IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN TAYLOR, of the Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the
Eighth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and forty-six in the
tenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Taylor, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Taylor, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Taylor, my exors, adiñiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick upon Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonics and Plan-
tations abroad, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF EXPLOSIVE COMPOUNDS," communicated to me from a certain foreigner

page_text: residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said John Taylor, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
The Invention consists of a manufacture of explosive compounds
applicable to mining purposes, the throwing of projectiles and other-
wise, as substitutes for gunpowder, by treating or combining matters of
vegetable origin with acids. And in order that the Invention may be
fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe
the means pursued by me in carrying it out. The vegetable matter
which is found best suited for the purpose of the Invention is cotton,
in the state in which it comes to this country, but cleared from any
extraneous matter, it being desirable to operate only on the clean fibre
of the cotton, which should be dry. The acids I employ are nitric acid,
of from 1.45 to 1-50 specific gravity, and sulphuric acid, of 1.85 specific
gravity. As far as my experience goes the best mode of using them
is to mix them in the proportion of one measure of the nitric acid with
three measures of the sulphuric acid, in a convenient vessel of glazed
carthenware, or other material not acted on by the acids. By this
admixture great heat will be produced. The mixture should be allowed
to cool until it reaches a temperature of from sixty degrees to fifty
degrees Fahrenheit. The cotton should then be immersed in the acids
so mixed so as to become thoroughly impregnated therewith. It should
be introduced as open as practicable. And in order to ensure the
cotton being fully impregnated with the acids, and every part equally
and fully subjected to the action thereof, the cotton when in the acids
is to be moved or stirred by means of a rod of glass or other matter no

page_text: acted on by the acids. The acids are then to be poured or drawn off.
The cotton is to be gently pressed in the vessel containing it by a
presser of glazed earthenware or other material not acted on by the
acids, in order to free it in part from the acids, and is next to be covered
and left to stand for about an hour, when it is again to be pressed in
order to remove as much of the acids therefrom as practicable, after
which the cotton is to be washed in a continuous flow of water, and
well agitated or stirred therein, till the water does not indicate the
presence of any acid by the ordinary test of litmus paper. The cotton
is now again to be pressed to free it from the water as much as practi-
cable, and in order to ensure the cotton being perfectly freed from
uncombined acid it is to be dipped in a very weak solution of carbonate
of potash. The solution which I use for this purpose is in the propor-
tion of one ounce of carbonate of potash to one gallon of water. The
cotton is now to be partially dried, which is conveniently performed by
subjecting it to a press, to press out the solution of carbonate of potash.
Though the prepared cotton, when fully dried, has already become
highly explosive, it should next be immersed and well stirred in a very
weak solution of pure nitrate of potash. The solution which I use for
this purpose, is in the proportion of one ounce of nitrate of potash to
one gallon of water. The use of this solution appears to add strength
to the compound, but the use of this solution, as also of the solution of
carbonate of potash, are not essential, and may be dispensed with. The
cotton is again to be pressed to remove the solution, and is afterwards
to be opened out and dried, which may be conveniently done by spread-
ing it thinly on surfaces in a room heated by steam or otherwise to
about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and when dried it is
fit for use. I would remark that nitric acid alone produces on cotton
an effect similar to that produced on cotton by the mixture of acids
above mentioned, but in carrying out the Invention with nitric acid
alone the cotton should be removed, and washed immediately after it
has become soaked with the acid; but I believe that so good a result
cannot be obtained by the use of nitric acid alone, and the product is
more costly. I do not restrict the Invention to the use of cotton,
although I have confined my description to the employment of cotton

page_text: because of its cheapness and peculiar applicability for the purpose;
other matters of vegetable origin may be converted into explosive com-
pounds by the same acids, and may therefore be used, though, as far as
my experience goes, not with so beneficial a result. Neither do I confine
myself to the precise above mentioned specific gravity of the acids; acids
of inferior specific gravity may be used, though, as far as my experience
goes, not so beneficially. In using the above explosive compound made
with cotton, in substitution of gunpowder, care is to be observed that
much less by weight of the former than of the latter is to be employed
to obtain a given result, and I believe, as a general rule, three parts by
weight of the compound herein described may be given as being equal
in strength to (if not more powerful than) eight parts by weight of
Tower proof gunpowder, and still less of the explosive compound should
be used when it is substituted for gunpowder inferior in quality to the
Tower proof. The explosive compound made by the use of cotton, being in
the fibrous state, it may be rammed into a piece of ordnance, a fowling
piece, or a musket, or it may be made up into cartridges, or when
slightly damp it may be pressed in a mould adapted to the different
calibres of fowling pieces and pieces of ordnance, and on being dried
it will retain its figure. I have also found that when placed in caps,
such as those now employed as percussion caps, it may be discharged
by impact explosive cotton manufactured as herein described, and similar
explosive compounds may also be used for mining and other purposes
for which gunpowder has heretofore been employed.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I state that I do not confine
myself to the details so long as the peculiar character of the Invention
be retained, videlicit, the converting matters of vegetable origin by
acids into explosive compounds; but what I claim is, the manufacture
of explosive compounds from matters of vegetable origin, by means of
nitric acid or nitric and sulphuric acids.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.
JOHN (L.S.) TAYLOR.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1847, the aforesaid John Taylor came before
our said Lady the Queen, in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.
Enrolled the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-seven.