IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES PROVISIONALATION
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT
to Frederick Versmann and Alphons Oppenheim, of
Bury Court, St. Mary Axe, in the City of London, Analytical Chemists,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Versmann and
Alphons Oppenheim at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 11th January 1859.
We, FREDERICK VERSMANN and ALPHONS OPPENHEIM, of Bury Court, St.
Mary Axe, in the City of London, Analytical Chemists, do hereby declare,
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING FABRICS
AND SUBSTANCES NON-INFLAMMABLE," to be as follows:-
•
The improvements consist in rendering fabrics and other matters of an
inflammable nature non-inflammable by the application thereto of sulphate of ⚫
ammonia.
The improvements alsò relate to the application of sulphate of ammonia
with starch, in order that such starch may not only have the effect of producing
a stiffening to the fabrics or matters to which it is applied, but also of
rendering them non-inflammable. The sulphate of ammonia may also be
applied with other stiffening agents employed in various manufactures for the
same object.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Versmann and Alphons Oppenheim in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
VERSMANN, and ALPHONS OPPENHEIM, of Bury Court, St. Mary Axe, in the
City of London, Analytical Chemists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant unto us, the
said Frederick Versmann and Alphons Oppenheim, Her special license that
we, the said Frederick Versmann and Alphons Oppenheim, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick Versmann
and Alphons Oppenheim, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
RENDERING FABRICS AND SUBSTANCES NON-INFLAMMABLE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Frederick Versmann and Alphons Oppen-
heim, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our
or their hands and scals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 Alphons Oppenheim, do, hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say):-
The improvements consist in rendering fabrics and other matters of an
inflammable nature non-inflammable by the application thereto of sulphate of
ammonia.
In obtaining a solution of the sulphate of ammonia, we have found a
quantity equal to ten per cent. of the water employed as the solvent to answer
well, but we do not confine ourselves to these proportions; and we apply such
solution to cotton, linen, or other close woven goods, after they have undergone
other finishing processes, by dipping such goods therein till they are fully

page_text: saturated, and then drying them. When applying the solution to open fabrics,
such as nets, gauzes, &c., where there are comparatively thick threads and
open spaces between them, we find it generally better to employ a stronger
solution.
The improvements also relate to the application of sulphate of ammonia
with starch, in order that such starch may not only have the effect of pro-
ducing a stiffening to the fabrics or matters to which it is applied, but also of
rendering them non-inflammable, or the solution may be applied after the
starching processes. The sulphate of ammonia may also be applied with other
stiffening agents employed in various manufactures for the same object.
Sulphate of ammonia may be mixed with other substances, such as size, or
mixed with other salts, as the carbonate of ammonia or chloride of ammonium
and others, and when we find the sulphate of ammonia to contain free
sulphuric acid, then we prefer to combine with it carbonate of ammonia suffi-
cient to neutralize the acid it contains.
In applying the improvements to treating of wood, we take care to saturate
the outer coating at least thereof; and for this purpose any of those methods
ordinarily adopted in protecting wood from decomposition, by the use of
chloride of zinc and other solutions, may be employed. Such wood may then
be painted or coated with a silicate of soda if desired.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the means we
adopt in carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that what
we claim is, the use of sulphate of ammonia in rendering fabrics and substances
non-inflammable.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alphons Oppenheim, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
ALPHONS OPPENHEIM, Pu. D. (L.S.)
Witness,
0 WILLIAM BROOKES,
73, Chancery Lane, London
Patent Agent.