A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR RENDERING THREADS, FABRICS, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS UNINFLAMMABLE, AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Adolphe Carteron, of Lille, France, Chemist,
and Eugene Rimmel, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Perfumer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR
RENDERING THREADS, FABRICS, WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS UNINFLAMMABLE,
AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE."
Sealed the 14th July 1871, and dated the 17th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Adolphe Carteron
and Eugene Rimmel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 17th January 1871. .
We, JEAN ADOLPHE CARTERON, of Lille, France, Chemist, and
EUGENE RIMMEL, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex,. Perfumer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for A NEW OR
IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR RENDERING THREADS, FABRICS, WOOD, AND OTHER
56

page_text: MATERIALS UNINFLAMMABLE, AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for object to render uninflammable' all sorts of
textile fabrics, papers, woods, and other organic substances naturally
inflammable by excluding the presence of oxygen, and thereby pre-
venting the spreading of flames, so that if the fire actually destroys the
substances it cannot be propagated or extended.
"
We take equal parts or thereabouts in weight of acetate of lime and
chloride of calcium, and dissolve them together in double the weight of
boiling water. These two salts unite and produce a new salt which when
evaporated gives crystals containing 10 equivalents of water, and which are
represented by the following formula, Ca: Cl + CaO, CH, O' +10HO.
These crystals are not subject to any alterations either in dry or in
damp air. If these crystals are heated beyond 180° Fahrenheit they
lose the water of crystallization but do not become altered by air nor
are they in the slightest degree hygrometric.
To render fabrics uninflammable we take, say, 100 pints of boiling
water, and add 20 pints of the above described crystals thereto. We
dip or saturated the fabrics in this solution, and dry them afterwards,
they will lose this property of resisting fire when washed, but they can
recover it by being dipped into another solution composed of say 100 lbs.
of starch powder, 20 lbs of the above-named crystals finely powdered, and
2 lbs. 8 ozs. of powdered chalk..
• To render paper uninflammable we add 20 per cent. of the above
crystals finely powdered to the size used in the manufacture:
To render wood uninflammable we propose to inject a solution of
20 parts of crystal to 100 parts of water into the fibres of the wood by
means of a pneumatic pump or or otherwise, or the wood can be dipped
for a certain time in the same solution, or the surface can be coated
with the following paint:-100 parts either of whitewash or oil paint
with 20 parts of the crystals dissolved therein.
It is however preferable to dissolve the crystals in the hot size before
mixing it with the whiting liquid. For paint the crystals; are first
reduced to powder, and then ground with the colour.
'
To
prepare the compound for extinguishing fires' we make a solution
of 20 parts of crystals in 100 parts of boiling water, this solution- we

page_text: throw on the flames by means of a pump or otherwise, and it stays
immediately the progress of the flames.
The novelty of this Invention is the combination and employment of
acetate of lime with the chloride of calcium, by which a new salt is
formed which excludes oxygen, and thereby prevents the spreading
of flames, and consequent extension of fire..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jean Adolphe Carteron and Eugene Rimmel in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th July. 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JEAN
ADOLPHE CARTERON, of Lille, France, Chemist, and EUGENE RIMMEL, of
the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Perfumer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her'
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty- *
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Jean Adolphe Carteron and Eugene'
Rimmel, Her special licence that we the said Jean Adolphe Carteron
and Eugene Rimmel, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Jean Adolphe Carteron and Eugene Rimmel, our '
executors, 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 "A NEW OR
IMPROVED COMPOUND FOR RENDERING THREADS, FABRICS, WOOD, AND OTHER
MATERIALS UNINFLAMMABLE, AND FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Jean Adolphe Carteron and
Eugene Rimmel, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in '
writing under our, or one of our 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.
'

page_text: : NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Jean Adolphe Carteron and
Eugene Rimmel, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to render uninflammable all sorts of
textile fabrics, papers, woods, and other organic substances materially
inflammable by excluding the presence of oxygen and thereby preventing
the spreading of flame, so that if the fire actually destroys the substance
it cannot become propagated or extended.
In carrying our Invention into èffect we take equal parts or there-
abouts in weight of chloride of calcium and acetate of lime, which
we dissolve in a certain quantity of hot or boiling water for the purpose
of intermixing and amalgamating them into one body; these when
completely dissolved in the hot water have a quantity of chalk in a
powdered state added to them together with a little sal-ammoniac to
form a kind of paste, which is, after being thoroughly mixed and passed
through sieves to separate the lumpy particles therefrom placed in a
vessel for evaporating the water and to transform the compound into a
hydrated state, the evaporation being continued until the compound is
brought to the strength of 25° Baume. We then take the hydrated
compound and place it in stone or other suitable vessels in a cold
situation where it forms itself into crystals containing ten equivalents
of water. The crystals can be used for the purposes before spoken of
or for putting out fire by being spread on it by a fan or a blower, or
they may be reduced to powder and mixed with water and then thrown
upon the fire by a pump or by other suitable means. The compound
either as crystals or as a powder is not affected by the atmosphere by
exposure whether the air be dry or damp. If we reduce the crystals
to powder we first heat them in a vessel to deprive them of the ten
equivalents of water they contained and preferably at a temperature of
110° centigrade or 230° Fahrenheit.
If we use the crystals with size, so that the compound can be incor-
porated in the body of a fabric or a tissue, we propose to mix it with
the size in the proportion of four to one to that of the size before it is
applied to the warp threads. If for the exterior of fabrics the proportion
of the compound to that of the size or starch may be varied according
to the nature of the fabric, and the size or the starch can be laid on by a

page_text: brush, or spread over the surface by mechanism or the fabric or article
to be impregnated or saturated can be dipped in a solution and afterwards
dried.
When the compound is to be employed to render paper uninflammable
we either mix it with the size in the size bath or sprinkle it on the sheet
'or web after the sizing, when it givés substance and weight to the paper.
The gummy nature of the compound facilitates its application and
amalgamation with the size or starch with which it is brought in
contact.
Its application for rendering wood and other solid substances in-
flammable is accomplishing by mixing it with the paint, colour, or
varnish with which the substances have to be coated, or a mixture of
the compound may be used as a ground body only, in either case it
is suitable for inside as well as outside work of buildings, ships, and
other structures and articles of furniture and objects generally which 'it
may be deemed necessary to make uninflammable.
The compound may for some purposes be mixed with water or other
liquid before it is applied on or to the article when a coating of ceramic
surface will be formed to prevent the oxygen of the atmosphere from
supporting the combustion of the flame.
For plastered or cemented walls, ceilings, or other similar surfaces,
the powdered compound can be spread or sprinkled over them while the
plaster or cement is wet and after it has been spread, or it may be
mixed therewith before such spreading.
In any case the compound can be associated with vegetable, animal,
or mineral dye colours so that any tint or shade of colour can be given
to the body to be treated, and as in the case of dresses or garments
which have to be washed they can easily be rendered uninflammable
again by redipping them in a liquid in which the compound is present,
or re-saturating them in any convenient manner with it.
The compound is perfectly harmless to the most delicate fabric, and
being nearly a pure white and limpid and of a neutral character, its
facility for amalgamating with almost any body renders it specially
suitable for the purposes before referred to.
We have before spoken of the proportions of the ingredients or
substances to be used in the preparation of our Patent compound, we will
for the sake of clearness repeat them, but without in any way restricting

page_text: ourselves thereto; say, therefore, that we take 200 lbs. of chloride of
calcium (ordinary kind), 200 lbs. of acetate of lime (fine white), 200
lbs. of carbonate of lime (white chalk), and 4 lbs. of sal-ammoniac,
we then dissolve the two first-mentioned ingredients in hot water, say,
500 pints, and mix the chalk and the sal-ammoniac with the liquid
containing them, after which the whole is strained, and then the water
is evaporated in a vessel until the compound is reduced to a proper
consistency. to be put into the cooling vessels where it forms itself into
crystals to be used as required.
Instead however of forming crystals in all cases we can evaporate
all the water from the compound in the evaporating vessel, and the
precipitate resulting therefrom can be crushed into powder for use in
any of the foregoing methods..
.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim
as our Invention, the manufacture of a new or improved compound for
rendering threads, fabrics, woods, and other materials uninflammable
and for extinguishing fire, as herein-before described.
Secondly, we claim, the application of the compound manufactured
as above described in the manner and for the purposes set forth,
whether used alone or in combination with other ingredients.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Rimmel, have for myself
and on behalf of the said Jean Adolphe Carteron, hereunto .set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.