IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNPOWDER FOR MINING PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustav Adolph Neumeyer, of Döbitz, in the Kingdom
of Prussia, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNPOWDER FOR MINING
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 12th November 1867, and dated the 13th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustav Adolph Neumeyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th May 1867.
I, GUSTAV ADOLPH NEUMEYER, of Döbitz, in the Kingdom of Prussia, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN Gun-
POWDER FOR MINING PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to certain "Improvements in Gunpowder for
Mining and War Purposes," for which Letters Patent were granted to August
Klein, bearing date the 17th June 1865, No. 1686, being a communication
made to him from abroad by me.
Instead of soaking the charcoal in soda lye and generally preparing and
incorporating the ingredients as described in the Specification to the said
Letters Patent I proceed as follows:-I mix about 72 parts by weight of
saltpetre with about 18 parts by weight of charcoal prepared in the ordinary
manner and from any suitable description of wood, and to these I add about
10 parts by weight of flowers of sulphur, to form together 100 parts by weight
of gunpowder. These ingredients are not incorporated in the ordinary manner,

page_text: but are placed in a closed cylinder of wood, copper, or other suitable material,
through which passes a revolving shaft having a number of radial arms, and
which may be arranged in any suitable known manner; together with the
above ingredients I introduce water into the said cylinder in the proportion of
about 40 parts by weight of water to about 100 parts by weight of the com-
pound, and I then subject the compound to the incorporating action of the
revolving arms for about fifteen minutes, after which the compound is removed
from the cylinder and dried without being subjected to the operation of granu-
lating, and it is then fit for use. Such powder when burnt in an unconfined
space will leave a considerable residue, but when ignited in a confined space
will leave considerably less residue than ordinary gunpowder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said. Gustav Adolph Neumeyer in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAV
ADOLPH NEUMEYER, of Döbitz, in the Kingdom of Prussia, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Gustav Adolph Neumeyer, Her special licence that I, the said Gustav Adolph
Neumeyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Gustav Adolp Neumeyer; my 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 Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN GUNPOWDER FOR MINING PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Gustav Adolph Neumeyer, executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
bands and seals, 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 I, the said Gustav Adolph Neumeyer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has reference to certain "Improvements in Gunpowder for
Mining and War Purposes," for which Letters Patent were granted to August
Klein, bearing date the 17th June 1865, No. 1636, being a communication
made to him from abroad by me.
Instead of soaking the charcoal in soda lye and generally preparing and
incorporating the ingredients as described in the Specification to the said
Letters Patent, I proceed as follows:-I mix about 72 parts by weight of
saltpetre with about 18 parts by weight of charcoal prepared in the ordinary
manner, and from any suitable description of wood, and to these I add about
10 parts by weight of flowers of sulphur, to form together 100 parts by
woight of gunpowder. These ingredients are not incorporated in the ordinary
manner, but are placed in a closed cylinder of wood, copper, or other suitable
material, through which passes a revolving shaft having a number of radial
arms, and which may be arranged in any suitable known manner, or any
other known form of apparatus having a similar stirring or mixing action may
be employed; together with the above ingredients I introduce water into the
said cylinder in the proportion of about 40 parts by weight of water to about
100 parts by weight of the compound, and I then subject the compound to
the incorporating action of the revolving arms for about fifteen minutes, after
which the compound is removed from the cylinder and dried without being
subjected to the operation of granulating, and it is then fit for use. Such
powder when burnt in an unconfined space will leave a considerable residue,
but when ignited in a confined space will leave considerably less residue than
ordinary gunpowder.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, what I claim is the improved gunpowder for mining
purposes, composed and prepared as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustav Adolph Neumeyer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
G. A. NEUMEYER. (L.S.)