IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING TIMBER WITH ANTISEPTIC OR PRESERVATIVE FLUIDS AND IN COMPOUNDS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Bagster Boulton of No. 64 Cannon Street in the
City of London for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING TIMBER
WITH ANTISEPTIC OR PRESERVATIVE FLUIDS AND IN COMPOUNDS EMPLOYED
FOR THAT PURPOSE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Bagster Boulton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th January 1882.
SAMUEL BAGSTER BOULTON of No. 64 Cannon Street in the City of London
" IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING TIMBER WITH ANTISEPTIC OR PRESERVATIVE
FLUIDS AND IN COMPOUNDS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE"
My Invention relates to the production of certain new compounds for preserving
timber and to the treatment of the timber with such compounds, and it has for its
object firstly to improve the efficiency of certain timber preserving processes by
exhibiting the tar acids, naphthaline and other preservative substances in a new
form and in combinations different from any in which they have been heretofore
employed and secondly to decrease the cost of timber preserving in those countries
where a sufficient supply of the ordinary timber preserving fluids is not
obtainable.
According to my Invention I separate from creosote or heavy oil of tar heretofore
used for treating timber, those constituents that have been proved more particularly
to possess preservative properties, and I mix there with other liquids that shall
either in themselves possess preservative or other qualities beneficial to the timber
or that shall only serve as diluents for the concentrated extracts and act as a
vehicle to convey them into the timber. By these neaus I not only produce a new
series of compound fluids that are of great efficacy in preserving the timber, but I
obtain the important advantage of being able to transport the preservative extracts
in their concentrated state at a comparatively moderate cost from a country or
district where creosote and other preservative fluids are comparatively cheap, to

page_text: another country or district where such fluids are to be applied, and where they are
not readily obtainable, in order at such localities to mix the said extracts with
such other liquids or diluents as may be readily procured there, for the purpose of
treating the timber therewith. I thus avoid the necessity of exporting preservative
fluids of great bulk as at present, the cost of transport of which so greatly increases
the expense of the preserving process in certain countries, and I obtain by the
use of the said new compounds, the same or even better results, at a greatly reduced
cost.
The substances which I separate from the oil of tar for transport and subsequent
use in diluted condition, are amongst others as follows:-namely, tar acids such
as carbolic, cresylic and other acids of a similar group. These acids I separate
according to the well known methods, by alkalies, and I would use them in the
following manner, namely
:-
First. If I use them in the form of a watery solution I would dissolve the tar
acids in alkalies according to the well-known methods, and I would convey them
in the form of concentrated alkaline solutions or of solid powder or other dry or
nearly dry condition, to the place where they are to be used, where they would
then be mixed with any suitable quantity of water, making the solution such as to
contain by preference from five to ten per cent. of the tar acids. This solution
would be injected into the timber in the usual way and would be found to possess
excellent antiseptic properties, ainongst others, that of coagulating the albumen of
the wood.
Second. In some cases it might be considered desirable to subject the timber to
an oily preparation, as well as to the solution of tar acids above named in which
case any ordinary oil, either animal, vegetable or mineral, could be used, as the tar
acids that are deficient in such oils would have been already imparted to the
timber by means of the first process. For the purposes of this second injection
advantage might be taken of the process described in the Specification to my
former Patent of 15th May 1879 No. 1954, for the elimination of watery particles
in the process of preserving timber; namely, the timber having already been
injected with the tar acids in watery solution might be treated with the second or
oily body in the manner described in the Specification to my said Patent, by
which means the tar acids would be left in the wood while the watery particles
would be expelled and their place occupied by the oil to be injected in this second
part of the process. By employing in this last described process an oil such as
linseed oil, or any similar oil, that has no objectionable odour, it may be used with
great advantage for the treatment of timber intended for household purposes,
where the ordinary creosoting process cannot be applied on account of the offensive
odours given off by the creosote.
Third. 1 extract the tar acids by the use of alkalies as before and then neutralize
them by means of mineral acids by the methods which are all well known in the
process of preparing carbolic, cresylic and other acids. The tar acids so treated
are an oily body or solution and would be conveyed in a more or less concentrated
form to the country or district where they are to be used, to be there mixed with
an oil, animal, vegetable or nineral, with which it might be desirable to associate
them for the purpose of injecting the compound into the timber.
Fourth. Naphthaline, which is contained in most samples of oil of tar is in my
opinion an excellent substance for the preservation of timber; I therefore separate
this substance either by filtration or by pressing in hydraulic or other presses, or
by both processes and would forward the same in as concentrated a condition as
possible to be mixed or dissolved in any oil, animal, vegetable or mineral, either in
conjunction with the tar acids or without the same.
Fifth. There are certain substances contained in the heavier portions of coal tar
which come over in distillation after a temperature of about 500° to 700° Fahr. is
reached. These substances are as yet but imperfectly known but they have been
found by experience to possess special qualities of great value in the preservation

page_text: of timber. This portion of the product of distillation of coal tar I therefore
separate and either mix the same at the place of preparation of the timber with
other oils, either animal, vegetable or mineral, or I extract from the said heavier
portions of the distillates the tar acids or neutral oils which they contain and mix
them at the place of preparation of the timber, as before described.
Sixth. Another method of using the alkaline solution of tar acids which I employ
consists in mixing them with solutions of chloride or sulphate of zinc, sulphate of
copper, corrosive sublimate, or solutions of other metallic salts.
It is well known that several of these solutions of metallic salts have been
proved to be efficacious to a certain extent in the preservation of timber, but
their value as preservative agents is greatly increased by the addition to them of
the tar acids.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
"
the said Samuel Bagster Boulton in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on the
4th July 1882.
SAMUEL BAGSTER BOULTON of No. 64 Cannon Street in the City of London
IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING TIMBER WITH ANTISEPTIC OR PRESERVATIVE
FLUIDS AND IN COMPOUNDS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE "
My Invention relates to the production of certain new compounds for preserving
timber and to the treatment of the timber with such compounds, and it has for its
object firstly to improve the efficiency of certain timber preserving processes by
exhibiting the tar acids, naphthaline, products of distillation of the heavy oils of tar
obtained at a temperature exceeding 500° Fahr., and other preservative substances
in a new form and in combinations different from any in which they have been
heretofore employed, and secondly to decrease the cost of timber preserving in those
countries where a sufficient supply of the ordinary timber preserving fluids is not
obtainable. According to my Invention I separate from creosote or heavy oil of
tar heretofore used for treating timber, those constituents that have been proved
more particularly to possess preservative properties, and 1 mix therewith other
liquids that shall either in themselves possess preservative or other qualities
beneficial to the timber or that shall only serve as diluents for the concentrated
extracts and act as a vehicle to convey them into the timber. By these means I
not only produce a new series of compound fluids that are of great efficacy in
preserving the timber, but I obtain the important advantage of being able to
transport the preservative extracts in their concentrated state at a comparatively
moderate cost from a country or district where the heavy oil of tar or creosote and
other preservative fluids are comparatively cheap, to another country or district
where such fluids are to be applied, and where they are not readily obtainable, in
order at such localities to mix the said extracts with such other liquids or diluents
as may be readily procured there, for the purpose of treating the timber therewith.
I thus avoid the necessity of exporting preservative fluids of great bulk as at
present, the cost of transport of which so greatly increases the expense of the
preserving process in certain countries, and I obtain by the use of the said new
compounds, the same or even better results, at a greatly reduced cost.
The substances which I separate from the oil of tar for transport and subsequent
use in diluted condition, are amongst others as follows, namely, tar acids such as
carbolic, cresylic and other acids of a similar group. These acids I separate
according to the well known methods, by alkalies, and I would use them in the
following manner, namely,
First. If I use them in the form of a watery solution I would dissolve the tar
acids in alkalies according to the well known methods and I would convey them
in the form of concentrated alkaline solutions or of solid powder or other dry or
nearly dry condition, to the place where they are to be used, where they would
then be mixed with any suitable quantity of water, making the solution such as to
contain by preference from five to ten per cent. of the tur acids. This solution
would be injected into the timber in the usual way and would be found to possess
excellent antiseptic properties, amongst others, that of coagulating the albumen of
the wood.
In some instances I would procure the tar acids by dissolving them from the
bulk of the heavy oils by repeated washing with water, it being now recognized
that the tar acids are to a considerable extent soluble in water.
Second. In some cases it might be considered desirable to subject the timber to

page_text: an oily preparation, as well as to the solution of tar acids above nanied, in which
case any ordinary oil, either animal, vegetable or mineral, could be used, as the tar
acids that are deficient in such oils would have been already imparted to the
timber by means of the first process. For the purposes of this second injection
advantage might be taken of the process described in the Specification to my
foriner Patent of 15th May 1879 No. 1954, for the elimination of watery particles in
the process of preserving timber; namely, the timber having already been injected
with the tar acids in watery solution might be treated with the second or oily body
in the manner described in the Specification to my said Patent, by which means
the tar acids would be left in the wood while the watery particles would be
expelled and their place occupied by the oil to be injected in this second part of
the process. By employing in this last described process an oil such as linseed oil,
or any similar oil, that has no objectionable odour, it may be used with great
advantage for the treatment of timber intended for house building or household
purposes, where the ordinary creosoting process cannot be applied on account of the
offensive odours given off by the creosote.
Third. I extract the tar acids by the use of alkalies as before, and then neutraliso
them by means of mineral acids by the methods which are also well known in the
process of preparing carbolic, cresylic and other acids. The tar acids so treated
form an oily body or solution and would be conveyed in a more or less concentrated
form to the country or district where they are to be used, to be there mixed with
any oil, animal, vegetable or mineral, with which it might be desirable to associate
them for the purpose of injecting the compound into the timber.
Fourth. Naphthaline, which is contained in most samples of oil of tar is in my
opinion an excellent substance for the preservation of timber; I therefore separato
this substance either by filtration or by pressing in bydraulic or other presses, or
by both processes and would forward the same in as concentrated a condition as
possible to be mixed or dissolved in any oil, animal, vegetable or mineral, either in
conjunction with the tar acids or without the same.
Fifth. There are certain substances contained in the heavier portions of coal tar
which come over in distillation after a temperature of about 500° to 750° Fahr. is
reached. These substances are as yet but imperfectly known but both they and
the heavier distillates themselves have been found by experience to possess special
qualities of very great value in the preservation of timber. This heavier portion of
the products of distillation of coal tar I therefore separate and either mix the same
at the place of preparation of the timber with other oils, either animal, vegetable,
or mineral, or I extract from the said heavier portions of the distillates the tar
acids or neutral oils which they contain and mix them at the place of preparation
of the timber, as before described.
Sixth. Another method of using the alkaline solution of tar acids which I
employ consists in mixing them with solutions of chloride or sulphate of zinc,
sulphate of copper, corrosive sublimate, or solutions of other metallic salts.
It is well known that several of these solutions of metallic salts have been proved
to be efficacious to a certain extent in the preservation of timber, but their value as
preservative agents is greatly increased by the addition to them of the tar acids.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as my
Invention the extraction of the tar acids and other constituents of the heavy oils
of tar for use as timber preserving fluids, but I claim -
First. The use for preserving timber of compounds consisting of the tar acids
and other constituents having antiseptic or preservative properties extracted from
the heavy oils of tar and mixed with diluent liquids, substantially as herein
described.
Second. The use for preserving timber of compounds consisting of the tar acids
and other constituents having antiseptic or preservative properties extracted from
the heavy oils of tar, mixed with solutions of metallic salts, substantially as herein
described.

page_text: Third. The process of treating timber with antiseptic or preservative fluids
wherein the timber is treated first with a watery solution of tar acids and then
with oils, substantially as herein described.
Fourth. The use for preserving timber, of compounds consisting of the distillates
of the heavy oils of tar obtained at temperatures above 500° Fahr. mixed with oils,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof I the said Samuel Bagster Boulton have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty-ninth day of June in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
Witness to the signature of
Samuel Bagster Boulton
E. P. JAMES.
SAMUEL BAGSTER BOULTON. (L.S.)