CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR IMPREGNATING WOODS WITH CHEMICAL MATERIALS FOR THEIR PRESERVATION AND COLORATION
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henri Boucherie at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th September
1855.
I, HENRI BOUCHERIE, Chemist, of Bordeaux, a Town in the French Empire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR IMPREGNATING WOODS WITH CHEMICAL MATERIALS FOR THEIR
PRESERVATION AND COLORATION" to be as follows:-
I construct an air-tight vessel or chamber of cylindrical, rectangular, or
other form in which the logs or pieces of wood are placed in a vertical position.
On the top of each log or piece is placed a plate of metal or other suitable
material, with a ring or band of caoutchouc or other flexible substance to
connect it with the wood. The plates may be attached to the wood by nails
or screws, or otherwise, and they are kept in their proper positions by links
connecting them to each other, and to rings or fixtures on the sides of the
chamber. There is a short tube in the centre of each plate, and these tubes
are connected by flexible tubes to other short tubes passing through the sides
of the chamber.
The chamber is closed by a cover fixed by screws or otherwise, and it has a
cock in the cover or near the top for the escape of air, and another cock for
the admission of the preservative or colouring liquid; a third cock serves for

page_text: drawing off the liquid. The air cock being opened, the liquid is allowed to
flow in and fill the vessel; the air cock is then shut and the operation pro-
ceeds. The liquid penetrates into the wood at the lower end and partially at
the sides, and passes out at the upper end, and through the flexible tubes and
into a gutter on the exterior of the chamber, which conveys it away.
The
liquid penetrates with greater rapidity according to the pressure to which it is
subjected. It may be forced in by pumps, or it may descend from an elevated
reservoir, or it may be forced in by any other means.
The wood is thus com-
pletely immersed in the liquid, which is enabled to penetrate it, owing to the
outlet afforded by the plate and flexible tube for the air or liquid contained in
the wood. I still farther facilitate the penetration of the liquid by connecting
an air pump, or a steam chamber, or other apparatus for producing a vacuum
or partial vacuum, with the tubes, which are in communication with the ends
of the logs or pieces of wood. I also reverse the action by causing the liquid
to enter the tubes leading to the ends of the pieces of wood, and I exhaust
the air from the chamber, so that the liquid passes in the reverse direction
through the wood. By thus reversing or alternating the direction, the wood
becomes very uniformly and perfectly saturated. The apparatus is provided
with the necessary cocks or valves for regulating the entrance and direction
of the liquid and the action of the exhausting or vacuum apparatus. The
apparatus may be placed in a vertical position, or in a horizontal or inclined
position, if preferred. Thus, for preparing railway sleepers and short
pieces of timber a vertical position may be adopted, and the apparatus
made of a height corresponding to the length of the pieces. For masts
and long pieces of timber a horizontal position may be more convenient,
and several short chambers may be united to form one long chamber. In
some cases the piece or pieces of wood may be screwed or attached
directly to the end or side of the chamber, which is then provided with a
tube or tubes, and serves in lieu of the detached plates and flexible tubes.
A long chamber may also be used for preparing short pieces of timber,
in which case, in lieu of employing a separate tube passing through the
side or wall of the chamber for each piece or log, I construct a flat
hollow disc, having the tubes fixed in each side of it, and having one larger
tube or neck, which is screwed or connected to a tube which passes through
the side or top of the chamber. Or I employ in lieu of such disc a
ring, or a straight or bent main pipe in which the small tubes are inserted,
and which communicates with the exterior of the chamber. In this way a
long chamber may be filled with several carriages full of short timber, each

page_text: piece of which communicates with the exterior of the chamber by means of
the plates, flexible tubes, and hollow discs or main pipes. When the number
of pieces of wood to be prepared are less than the number of small tubes, the
superfluous tubes are closed by plugs or cocks. The whole apparatus may be
heated, if required, by a steam jacket, or by a fire, or otherwise. The chambers
may be made of metal, or of wood, or of wood encased in metal or other suit-
able material, according to the nature of the liquids to be employed in it. The
wood should be clean, and a thin slice may be cut off each end with a saw to
expose the pores for the entrance and exit of the liquid. The operation of
the apparatus may be arrested when the liquid escapes unchanged after passing
through the wood. A portion of each of the exit tubes may be of glass, so
that the colour of the escaping liquid may be observed.
The liquids employed may be creasote, solutions of tannin, tar, oils, resins,
fats, salts of calcium, sodium, aluminium, iron, zinc, mercury, or copper, or
other liquids or solutions; solutions of indigo and other colouring matters
may be employed to colour the wood. Two solutions may be introduced in
succession so as to decompose each other in the pores of the wood.