturate the
oil when heated, and I mix with the oil so phosphorated carbonate of lime and
hydrate of lime in equal quantities, and dry colours, one-fifth of the limes
until it is as stiff as stiff putty, and bring it afterwards to the consistency suitable
to spread with ease under the trowel or palette knife, by adding so much as is
required of the solutions or liquid used for making the liquid cement above
described. If I require the liquid cement to be black I add to the solutions
of rosin, phosphorus, gutta percha, and mercurial salts, coal tar, pitch, and
asphalte, in the proportions of tar 5 to 8 parts, pitch from to part, asphalte
to part; these I dissolve with the rosin before adding the solutions; I
then proceed as with the liquid cement, and when the ingredients are all
perfectly blended and ground it is fit for use, to be applied with a painter's
brush as ordinary paint is applied. With this I omit all limes except the
carbonate, and omit the colours described in manipulating the liquid cement.
Composition No. 2, for surfaces not intended to be submerged, and which
may be used as priming for the liquid cement. I take one or more of the
hydrocarbons, 10 parts; rosin, 5 parts; carbonate of lime, 12 parts; hydrate
of lime, 1 part; dry colouring materials, 3 parts; I manipulate by dissolving
the rosin in the hydrocarbons by heat, as the vehicle with which I blend and
grind the other ingredients, and when thoroughly ground together it is fit for

page_text: use, to be applied with an ordinary painter's brush; or I take gum shellac,
10 parts; gum sandrac, 3 parts; balsam of tolu, or other such balsam,
1 part; fusel oil, 70 parts; dry colours, to taste, as much as is required to give
the tint or colour sought for. I manipulate by dissolving the gum, resins, and
balsams in the fusel oil by heat, and having reduced the required colour to an
impalpable powder, I mix the whole together, and when perfectly blended it
is ready for use to be applied with a fine painter's brush.
Composition No. 3, applicable to surfaces not subject to be alternately wet
and dry. I take borate of soda, 1 part; gum shellac, 2 parts; soft soap,
part; rosin, 5 parts; glue, 1 part; linseed oil, 10 parts; water or the
grounds of beer, 20 parts. I manipulate by dissolving by boiling the borate of
soda, the gum shellac, the glue, and the soap in the water or the beer grounds,
and whilst still hot I add the linseed oil in which the rosin has been previously
dissolved by boiling. I place the whole in a cylinder and rotate until the oil
is perfectly blended with the other ingredients. This liquid I preserve for the
purpose of grinding the colours with, as paint manufacturers grind their paints
with linseed oil, and when perfectly ground it is fit for use as ordinary paint,
to be applied in the same manner.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and having particularized the methods, modes, manner, and forms of manipula-
tion, and the way and the means of applying the several compositions above
recited, I claim as my Invention to be secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, the several compositions above enumerated; it is at
the same time to be clearly understood that I do not limit myself to the precise
details of quantities and proportions above mentioned, which may be augmented,
diminished, or varied according to the material and surfaces to which the
compositions have to be applied, whether of metal, wood, stone, plaster,
cement, brick, or such like surfaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Alexander, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
ROBERT ALEXANDER. (L.S.)