IMPROVEMENTS IN PRICKERS TO BE USED IN BLASTING OR MINING
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Osborn, of the Clyde Steel and Iron
Works, Sheffield, in the County of York, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRICKERS TO BE USED IN BLASTING OR MINING."
Scaled the 24th June 1873, and dated the 27th December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Osborn at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1872.
I, SAMUEL OSBORN, of the Clyde Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRICKERS TO BE USED IN BLASTING OR MINING,"
to be as follows:--
This Invention has for its object the production of prickers to be used
in blasting or mining which, whilst, sufficiently strong and durable will
not strike fire on the rock or material in which the blasting bore is
made, and it consists in making the pricker or the part of it liable

page_text: to touch the rock of nickel or of an alloy of that metal, or of
manganese and copper or other alloy of manganese, which has the
required property of not striking fire and is suitable for the purpose.
A suitable alloy of nickel will consist of thirty parts nickel, fifty-five
parts copper, and fifteen parts spelter; and a suitable alloy of manganese
will consist of twenty-nine parts manganese, sixty-three and a half parts
copper, and seventeen and a half parts spelter. The entire pricker may
be made of nickel or alloy, or the eye of the pricker usually in form
of a round ring, and two or three inches of the shank may be made of
iron, and may be screwed or brazed to the long pointed rod forming the
acting part.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Osborn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL 1
OSBORN, of the Clyde Steel and Iron Works, Sheffield, in the County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth 2
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Samuel Osborn, Her special licence that I, the said
Samuel Osborn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Samuel Osborn, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 2
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 PRICKERS TO BE USED IN BLASTING
'OR MINING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said 3
Samuel Osborn, 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

page_text: 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 Samuel Osborn, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say:
-
My said Invention has for its object the production of prickers to be
used in blasting or mining which, whilst sufficiently strong and durable
will not strike fire on the rock or material in which the blasting bore is
made, and it consists in making the pricker or the part of it liable to
touch the rock of nickel or of an alloy of that metal, or of manganese
and copper or other alloy of manganese, which has the required
property of not striking fire and is suitable for the purpose. A
suitable alloy of nickel will consist of 30 parts nickel, 55 parts copper,
and 15 parts spelter; and a.suitable alloy of manganese will consist of
29 parts manganese, 63½ parts copper, and 17% parts spelter. The
entire pricker may be made of nickel or alloy, or the cyc of the pricker,
usually in the form of a round ring, and two or three inches of the
shank may be made of iron and may be screwed or brazed to the
long pointed rod forming the acting part.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be hercin-after referred to, and representing a
miner's pricker as made with my improvements.
Figure 1 is an elevation and Figure 2 is a longitudinal section. The
hand ring 1 and a part 2 of the shank is in this example made of iron,
whilst the point 3 is made of nickel, or of any of the alloys herein.
before described. The point 3 may be fixed to the iron part by screwing
as shown, or by brazing or otherwisc.
If preferred the whole of the instrument may be made of nickel or
of any of the specified alloys.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that what I claim as secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the making of

page_text: a miner's pricker or the part of it liable to touch rock, of nickel or of
an alloy of that metal, or of manganese and copper, or other alloy
of manganese, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Osborn, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year 5
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
SAML. OSBORN. (L.S.)