AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD OF ATTACHING STRIPS OR PIECES OF WOOD TO BE USED FOR LIGHTING FIRES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Mark Charles Denne, of Deptford, in the County
of Kent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT AND
METHOD OF ATTACHING STRIPS OR PIECES OF WOOD TO BE USED FOR LIGHTING
FIRES."
'
Sealed the 14th September 1875, and dated the 15th July 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Mark Charles Denne
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th July 1875.
I, MARK CHARLES DENNE, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD OF ATTACHING STRIPS OR PIECES OF WOOD TO BE USED
FOR LIGHTING FIRES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an arrangement and method of attaching
strips or pieces of wood of certain lengths and form in layers. The
pieces lie parallel to each other in each layer, but the layers crossed
with spaces between. There may be four or more or less pieces, one
row above the other and set at any convenient angle.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention I take, say twelve or more
or less
pieces of wood five inches in length by five-eighths, by five-eighths
not confining myself to that particular size; I drill holes at certain
distances in each, so that when placed together in their proper positions
in layers the holes will be in line one with the other; I then take pegs
of wood of the right length and size, and drive or pass them through the
holes, thereby securing the layers together, spaces being left between
each two pieces and each layer or row, the openings through or between
the pieces of wood serving for the draft and heat to pass through to the
coal or other fuel placed above. One part of my fire-lighter may be
dipped in rosin or other inflammable material to add to its com-
bustibility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Mark Charles Denne in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 15th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I MARK
CHARLES DENNE, of Deptford, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Mark Charles Denne, Her special licence
that I, the said Mark Charles Denne, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Mark Charles Denne,
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
"AN IMPROVED ÅRRANGEMENT AND METHOD OF ATTACHING STRIPS OR PIECES
OF WOOD TO BE USED FOR LIGHTING FIRES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Mark Charles Denne, my executors or admini-
strators, 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

page_text: 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 Mark Charles Denne, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to an arrangement of and a method of attaching
strips or pieces of wood of certain lengths and form in layers in which
the pieces lie parallel to each other in each layer, but the layer crossed
with spaces between. There may be four or more or less pieces, one
row above the other and set at any convenient angle.
In carrying out my Invention which I have represented in Figures 1
and 2 of the annexed Drawings, I take, say twelve or more or less
pieces of wood a, b, c, five inches in length by five-eighths, not confining
myself to that particular size, and I drill holes at certain distances in
each, so that when placed together in their proper positions in layers
the holes will be in line one with the other; I then take pegs. b, b, of
wood of the right length and size, and drive or pass them through the
holes, thereby securing the layers together, spaces. being left between
cach two pieces and each layer or row a, b, c, the openings through or
between the pieces of wood serving for the draft and heat to pass through
to the coal or other fuel placed above. One part of my fire-lighter may
be dipped in rosin or other inflammable material to add to its com-
bustibility.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the special
formation of fire-lighters by open layers of sticks of wood crossed and
pegged as described and shown. ·
In witness whereof, I, the said Mark Charles Denne, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.