A CHEMICAL INK PENCIL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE AS AN PROVISIONALECIFICATIONTION APPLICABLE AN INSTRUMENT OR MEANS FOR WRITING, DRAWING, AND MARKING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hanham Collyer, of 8, Alpha Road, Saint
John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex, M.D. and Ph. D., for the
Invention of "A CHEMICAL INK PENCIL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE AS AN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hanham Collyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1859.
I, ROBERT HANHAM COLLYER, of 8, Alpha Road, Saint John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, M.D. and Ph. D., do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A CHEMICAL INK PENCIL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE
AN INSTRUMENT OR MEANS FOR WRITING, DRAWING, AND MARKING," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is the manufacture of a self-inking chemical
pencil, instrument, or means for writing, drawing, or marking, without
requiring immersion in ink or writing fluid, but yet producing characters or
marks as indelible as those obtained by ordinary pen and ink. For this
purpose I propose to take anhydrous soda or potassa or other anhydrous
substance whose affinity for humidity is such that it will absorb it from the
atmosphere, breath, or other source, and thereby become more or less

page_text: deliquescent, and I combine the same with oxide of silver or other compound
of silver, iron, or lead, or other material of such nature that chemical action
will take place with it, and the anhydrous substance on the latter becoming
deliquescent and a distinctly visible permanent product will result. Graphite
or plumbago, lampblack, or other colouring or marking agent may be com-
bined with the other ingredients to obtain visible marks before chemical action
takes place. On applying the pencil to the paper or other writing surface the
graphite or marking substance contained in it will thus at once produce visible
marks, and chemical action ensuing, as stated, the characters or marks will
become permanently fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hanham Collyer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HANHAM COLLYER, of 8, Alpha Road, Saint John's Wood, in the County of
Middlesex, M.D. and Ph. D., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Hanham Collyer, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Hanham Collyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, 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 "A
CHEMICAL INK PENCIL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE AS AN INSTRUMENT OR MEANS
FOR WRITING, DRAWING, AND MARKING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is the manufacture of a self-inking chemical
pencil, that is to say, of an instrument or means for writing, drawing, or
marking, without requiring immersion in ink or writing fluid, but yet pro-
ducing characters or marks as indelible as those obtained by ordinary pen and
ink. For this purpose I propose to take anhydrous soda or potassa or other
anbydrous substance whose affinity for humidity is such that it will absorb it
from the atmosphere, breath, or other source, and thereby become more or
less deliquescent, and I combine the same with oxide of silver or other com-
pound of silver, iron, or lead, or with other material of such nature that
chemical action will take place with it, and the anhydrous substance on the
latter becoming deliquescent and a distinctly visible permanent product will
result. Graphite or plumbago, lampblack, or other coloring or marking agent
may be combined with the other ingredients to obtain visible marks before
chemical action takes place. On applying the pencil to the paper or other
writing surface on which it is to be used the graphite or marking substance
contained in the pencil will thus at once produce visible marks and chemical
action ensuing, as stated, the characters or marks will become permanently
fixed.
Having thus set forth the object and nature of my Invention, I now
proceed to describe particularly in what manner the same should be carried
into effect.
It should be understood that the deliquescence of the anhydrous substance
herein-before mentioned as taking place on its absorbing moisture, does not
occur while such substance is in the body of the pencil or writing instrument
before being applied or transferred to the paper in the shape of writings or
marks, but in the characters, drawings, or marks produced by the composition
on the paper or writing surface used where and when on the absorption of
humidity from the atmosphere, breath, or other source the required amount of
deliquescence takes place, and chemical action ensues between the anhydrous
material and the compound of silver or other ingredient combined with it, as
before mentioned. Theoretically the object to be attained by the composition
is this, it must be of such character as to attack the cellulose structure of the
paper or writing surface on which it is applied, and thus the effect of the
excess of alkali or other anhydrous substance contained in the composition. is

page_text: so to attack the cellulose as to produce indelible marks, while the carbonic
ingredient has the advantage of resisting chemical agents.
In manufacturing pencils according to my Invention, I find that in order to
bind the ingredients firmly together and thereby impart additional cohesiveness
or tenacity to the composition it is advisable to combine with the carbonic 5
coloring agent used or with the other ingredients a proportion of soapstone or
steatite, talcose, slate, or fuller's earth, which addition also has the effect of
increasing the resistance of writing produced by the pencil to the action of
chemical agents thereon; oil and fatty matters are substances which come
under the description of materials which may be combined with an anhydrous I
agent in order that chemical action may ensue on the latter becoming
deliquescent as stated in the outset of this my Specification, and I find it an
efficacious mode of manufacturing my composition to employ a proportion of oil
or fatty matter which I so mix with the anhydrous substance as to produce a
caustic soap prior to adding other ingredients. The solid ingredients should 1
be reduced to a state of the finest powder possible, each separately, prior to
the mixing together, they are to be subsequently intimately combined,
incorporated into a mass, and brought to the consistency of a thick paste; this
pasty mass is left to dry, and when nearly dry is formed into crayons, "leads,"
or other required shape, preferably by forcing it into moulds of the desired g
configuration by means of strong hydraulic pressure.
I now proceed to set forth, by way of example, various formulæ or recipes
that may be adopted for producing effective compositions for carrying out my
Invention.
No. 1. Take nitrate of silver oz.
No. 2. Caustic potassa
oz.
Anhydrate
potassa
Carbon
Nitrate of silver
1 dram.
oz.
1
2 oz.
Olive oil
-
2 oz.
-
Steatite
-
-
2 oz.
Carbon
-
1½ oz.
Olive oil -
1 oz.
The oil may be mixed with camphor if preferred.
No. 3. Caustic potassa
No. 4. Caustic potassa

page_text: then add the potassa to compose a soap, and then the other ingredients.
No. 7. Anhydrate of potassa
Iodine
Vegetable or mineral carbon
Nitrate of silver
Steatite
Pipe clay
Fullers' earth -
Camphor dissolved in oil
1 dram.
2
39
2 oz.
oz.
2 oz.
2 oz.
1 oz.
oz. to 1 oz.
First mix the carbon, steatite, pipe clay, and fullers' earth intimately
together, levigating them well, next add the iodine, then the potassa and oil
saponified, then the remaining ingredients. The compositions in which I
propose to use pipe clay may be subjected to the action of fire to render them
additionally hard.
No. 8.-Vegetable carbon
2 oz.
Steatite
Fullers' earth -
-
2 oz.
2 oz.
Nitrate of silver
Iodine
-
oz.
-
1 dram.
Caustic potassa and oil saponified
"
1 oz.
-
oz.
Oil of tobacco
Neats' foot oil
1 dram.

page_text: Peroxide of manganese may be added to any of the foregoing com-
positions in a proportion of about 1th of the whole mass to obtain increased
hardness.
After the characters or marks have been placed on the paper they are
some few hours before they become wholly fixed, though immediately after
being written they are so far fixed that they could not be removed without
destroying the paper.
Although I have particularized various recipes for carrying my Invention
into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the
precise proportions therein stated, as- the same may be varied according
to the class of indelible pencil required; and although I have expressly
mentioned anhydrous potassa, soda, and iodine as anhydrous substances which
may be used, and nitrate of silver, oxide of lead, oil, and fatty matters as
materials which may be combined therewith for chemical action to take place
with them on their becoming deliquescent as set forth in the outset of this my
Specification; nevertheless I do not restrict or confine myself to these particular
ingredients as others may be used in place thereof or in addition thereto,
provided that they are of the nature or description stated, namely, that one
may be an anhydrous substance, having such affinity for humidity as to absorb
it from the atmosphere or other source and thereby become deliquescent and
the other a substance of such character that chemical action may take place
with it and the anhydrous material on the said deliquescence occurring as
before explained; also I do not restrict myself to the exact materials which I
have particularized as suitable to be employed as agents for coloring or
imparting increased tenacity, hardness, and resistance or otherwise as accessary
agents to the foregoing ingredients as others having the same effect may be
used in substitution thereof; also, although I have particularly herein referred
to the employment of steatite or silicate of magnesia I do not claim as of my
Invention the use of that substance, as the same has before been known as an
ingredient in the composition of pencils.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what.
manner the same may be performed, I declare that my Invention relates to
the manufacture of a chemical ink pencil or composition applicable for the
purposes herein-before stated, and that I lay no claim to any ingredient herein-
before mentioned used separately in such manufacture; but that what I claim
as new and constituting my said Invention is the employment in the manu-
facture of such pencil or composition of anhydrous potassa or other anhydrous
substance having such affinity for humidity as to absorb it from the atmosphere
or other source, and thereby become more or less deliquescent in combination

page_text: with oxide of silver or other material of such character that chemical action
will take place with it and the anhydrous substance on the latter becoming
deliquescent, and a distinctly visible permanent product will result.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
H. DARLING.
ROBT. H. COLLYER. (L.S.)