AN IMPROVED GUNPOWDER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, of Richmond
Road, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED GUNPOWDER."
Sealed the 8th August 1865, and dated the 13th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Henry Gustavus
Ehrhardt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th February 1865.
I, LOUIS HENRY GUSTAVUS EHRHARDT, of Richmond Road, Bayswater, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED GUNPOWDER," to be as follows:—
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon a former Patent, dated
20th October 1864, numbered 2594, granted to me, the said Louis Henry
Gustavus Ehrhardt, and the present Invention consists in the use of tannin or
such substances as contain this material in large proportions, such as catchecu
and gum kino, artificial tannin, coal, or any description of mineral carbon,
wood, charcoal, or other vegetable carbon, any one or more of the above ingre-
dients in combination with either chlorate of potash or other fusible chlorate
or or nitrate of potash, singly or in combination, in and for the manufacture of
an improved explosive compound. The proportions of the above ingredients-

page_text: will vary according to the effect desired; for example, a very good blasting
powder may be made by using the following ingredients, namely,-
1 parts (in bulk) chlorate of potash
1 parts (in bulk) nitrate of potash
1 part (in bulk) cutch
2 parts (in bulk) cannel coal
I.
:}
II.
the whole being finely powdered; the chlorate and nitrate of potash to be
mixed together, and the cutch and cannel mixed together. These two com-
pounds thus obtained to be thoroughly incorporated when required for use.
To manufacture gunpowder adapted for warfare and for sportsmen, I use
1 part (by bulk) chlorate of potash, 1 part (by bulk) nitrate of potash,
1 part (by bulk) cutch or tannin, the whole to be finely powdered.
For explosive shells and such like projectiles I use 2 parts (by bulk)
chlorate of potash, 1 part (by bulk) tannin or cutch, the whole finely
powdered.
Powder made as above stated may be granulated, but for safety in storage
and transport I propose to keep the chlorate and nitrate of potash separate
from the other ingredients, as by simple mixture they may be made ready
for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
HENRY GUSTAVUS EHRHARDT, of Richmond Road, Bayswater, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, Her special licence that I, the said
Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, 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,

page_text: from the other ingredients, as by simple mixture they may be made ready
for use.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "An Improved Gunpowder," together with the best means I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark in
conclusion that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in and I claim,―
The use of tannin or such substances as contain this material in large
proportions, such as catchecu and gum kino, artificial tannin, coal, or any
description of mineral carbon, wood, charcoal, or other vegetable carbon.
I claim the use of any one or more of the above ingredients in combination
with either chlorate of potash or other fusible chlorates or nitrate of potash,
singly or in combination, in and for the manufacture of gunpowder, as above
stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Henry Gustavus Ehrhardt, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
L. II. G. EHRHARDT. (L.S.)