IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WOOD FOR MATCHES AND FIREWOOD
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HYDE KNAPP, of Long Lane, Borough of Southwark, Chemist, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Hyde Knapp, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her espcial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Hyde Knapp,
my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hyde
Knapp, my exors, adñiors, or 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, my Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING WOOD FOR MATCHES AND FIREWOOD;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William
Hyde Knapp, should cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Hyde Knapp, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say :-
My Invention consists of dipping wood in rosin oil, in order to render
matches and firewood so prepared more inflamable.
And in carrying out my Invention, I cause the wood to be first cut or split
into proper thicknesses and lengths, according as the same is to be used for
matches or firewood; and then I have the wood tied or bound into bundles
as heretofore, which bundles I then immerse for about one minute, more or
less, in rosin oil, contained in a suitable vessel, and keep such oil heated by
means of hot water circulated through pipes placed at the bottom of the
vessel, or I use the same cold; I then remove the bundles of wood from the
rosin oil and place them on open shelves or sieves to drain, and when well
drained they are completed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details as herein described; but what I claim is, the preparing
wood for matches and firewood by immersing the same in rosin oil.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hyde Knapp, have hereunto
set my hands and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
WILLIAM HYDE (L.S.) KNAPP.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid William Hyde Knapp came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.