IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER, AND EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Davey, of Tuckingmill, in the County of
Cornwall, Gunpowder Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Davey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
July 1862.
I, THOMAS DAVEY, of Tuckingmill, in the County of Cornwall, Gunpowder
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER, AND EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the. manufacture of gun-
powder and explosive compounds. For these purposes starch, dextrine, gum,
flour, or sugar is treated, boiled, or saturated with nitric acid, or with nitric acid
and sulphuric acid, and the product is intimately mixed or combined with the
ordinary ingredients used in the manufacture of gunpowder, (viz., saltpetre,
charcoal, and sulphur,) and then granulated and finished in the ordinary
manner. Or in place of producing solid grains when manufacturing gunpowder
or other similar explosive compound, I cause the materials when in a plastic
state to be forced through dies or moulded to produce, tubes or tubular pieces
in place of solid grains, and such tubes may be of dimensions suitable to fit
the bore or cavity in which they are to be used; or the tubes may be of small
diameter, and used in quantities as solid grains have heretofore been used in

page_text: making up charges. By combining the preparations of starch, dextrine, gum,
flour, or sugar with the ordinary ingredients used in making gunpowder, the
quantity of saltpetre or nitrate of soda ordinarily employed may be reduced.
In some cases, in order to lessen or replace the sulphur employed in such
manufactures, I use paraffine, petroleum, turpentine, naptha, or other suitable
hydrocarbon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Davey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
DAVEY, of Tuckingmill, in the County of Cornwall, Gunpowder Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Davey, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Davey,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Davey, my exccutors, 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 GUNPOWDER AND EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Davey, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 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 Thomas Davey, 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:→
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
gunpowder and explosive compounds. For these purposes I take starch,

page_text: dextrine, gum, flour, or sugar, (of which I prefer starch,) treated, boiled, or
saturated with nitric acid or nitric acid and sulphuric acid, and intimately mix
or combine the product with the ordinary ingredients used in the manufacture
of gunpowder, viz., saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur. I prefer using one part
nitric acid of about 1-50, and three parts sulphuric acid of about 1-85 specific
gravities, well mixing them together, and allowing them to stand for a while to
cool; afterwards boiling therein in a suitable vessel as much starch, dextrine,-
gum, flour, or sugar as will quickly dissolve, and pouring the resultant into cold
water, after which the product is collected by placing the water containing
it into a vessel having vegetable parchment (a well known material resem-
bling animal parchment prepared by the action of sulphuric acid or unglazed
paper) or other suitable bottom, and floating such vessel on or bringing its
bottom into contact with clean water in a larger vessel beneath, by this means
the water containing the free acids in solution will by endosmotic action or perco-
lation through the bottom of the upper vessel be absorbed in the water below.
I then take from four to six parts of the acidulated preparation for every 100
parts of gunpowder ingredients, in which the proportion of saltpetre may be
greatly reduced and the charcoal increased according to the purpose for which
the gunpowder is intended; for instance, 4lbs. of the prepared starch, 58lbs.
of saltpetre, 24lbs. of charcoal, and 14lbs. of sulphur may be used, but I do
not bind myself to these proportions. The complete mixture may be granu-
lated and finished in the ordinary manner. Or, in place of producing solid
grains in the manufacture of gunpowder or explosive compounds, I cause the
materials when in a plastic state to be forced through dies or moulded to
produce tubes or tubular pieces in place of solid grains, and such tubes may
be of dimensions suitable externally to fit the bore or cavity in which they
are to be used, having one or more orifices or spaces within; or the tubes may
be of small diameter, and used in quantities as solid grains have heretofore
been used for making up charges. These may be moulded or formed in
various ways, but I prefer placing the plastic materials in a cylinder having a
bottom with hollow spaces or perforations, with a core or cores inserted in each
to form dies, through which the prepared plastic material is forced by any
suitable pressure, and may be cut off at certain intervals while passing
through the die plate to produce tubes or hollow picces or grains of the
desired lengths.
In some cases, in order to lessen or replace the sulphur commonly employed
in such mauufactures, I use paraffin, petroleum, turpentine, naptha, or other
suitable hydrocarbon, of these I use, by preference, hard paraffin, which I
dissolve by heat, and saturate therewith finely prepared sawdust, bran, or pulp

page_text: previous to its intimato admixture with the other gunpowder or explosive
materials.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same. I desire it to be understood that I claim,-
Firstly, the mixture with ordinary gunpowder materials in the course of
manufacture of starch, dextrine, gum, flour, or sugar, prepared as described
with nitric acid or nitric and sulphuric acids combined.
Secondly, the manufacture of gunpowder or other explosive compounds into
tubes or hollow picces, or grains.
Thirdly, the employment of paraffin, petroleum, turpentine, naptha, or other
suitable hydrocarbon in the manufacture of gunpowder and explosive com-
pounds.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Thomas Davey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-
named Thomas Davey, at Tuckingmill, in
the Parish of Camborne, in the County
of Cornwall, in presence of
WILLIAM HOCKIN,
THOMAS DAVEY. (L.S.)
A Commissioner to administer Oaths
in Chancery in England.