A METHOD OF MAKING PAINT OR VARNISH FROM A.NEWLY DISCOVERED FOSSIL, WHICH WILL PROVE OF THE GREATEST PUBLIC UTILITY IN PAINTING OF SHIPS AND IN VARIOUS MANUFAC- TURES
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRANT, of Biddeford, in the County of Devon, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of March last, for Himself, His heirs,
and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Grant, His
special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Thomas Grant, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them,
by myself and themselves, or by my and their depty or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said Thomas Grant, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter 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, my Invention of "A METHOD OF
MAKING PAINT OR VARNISH FROM A.NEWLY DISCOVERED FOSSIL, WHICH WILL PROVE
OF THE GREATEST PUBLIC UTILITY IN PAINTING OF SHIPS AND IN VARIOUS MANUFAC-
TURES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said Thomas Grant, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within 'two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent.
:

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Grant, do hereby describe, ascertain, and declare the methods,
natures, and properties of my said Invention and discovery to be as follows,
that is to say :-
I take a quantity of any native cearth containing a sufficient quantity of
very impalpable carbon combined with argill, silex, metallic oxyds, and water,
and other primitive matters of less consequence than these; or, I take of the
black native earth which I have lately discovered, and which I know possesses
all the requisite properties, particularly the carbonaceous or most essential
principle; in some cases, however, I use one or other of such native earths in
the crude state without any alteration. Having first made my selection of such
as appears best for the intention, I next proceed to divest this native compound
of one or more of its ingredients, as the case may require, or I increase the
proportion of one or more of the components according to the intention I wish
to accomplish; in all these processes I carefully avoid diminishing the car-
bonaceous principle either in regard to its quantity or the intensity of its
colour. These preliminary operations being finished, the products are then
set apart to be reserved each for its distinct use and application. Thus, to
prepare a fine oil paint of a pure jet-black, I take any given quantity of the
earth which has undergone that preliminary operation expressly contrived for
this branch of painting, and in the usual manner mix or grind it with linseed
oil, poppy oil, oil of turpentine, or any other suitable oil, varnish, or medium,
and either with one of these alone, or with one or more of such fluids com:
bined, according to circumstances. It is evident that merely by the addition
of yellow ocrc, white lead, or indeed any other colouring ingredient, this black
paint may be readily converted into innumerable shades and varieties of other
colours, and, consequently, the great value of this black carth as a basis or
body must be obvious to every painter. Amongst other important properties
attached to an oil paint prepared from the said native black earth or clay, one
is to be particularly remarked, namely, its superior fitness for painting ships,
and all classes of wood work, and other surfaces that are exposed to change of
climate, and the destructive effects of the natural elements. The several
products of what I call selections which result from the preliminary operations
as well as the native earth itself unprepared, and in its crude or primitive
state, are all applicable to many other purposes which need not be enumerated
in this Specification; however, I include all materials used for drawing;
painting, varnishing, and such like in which these products or the pure native
earth can be employed; by mixing one or other of these with a proper fluid, I
form a mass that is capable of being moulded into pencils, crayons, and other

page_text: convenient shape, or into black chalks, to supply the place of what are known
by the name of Itallian chalks, or into any other figure that may be devised
either for drawing or for any other intention whatever; the quality always
depending upon the product itself as well as upon the fluid employed, the
temperature used for drying the compound, and other obvious circumstances.
This native compound or earth is likewise an excellent substitute for plumbage
or black lead; therefore no person having ever before me used this fossil pro-
duction in lieu of plumbage, my exclusive right to apply it to all and every such
like intentions is fully claimed and substantiated by these Presents; likewise
in the manufacture of pottery, porcelain, and earthen ware, this black native
substance is extremely important, and possesses some of the more valuable
properties of porcelain, clay being not only highly charged with pure argil-
laceous earth, but perfectly free from the noxious ingredients which occur
frequently in other specimens.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Grant, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of May, ir. the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and ten.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighteenth day of May,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Grant came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.