A LIQUID AND COMPOSITION FOR MAKING LEATHER AND OTHER ARTICLES WATERPROOF
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES.
BAGENALL FLEETWOOD, of Parliament Street, Dublin, in that part of the
United Kingdom called Ireland, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of February, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-four, in the fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Bagenall Fleetwood, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles
Bagenall Fleetwood, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "A LIQUID AND COMPOSITION FOR MAKING LEATHER AND OTHER ARTICLES
WATERPROOF;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that
if I, the said Charles Bagenall Fleetwood, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Bagenall Flectwood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be prepared, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in the following description thereof (that
is to say) :—
My New-invented Liquid and Composition for making Leather and other
Articles Waterproof" consists of a certain compound of resinous, oleaginous,
and elastic matters, the proportions of which and the mode of mixing I am
about to describe; but first I shall make a few remarks upon the defects in
the present methods of preparing, (that is) dressing and currying leather, and
then point out the advantage of my new composition. Under the impression that
all processes heretofore known for currying leather were in a greater or less
degree not only defective but absolutely injurious to the substance of the
leather, I conceived that means might be adopted to change the process of
currying as it is at present practised, that constituting the basis of the evil
which I wished to remove; for it is an indisputable fact that all animal
substances are subject to putrify sooner than most other things, more especially
sooner than mineral production, and even than many vegetable matters, such
as gums and oils, after having been chemically prepared. These considerations
suggested the idea of substituting for the perishable animal matters used in the
dressing of leather such imperishable substances as might be drawn from
mineral and vegetable productions properly treated by the chemist. In the
first instance, instead of the dubbing oil (so termed by the trade) or other fat
animal matters which are extremely liable to decay, and which are almost
the only materials employed for softening and preserving the leather, I should
substitute a compound consisting of certain gums and vegetable oils. And
here it may be necessary to observe, that though I am about to explain every
minutia connected with my process, and the suitable proportions of one sub-
stance to another which I employ, yet I conceive that practical experience is
absolutely necessary to make the article intended to be produced. My process
is as follows:-I dissolve 10 lbs. of caoutchouc or indian-rubber in twenty
gallons of pure spirits of turpentine by putting them both into a tin vessel
capable of holding at least 85 gallons, 40 perhaps would be as well. The

page_text: caoutchouc should be cut into pieces or slices of about 1/16th part of
an ounce weight to hasten the solution, I then immerse the vessel into a
boiler previously filled with cold water, and apply the fire so as to produce
the boiling of the water, occasionally supplying the waste caused by evapo-
ration. In this situation it remains until a perfect solution of the caout-
chouc in the spirits of turpentine is effected. I then dissolve 150 lbs.
weight of pure beeswax in 100 gallons of pure spirits of turpentine, adding
thereto 20 lbs. of Burgundy pitch, and 10 lbs. of gum frankincense. The solu-
tion of these articles I obtain by the same means as described for dissolving the
caoutchoue. To these two matters or solutions, when mixed together, I. add,
after they are quite cold, 10 gallons of the best copal varnish. The whole
of these materials are then to be put together in a large reservoir, where
the compound may be diluted by adding 100 gallons of lime water, pouring in
5 gallons at a time, and stirring it continually for 6 or 8 hours, and which
agitation must be repeated whenever any of the composition is taken out of
the reservoir, either to be bottled or casked. In order to colour this compo-
sition when it is required to be rendered black, 20 lbs. weight of the best
lamp black should be mixed up with 20 gallons of the purest turpentine
spirits (which 20 gallons should, under these circumstances, have been
deducted from the previous mixture); this, when properly blended, is to be
added to the composition, but that should be done previous to the introduction
of the lime water. The composition when thus prepared is to be laid upon
the leather by means of a painting brush and rubbed into the surface, which
will render the leather, after the composition has become dry, impervious to
water, and at the same time perfectly soft and pliable. Though I have thus
minutely described the comparative proportions of each materiail, yet I do not
mean to confine myself to those respective quantities, nor to the precise
made adopted in mixing and preparing them, but have stated such proportions
and such process as the best that I am acquainted with, and which I am, from
considerable experience, induced to adopt and recommend. My claim of
invention, therefore, consists in 'compounding a liquid of the ingredients above
stated for the purpose of covering leather and other articles, in order to
render such leather or other articles waterproof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bagenall Fleetwood, have here-
unto set my hand and seal this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.
CHARLES BAGENALL (L.s.) FLEETWOOD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1824, the aforesaid Charles Bagenall Fleetwood came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.