THAT CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUB- STANCES NOT HITHERTO USED BY TANNERS AND LEATHER DRESSERS MAY BE EMPLOYED IN TANNING AND COLOURING LEATHER, AND THAT CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, NOT HITHERTO USED BY DYERS, MAY BE EMPLOYED IN THE ART OF DYEING
Year: 1819

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NEILSON, of Linlithgow, in that part of the United Kingdom called Scotland,
Glue Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of
June, in the fifty-ninth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
John Neilson, my exors, and adññors, and assigns, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the John Neilson, my exors,
admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my discovery (viz³), "THAT CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUB-
STANCES NOT HITHERTO USED BY TANNERS AND LEATHER DRESSERS MAY BE EMPLOYED
IN TANNING AND COLOURING LEATHER, AND THAT CERTAIN VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES,
NOT HITHERTO USED BY DYERS, MAY BE EMPLOYED IN THE ART OF DYEING;" in which
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the 'said 'John Neilson,
shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said "Iuven-
tion; and in what manner the same is to be performed, 'by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same 'to be inrolled in
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next" and
immediately after the date of the 'said Letters Patent; that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,

page_text: other well-known vegetable substances.
The strength of these plants in
making the new leather, compared with English oak bark which is used in
making the leather in common use, is as follows:-
To make a pound of new leather take double the weight of the green leaves
of the saxifrages that would be required, of English oak bark to make a pound
of cominon leather. The root of the saxifrages is double the strength of the
leaves. The rheum sibericum and tataricum are equal to the root of the saxi-
frages, but the crispum rather weaker. The geraniums and polygonunis are
about the same in strength as the saxifrage leaves. The root of the hencheras
is equal to the root of the saxifrages, and the rhodiola rosea is nearly double in
strength to the root of the saxifrages... The observations regard the weight
of the plants as taken from the ground. When dried they lose in weight
about two thirds, and they lose also a little in strength. The plants ought to
be cropped when vegetation in them is stopped. The substances which make
the new leather are to be found stronger in, some parts of the plants than in
others; I have indicated the parts in which they are to be found inost power-
ful in so far as I have been able to ascertain them. Those that have them in
the whole plant are marked with a W; those that have them in the root
chiefly are marked with an R. In naming the herbs the common names are
given so far as known, and the nomenclature of the second edition of Hortus:
Kewensis, by Mr. W. J. Aiton, Gardner to His Majesty, is adhered to in giving
the technical names, so far as the herbs are there to be found. There are, how-
ever,
some species or varieties of species not to be found in it, and which are
not generally known. I have found that where the plants are known they
bear the names now given, and they will be found under these names in the
Chelsea, Botanic, and Kew Gardens. It is also to be understood, that under
the generic or specific names given it is meant to include all the varieties and
mules which are or may be produced from any or all of those herbs, as also
the male and female plants.
The leather produced from the above-mentioned substances, used in the way
now pointed out, is the manufacture for which I claim the benefit of the Letters
Patent.
In the second place, and separately, in the art of dyeing as at present prac-
tised, a liquor is made from an infusion of sumach, or nut galls, or oak bark,
with water, which is used as a basis, mordant, preparitive, or constituent in
dyeing. I have discovered that a new liquor, useful in dyeing, may be made
by infusing the plants or herbs in the foregoing list which are marked with a D
in water by the same mode of manipulation as that by which the cominon
liquors above mentioned are made. This new liquor may be applied to all the

page_text: uses and in the same manner to and by which the liquors made from sumach,
nut galls, or oak bark are now generally applied by dyers as basis, mordants,
or preparatives as aforesaid, and I claim 'the exclusive privilege of making and
using the said new liquor accordingly."
In preparing the said herbs for use in making the liquor, the same process
must be gone through as is above described as necessary in preparing them for
making leather. Of the green roots of the plants marked D double the weight
that is required of sumach; and four times the weight that is required of nut
galls to produce a given strength in the liquors made from these latter
substances will be required to produce the same strength in the new liquor.
Of the leaves, double the weight that is here directed to be taken of the roots
will be necessary to produce the same effect..
In witness whereof, I, the said John Neilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and nineteen, at the Borough of Berwick-