IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INCOMBUSTIBLE PAPER, IN INK FOR WRITING ON THE SAME, AND IN COVERS AND ENVELOPES BARD PATER OR A DARNO BAD PRO
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George William Halfpenny, of No. 25, Lower
Shadwell, in the County of Middlesex, Wholesale Butcher, for tho
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INCOMBUSTIBLE
PAPER, IN INK FOR WRITING ON THE SAME, AND IN COVERS AND ENVELOPES
BARD PATER OR A DARNO
BAD
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George William Half-
penny at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd January 1873.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM HALFPENNY, of No. 25, Lower Shadwell, in the
County of Middlesex, Wholesale Butcher, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF INCOM-
BUSTIBLE PAPER, IN INK FOR WRITING ON THE SAME, AND IN COVERS AND ENVELOPES
FOR THE SAID PAPER OR OTHER PAPER WHEN MADE INTO BOOKS OR PAckages,” to
be as follows:-

page_text: other buildings be "ordinarily "incombustible; and, secondly, the making
of an ink which shall enduro and be legible after the paper shall have
been thus exposed to the action of fire; and, thirdly, the making of
incombustible covers for books, and incombustible envelopes or wrappers
for packagos, such books and packages being either of my incombustiblo
paper or of ordinary paper.
I. My Invention consists, firstly, in making a pulp for the incom-
bustible paper of linen or other vegetable fibre, asbestos, alum, and
borax, in or about the following proportions, that is to say, of vegetable
fibre one part, of asbestos two parts, of borax one part, of alum two
parts. The linen or vegetable fibres are minutely divided in the manner
now practised by paper makers. The asbestos is also most minutely
divided, and these two ingredients together with the alum and borax,
which need no special preparation, are intimately mixed together in a
sufficient quantity of water to make a pulp which may be made into
paper in the ordinary way. Although I have herein-before mentioned
the quantities in or about which I have made incombustible paper, I do
not strictly confine myself to those proportions, but propose in some
cases to vary them, as may be required. I also propose to use in some
cases a portion of glass ground or reduced to a very fine powder, and
a small portion of common salt so as to render it in some measure
insoluble.
II. My Invention consists, secondly, in the preparation of an ink to
be used for writing or printing upon the above paper. This ink I mako
of plumbago or of any suitable mineral or metallic carth reduced to an
extremely fine powder and mixed to the requisite fluid consistency with
alum and water, with or without a portion of galls and of gum.
III. My Invention consists, thirdly, in the manufacture of covers for
books and wrappers for packages. In making covers for books or in bind-
ing books, I make the "boards" so called of milled board or pasteboard
made of the incombustible pulp above described, in addition to which
I in some cases uso with the said boards a sheet or sheets of talc, or I
may use the tale with ordinary boards. In all cases the usual bindings
and ornamentation may be applied. The back of the book may be
made to contain a number of slips or strips of tale overlapping cach
other, and supported. in position by a picce of the incombustiblo paper.

page_text: Envelopes or wrappers may be also made of tale and incombustible
paper for the purpose of containing quantities of incombustiblo or other
paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Georgo William Halfpenny in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 23rd July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILLIAM HALFPENNY, of No. 25, Lower Shadwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Wholesale Butcher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight, hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs. and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George William Halfpenny, Her
special licence that I, tho said George William Halfpenny, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George William
Halfpenny, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF INCOMBUSTIBLE PAPER, IN INK FOR
WRITING ON THE SAME, AND IN Covers and EnvelOPES FOR THE SAId Paper or
OTHER PAPER WHEN MADE INTO BOOKS OR PACKAGES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George William Halfpenny, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George William Halfpenny, do

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :
This Invention has for its object, firstly, the making of a paper which
shall under such circumstances as fires in houses, factories, and other
buildings be "ordinarily" incombustible; and, secondly, the making of
an ink which shall endure and be legible after the paper shall have been
thus exposed to the action of fire; and, thirdly, the making of incom-
bustible covers for books, and incombustible envelopes or wrappers for
packages, such books and packages being either of my incombustible
paper or of ordinary paper.
I. My Invention consists, firstly, in making a pulp for the incom-
bustible paper of flax, linen, or other suitable vegetable fibre, asbestos,
alum, and borax, or their chemical equivalents in or about the following
proportions, that is to say, of flax, liuen, or vegetable fibre one part, of
asbestos two parts, to this I add of borax one tenth part, of alum two-
tenth parts. The flax, linen, or vegetable fibres are minutely divided
and treated in the manner now practised by paper makers. The asbestos
is also most minutely divided and treated in the same manner as the
vegetable fibre, and these two ingredients together with the alum and
borax, which need no special preparation, are intimately mixed in a
sufficient quantity of water to make a pulp which may be made into
paper in the ordinary way. Although I have mentioned these as the
quantities in or about which I have made incombustible paper, I do not
confine myself to these proportions, but propose in some cases to vary
them, as may be required, and in accordance with the strength of the
fibre and the quality of the asbestos, and I may use a much smaller
quantity of the borax and alum or their chemical equivalents; for
example, I have made and do make paper of the named materials in or
about the following proportions, that is to say, from fifty to seventy
parts of the asbestos, from thirty to fifty parts of flax, linen, or other
vegetable fibre, and about two and a half per cent. cach of alum and
borax. I also propose to uso in some cases silicato of soda, to give
hardness and adherence to the component parts of the paper after
exposure to the action of the fire. I propose also to make sheets of
iucombustible paper in which the centre shall be made of linen or other
woven fabric, the incombustible paper pulp forming the outer or external
surfaces.

page_text: And, thirdly. I claim the manufacture of incombustible covers for
books, and incombustible envelopes and wrappers for packages, as
described in that part or section of this Specification marked III.
In witness whereof, I, the said George William Halfpenny, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twenty-first day of July, t
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
three.
GEORGE WILLIAM HALFPENNY. (L.S.)