AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF HARDENING WOOD AND IRON, AND BENDERING WOOD REPULSIVE OF VERMIN AND PROOF AGAINST DRY ROT
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
PONS, of Union Crescent, New Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting..
WHEREAS Hér present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of June, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Pons, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Pons, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Pons, my exors, adñiors, 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF HARDENING WOOD AND
IRON, AND BENDERING WOOD REPULSIVE OF VERMIN AND PROOF AGAINST DRY ROT;'
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph
Pons, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent; as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Joseph Pons, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):--
My Invention relates, first, to the application of a solution of sulphate of
iron (copperas), or a solution of iron together with other materials, to impreg
nating wood therewith; and secondly, to the application of a similar solution to
the hardening of iron. And in order to give the best information in my power
for carrying out my Invention, I will proceed to describe the means pursued
by me, and which fully answer the purposes.
Preparation of the Solution for Impregnating Wood.-I take one
hundred pounds of sulphate of iron, or of iron filing or turnings, and
stir the same into twenty-five pounds of nitric acid, (thirty-six degrees
by Beaumer), and continue to stir for twenty-four hours, more or less,
until the liquid is of a clear yellow color; and I find that at this time
the liquor will be about fifty-six degrees by Beaumer's scale; and I dissolve
twenty-five pounds of alum, fourteen pounds of saltpetre, and five pounds of
prussiate of potash, separately in warm water, and successively add and combine
the solutions last given with the acid solution of iron or sulphate of iron;
and the quantity of water I employ for obtaining such solutions of alum,
saltpetre; and prussiate of potash, in such as, when combined with the acid
solution of iron, will indicate five degrees of Beaumèr's scale.
such acid solution of iron and other materials I place it in
wood or other suitable material, and place the wood to be treated with same
in such tanks and in such manner that the chemical solution therein shall
cover the wood; and I have found that three or four days is sufficient for
wood of four to six inches section, and longer for larger dimensions. I would
remark, that although I have been thus particular in giving the relative pro-
portions of the materials employed in the solution, I do not confine myself
thereto, nor do I confine myself to use the whole of the ingredients, although
I believe that it is preferable to do so; but I do consider it absolutely necessary,
in order to obtain a beneficial result, that an acid solution of iron and a solu-
tion of alum should be employed.
And in using
large tanks of
I will now describe the Solution for Hardening Cast Iron.-Whatever be the
article of cast iron to be treated according to my Invention, I take such
article and heat it in any suitable fire or furnace to a blood-red heat, and im-
mediately immerse it in a chemical solution like that above given for wood.
In hardening wrought iron I take it in the cold state and submit it to the
action of a paste composition, made of five gallons of size, fourteen pounds of

page_text: saltpetre, five pounds of prussiate of potash, which being melted and stirred
together produce a paste, into which the wrought iron to be hardened is to be
introduced in order to become coated therewith; the wrought iron is then to be
heated to a blood-red heat, then thrown into the paste composition for two or
three minutes, and then the iron is thrown into the chemical solution above
described for wood and cast iron. I would remark, that although I prefer
performing these operations with the relative quantities of materials above
described and using all the materials, I do not confine myself thereto, as very
beneficial results may be obtained by dispensing with the potash and saltpetre.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim to be secured by the above recited Letters Patent is
the improved process of hardening wood and iron, and rendering wood repul-
sive of vermin and proof against dry rot, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Pons, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.