METHOD OF AND COMPOSITION FOR SPLITTING OR RENDING ROCK, STONE, AND EARTH
Year: 1856

page_text: METHOD OF AND COMPOSITION FOR SPLITTING OR RENDING ROCK, STONE, AND
EARTH." A communication from Messieurs Murtineddu and Company,
of Marseilles.
Scaled the 20th March 1857, and dated the 14th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 14th October 1856.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND COMPOSITION FOR SPLITTING OR RENDING ROCK,
STONE, AND EARTH," (communicated to me by Messieurs Murtineddu and
Company, of Marseilles, foreigners residing abroad), to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in splitting or rending rock, stone, and earth by the
introduction into cavities or holes made therein of a composition of sulphur,
saltpetre, sea salt, sawdust, and dung, which, on being ignited, rapidly develops
considerable heat, and so splits or rends the rock, stone, or earth, as to allow of
the ready removal of the broken or separated parts. I add treacle or other
like matter to the composition to make it cohere.
Some of the before-mentioned ingredients may be dispensed with, or
materials possessing analogous properties substituted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 METHOD OF AND COMPOSITION FOR SPLITTING OR RENDING ROCK,
STONE, AND EARTH," a communication from Mess" Murtineddu and Co, of
Marseilles, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be. particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention consists in splitting or rending rock, stone, and earth, by the
introduction into cavities or holes made therein of a composition of sulphur,
saltpetre, sea salt, sawdust, and dung, which, on being ignited, rapidly develops
considerable heat, and so splits or rends the rock, stone, or earth as to allow
of the ready removal of the broken or separated parts. add treacle or other
like matter to the composition to make it cohere.
Some of the before-mentioned ingredients may be dispensed with, or
materials possessing analagous properties substituted.

page_text: The manner in which the composition is formed, as follows:-
Take of sulphur
100 parts.
100
"
saltpetre
sawdust
39
"
"
horse dung
sea salt
"
50
"
50
"
10 "
Dissolve under heat the saltpetre and the salt in water, and during the melting
to every 100 parts of saltpetre and. 10 of salt add 4 of treacle, and when
thoroughly melted throw by means of a shovel or otherwise upon the other
matters above named, stir and mix the whole thoroughly, and dry by exposure
to the sun or to gentle artificial heat.
This composition does not cause explosion upwards, as with gunpowder, but
simply splits and rends the mass acted upon, and is therefore particularly
valuable in mines, and in clearing away for the foundations of buildings, &c.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the method of and
composition for splitting or rending rock, stone, and earth, herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.8.)