MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOSITION WHICH WILL RENDER INFLAMMABLE MATERIALS INCOMBUSTIBLE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Johann Julius Schuessel, of Breslau, in Prussia, and
Peter Julius Thouret, f Berlin in Prussia, Merchants, for the Invention
of THE MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOSITION WHICH WILL RENDER INFLAMMABLE
MATERIALS INCOMBUSTIBLE."
Sealed the 20th April 1858, and dated the 31st October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Johann Julius Schuessel
and Peter Julius Thouret at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 31st October 1857.
We, JOHANN JULIUS SCHUESSEL, of Breslau, in Prussia, and PETER JULIUS
THOURET, of Berlin, in Prussia Merchants, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOSITION WHICH WILL RENDER
INFLAMMABLE MATERIALS INCOMBUSTIBLE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the rendering of textile fabrics of every.
description,paper and wood, incombustible, so that the same materials although.
acted upon by a flame shall neither consume nor propagate fire. To accom-
plish this object we saturate such materials with a solution of our said
composition, and prepare all' wood to be protected with a coating of our
composition which may be applied to such woodwork by a painter's brush.
Our composition consists of the ingredients and as manufactured för use as is
herein-after described. We take of bone ashes 10 parts, of sulphuric acid
8 parts, and of water 120 parts; these ingredients are mixed together in a
vessel, and are left for several days in constant warmth and replacement of
the water to supply the evaporation, till a drop of the liquid when poured on
a hot sugar drop produces no longer any black stain. This acid liquid

page_text: contains some lime, which is precipitated by saturation with carbonate of
ammoniac; the clear liquid is then poured off and kept for use in casks her-
metically closed. The preparation can be applied either in a fluid or crystallized
state; in the first case it must be completely saturated with carbonate of
ammoniac; this is now liquid phosphate of ammoniac; it is then mixed with
five parts of cold water, and may be applied to fabrics and wood by steeping
or the brush in the preparation of all inflammable manufactured goods and all
descriptions of wood. If, however, it be desired to keep the preparation in a
crystallized state, the above mentioned phosphate of ammoniac liquid is once
more largely saturated with some carbonate of ammoniac before the evapo-
ration; as in the evaporation some ammoniac escapes; it is evaporated until
the crystallization point arrives, on which it is poured out into another vessel
or left to cool in the same vessel, and the crystals will then form. These crystals
are preserved in hermetically closed vessels; when used, the crystals are
dissolved in from five to twenty-five parts of cold water, and the inflaminable
stuffs and wood are saturated with it; all linen, woollen, silk, cotton, hempen,
and similar stuffs, and all woods, when saturated with the before described
preparations, are rendered perfectly secure against danger of fire, and the
propagation of fire is completely checked. Wooden articles of importance for
which extraordinary security is desired, may after the usual application of the
preparation, be brushed over with thin hot glue boiled with phosphate of
ammoniac, and then the wood is covered with prepared linen or other cloth,
and for roofs the covering is brushed over with a waterproof preparation. In
stuffs that are washed, the preparation is mixed with the starch. Papers, paste-
board, documents of all kinds, parchments, &c., can be prepared with our
Invention without the slightest injury to the writing, and it is eminently
successful when our preparation is mixed during the manufacture with the
mass of mate ial from which the paper or pasteboard is fabricated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Johann Julius Schuessel and Peter Julius Thouret in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we JOHANN
JULIUS SCHUESSEL, of Breslau, in Prussia, and PETER JULI
Berlin, in Prussia, Merchants, send greeting.
of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord

page_text: 7
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Johann Julius Schuessel and Peter Julius Thouret, Her special license,
that we, the said Johann Julius Schuessel and Peter Julius Thouret, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Johann
Julius Schuessel and Peter Julius Thouret, 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 Inven-
tion for THE MANUFACTURE OF A COMPOSITION WHICH WILL RENDER INFLAM-
MABLE MATERIALS INCOMBUSTIBLE," upon the condition, (amongst others) that we
the said Johann Julius Schuessel and Peter Julius Thouret, by an instrument.
in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
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 we, the said Johann Julius Schuessel and Peter
Julius Thouret, 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 (that is to say) :-
Although the properties which certain chemical substances possess of
affording protection against the ravages of fire have long been known, yet
it is nevertheless true that up to the present time no sufficient or adequate
means are in use for rendering inflaminable substances incombustible or for
reducing their liability to destruction from fire.
Without pretending that we are enabled to render all vegetable substances
and tissues as incombustible as asbestos, we may assert that by subjecting
such substances to the action of our patented process, we are enabled to
prevent them from burning with a bright flame, and to keep the carbonizing
process from spreading further than where the substance is in contact with
the fire. The means for attaining this result are very cheap, and the appli-
cation requires no skill in effecting it, the simple saturation of the articles
to be preserved with our composition being all that is required to be
observed. In addition to these advantages the process leaves all articles
apparently in their natural state, while in fact; it affords them protection
against the worm and other destructive insects.
After various trials, both before and subsequently to the date at which we

page_text: applied for our Patent, we have adopted the following meaus for effecting
the saturation of the substances (to be preserved) with the chemical elements
forming our improved composition. The substances we employ are
phosphoric acid, carbonate of ammonia, and salammoniac, combined, by
preference; in the following manner and proportions :-
In a vessel of glass or earthenware we put sixteen parts, by weight, of
phosphoric acid, marking sixteen degrees Beaumé, and two and a half parts
of carbonate of ammonia. This mixture we subject to filtration, and then add
of salammoniac six parts, dissolved in cold water to a strength of ten degrees
Beaumé, and gum arabic one part. These substances being added we
subject the solution again to filtration; in this state it can be used at once.
It will be understood that the manner of application of our patent
Invention will somewhat differ, according to the variety of the substances
to which it is to be applied. In practice we prepare two different qualities
of solution, which are, however, only distinguished by the different degree
of strength that they possess. For wood we apply the article in that degree
of strength just stated. For the application to stuffs and textile fabrics, we
prepare the solution of the strength specified, and add water till it indicates,
according to Beaumé, ten degrees.
I. PREPARATION OF WOODS.
Woods to be prepared are taken in as dry a state as possible, and immersed
in a bath of the solution for at least twenty-four hours; if the vessel used is
of metal, it must be lined with tin; the wood is then removed from the
solution and left to dry, and it may be subsequently either painted with oil
color, or polished as required. If the use to which the wood is to be applied
permits it, it may also be covered with glue dissolved in the solution.
In cases where the wood to be preserved cannot be put into vessels, it
will suffice if it be payed over from four to six times with the solution, in
proportion to the nature of the wood. This is a perfect preventive when
the fire is not of very great intensity. Wood intended for roofs must be
covered with canvas, which is saturated in our solution, and the canvas is
to be fixed on them by means of a glue which has likewise been boiled in
our solution.
II. PREPARATION FOR STUFFS AND TEXTILE FABRICS OF ALL KINDS.
Linen and other 'like articles that are subjected to the operations of the
laundress are to be treated in the usual manner, with the sole exception that
in preparing the starch, the solution is to be used instead of water and applied

page_text: to the articles before ironing: The starch mixed with the solution which
remains can be preserved in a glass or china vessel covered with a bladder.
Articles which cannot be washed are best prepared while they are manu-
factured by being saturated with the solution, but the solution may also be
applied to them subsequently to their manufacture. Papers, pasteboards, and
tapestry may be covered with the solution when hung on a wall or spread on
the ground. The application should be once or twice repeated, and in the
case of tapestry and paper hangings to the back of the fabric. Care should
be taken not to bring the solution into contact with iron or copper or their
preparations, because in that case discoloration of the fabric would result.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention for manufacturing a
composition which will render inflammable materials incombustible, and ex-
plained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, we claim the
anti-combustible composition prepared as above described or in any analogous
manner, the application of which in the form of a solution to inflammable
substances, will preserve them from the destructive effects of fire and also of
insects.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Julius Thouret and Johann Julius
Schuessel, have hereunto set our bands and seals, the Twenty-sixth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-eight.
PETER JULIUS THOURET.
(L:S.)
Von Berlin.
JOHAN JULIUS SCHUESSEL. (L.S.)
Aus Breslau.