AN IMPROVEMENT FOR IGNITING GUNPOWDER WHEN USED IN THE OPERATION OF BLASTING ROCKS AND IN MINING, (WHICH
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM BICKFORD, of Tuckingmill, in the County of Cornwall, Leather
Seller, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of September, in the
second year of His said Majesty's reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Bickford,
my exors, adiiors, and assigns, His Majesty's special license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Bickford,
my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and
themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents,
or such others as I, the said William Bickford, my exors, adñiors, or
assigus, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein and
herein-after expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT FOR IGNITING GUNPOWDER
WHEN USED IN THE OPERATION OF BLASTING ROCKS AND IN MINING, (WHICH

page_text: $
INSTRUMENT I DENOMINATE THE MINER'S SAFETY FUZE,")" within that part
of His Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and also in
all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as
to me, the said William Bickford, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or
any of them, shall in my or their discretion seem meet; and that I, the
said William Bickford, my exors, adññors, and assigns, should and
lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and
advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising
by reason of the said Invention, for and during and until the full end
and term of fourteen years from the date of the said Royal Letters
Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be complete and
ended according to the Statute in such case made and provided. In
which said Letters Patent there is contained among others a proviso,
that if I, the said William Bickford, shall not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent; that then the said Letters
Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as by the said Letters
Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said recited proviso,
I, the said William Bickford, by this instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the references
thereto, and the explanations and descriptions therein and herein-after
mentioned and contained, do particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, as follows, that is to say:
The instrument invented by me for igniting gunpowder when used
in the operation of blasting of rocks and in mining, which I call "the
miner's safety fuze," I manufacture by the aid of machinery and
otherwise of flax, hemp, or cotton, or any other suitable materials spun,

page_text: twisted, and countered, and otherwise treated in the manner of twine
spinning and cord making, and by the several operations herein-after,
and in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, mentioned, and described,.
by means whereof I embrace in the centre of my fuze, in a continuous
line throughout its whole length, a small portion or compressed
cylinder, or rod of gunpowder, or other proper combustible matter
prepared in the usual pyrotechnical manner of firework for the dis-
charging of ordnance, and which fuze so prepared I afterwards more
effectually secure and defend by a covering of strong twine made of
similar material, and wound thereon- at nearly right angles. to the
former twist by the operation which I call countering, herein-after
described, and I then immerse them in a bath of heated varnish, and
add to them afterwards a coat of whiting, bran, or other suitable powdery
substance to prevent them from sticking together, or to the fingers of
those who handle them; and I thereby also defend them from wet or
moisture or other deterioration, and I cut off the same fuze in such
lengths as occasion may require for use. Each of these lengths con-
stituting, when so cut off, a fuze for blasting of rocks and mining, and
I use them either under water or on land, in quarries of stone and
mines for detaching portions of rocks, or stone, or mine, as occasions.
require, in the manner long practised by and well known to miners and
blasters of rocks. Having thus particularly described and ascertained
the nature of my said Invention, I now proceed to show in what
manner, and by what apparatus the same is to be performed, that is to
say: In the several Drawings hereunto annexed, marked respectively
Drawing No. 1, Drawing No. 2, and Drawing No. 3, I represent the
several apartments of the building in which I manufacture my said
Invention of the miner's safety. fuze, exhibiting, the apparatus re-
spectively as in action for the performance of each distinct and
separate part of my Invention. In the Drawing marked Drawing.
No. 1, Fig. 1, I represent that part of the manufacture of my Invention
called twisting the yarn or other material, being assumed to be already
prepared and spun loosely, and wound.into balls in the way commonly
used and well known to manufacturers of twine and cord; and I also
therein represent the mode of charging the fuze with the combustible

page_text: material herein-before mentioned or referred to. At the left-hand end
of this same apartment, which is sixty-five long, is made an enclosed
recess or closet of about two feet square and six feet high, with a door
or doors in front. In which closet, at the height of about four feet ten
inches, is placed a wooden shelf, marked A, about one inch thick at
least, extending the whole length and breadth of such closet. In the
centre of this shelf is made a hole, into which hole is inserted a metal
collar, next herein-after described, marked D. This collar is of metal,
in form the frustrum of a cone inverted. It is three inches long, two
inches diameter at the upper end, and one inch and a quarter at the
bottom; through the centre of this is a hole, three quarters of an inch
diameter at the top, and three sixteenths of an inch diameter at the
bottom. Around this, in a circle, are twelve holes, of about one eighth
of an inch diameter, which converge toward the centre hole at the
bottom so as to be separated by it only by a fine edge of the metal,
Fig. 2. D, is a vertical section of the collar, and r, the top and S, the
bottom of it, This collar, when so placed as herein-before mentioned, in
the hole of the shelf, projects both above and below, the wooden shelf.
In the upper projecting part of the cone or collar is then to be placed a
common funnel, twelve inches high and ten inches in diameter at the
top, as represented by the letter A; around this funnel, at about ten
inches high from the before-mentioned shelf, is placed a ring, made of
cane, marked c, c, and supported by a small frame of two or more
pillars, resting on the before-mentioned shelf. At about two feet six
inches high from the floor of this room, and passing through the said
closet, and extending the entire length of the said room sixty-five feet
long, is a stage or shelf or bench marked F, F; the outside of this
stage or shelf or bench has a ledge or raised edge rising one inch
above its surface, and on a similar raised edge on the inside, rising one
inch and an half, is a line rack marked G, G, with teeth or cogs, twenty
teeth to a foot. This stage or shelf or bench is intended to support
thereon a machine, being part of the apparatus thus used by me in my
said Invention, called the monkey, marked H, which monkey consists,
first, of a plane piece of board, twenty inches long and six inches wide,
supported by and running upon three wheels of one inch and a half

page_text: diameter; on this board, supported by and turning in two centres, is a
transverse axle, marked 2, placed quite across the plane bed of the
monkey, supported by brackets marked 1, 1, and turning round in holes
made in the brackets. On the inside end of which is fixed a wheel,
marked K, of ten inches diameter. Close to this wheel K, and
directly over the line rack, is placed on the said axle a pinion marked Z,
which works on the cogs of the line rack G, G, on the side of which
wheel K, at its outer edge arc twenty-four teeth or cogs; these teeth
or cogs work into corresponding teeth on the inner circle of the wheel
J, the wheel J, having two circles of teeth or cogs, the inner and smaller
circle working, as already described, in those of the wheel K, and the
outer circle of cogs working into the pinion L; connected with this
pinion L, is the crook S, and to this crook the threads of twine or other
material are attached for twisting. A string or cord M, is fastened to
the board of the monkey, and stretching along the stage or shelf, or
bench F, F, passes over the pulley N, and returning through the holes
0, 0, 0, made in the supports of the stage or shelf or bench is
attached to the winding roller P; in this situation of the apparatus
twelve balls of twine, marked B, or other material intended to form
the fuze, are placed in the recess or closet on a floor raised there for that
purpose six inches higher than the floor of the room, and, the running
threads from these balls are cach led perpendicularly up through holes
of one inch diameter, made for that purpose in a circle of twelve inches
diameter in the shelf in which the before-mentioned collar is placed,
and also perpendicular to and passed from the outside to the inside
over the said cane ring next to the funnel herein-before mentioned, and
from thence the said threads are again led down by the side of the
funnel to and through the holes in the upper and under side of
the aforesaid collar, which threads will then converge towards the
lower point of the inner cone or collar, and there hang parallel and
near to each other, and from thence they are to be led together to the
pulley Q. Thence passing under the said pulley at a right angle they
go to the monkey on the stage or shelf or bench, and are there made
fast to the crook S. The winding roller P, being now put in motion
communicates that motion to the monkey H, which travels on the stage

page_text: or shelf or bench marked F, F, towards N, and at the same time by
the pinion marked Z, working on the line rack G, G; the cog wheels
before mentioned marked J, and K, work the pinion marked L, as
before described, and turning thereby the crook S, completely twist the
twelve threads marked E, so made fast thereto," and continue that twist
up to the very point of the cone projecting downwards from the collar,
under the funnel herein-before described; at the very same time of
putting the monkey in motion I charge the funnel with the gunpowder
or other combustible matter (herein-before described) for making my
said fuze, and then carefully watch the progress of the threads, and
prevent or rectify any entangling thereof; and also regulate the exit of
the powder, and prevent the dispersion of any surplus that falls to
waste through the point of the cone or collar under the funnel during
the operation of twisting. In this operation of twisting the powder
passing the funnel lodges in the centre of the twelve threads, and is
simultaneously embraced by all the threads, and the twisted part thus
containing the powder is by the monkey drawn down and passes under
the pulley Q, and continues its course with the monkey: twisting the
fuze along the stage or shelf or bench to the end of the room at N.
Here the monkey stops, and this part of the fuze so charged and
twisted I then cut off, and over a box marked T, placed on the said
stage or shelf or bench to receive any gunpowder or other combustible
matter used therein that may fall from the ends when so cut asunder,
and I secure the two ends thus separated by a knot or tic made on
each, and I put the part so twisted and separated aside for the sub-
sequent operation of countering, as herein-after next mentioned and
described, bringing the monkey back to its first position near the box
marked T; the part of the fuze from which the portion was first cut is
made fast to the crook S, for repetition of the operation of twisting.
The next part of my process of manufacture of the fuze is that which
I call countering, and which I perform in the manner and by the
means herein-after mentioned and described in the annexed Drawing,
called Drawing No. 2, Fig. 1. The apparatus consists of a wheel five
feet in diameter, marked Y, Y, placed in a recess at one end of my
said manufactory, and turned in the comnion way by a handle. The

page_text: periphery or outer edge of this wheel is grooved to carry a line, which
passes over a mandril there marked W, in the said Drawing, which
mandril is a frustrum of a cone, having several grooves of different
diameters, which serve to tighten the string, and regulate the velocity
of the mandril in the well-known usual manner of wheel and spindle,
or mandril; to one end of the mandril, after it has passed through the
centre hole in the wheel frame, is attached a crook marked V, to
which crook the end of the fuze so having been charged and twisted,
and cut off as aforesaid, is brought and fastened; at the other end of the
apartment is a swivel crook X, turned at the end of a small cylindrical
rod three eighths of an inch in diameter, which passes through two
holes or centres made in the sliding stand P, on the straight bar , by
which the space allowed for the fuze may be lengthened or shortened.
To this swivel or turning crook the other end of the same twisted fuze
is fastened, having supports of wood projecting from the side of the
room at the distance of about six feet from each other, with a hollow
or notch cut at the outer end for holding up the said fuze the whole of
its length during the time of its undergoing the following operation.
Near to the crook V, of the mandril W, is fixed to the room a small
spring bell, marked
to which is attached a pull or line passing
through the holes in the above supports of wood or branches, and
fastened at the other end, by which pull or line the person in the act
of countering herein-after described can in the progress along at any
time direct the person turning the wheel. The fuze being thus far pre-
pared and placed in the position herein last before described, is ready for
the operation which I so call countering. To perform which operation
I use an instrument which I call the jack, and which is delineated in
the Drawing hereunto annexed called Drawing No. 2, at Figure 2, and
marked Z. This jack is exhibited in the Drawing of its full size, and
consists of two parts connected by a hinge joint at about the middle
thereof. In each side is a half circle corresponding groove, marked in
the said Drawing 3, 3, which when the jack is closed form a circular
aperture of about one quarter of an inch in diameter, that being about
the size of tlie intended fuze when c
"countered close to the semicircular

page_text: groove on one side of this jack are six holes marked b, b, through which
the threads used in countering are to pass, and which wrap round the
twisted fuze according to the directions given by the oblique or screw-
like cuts running across the semicircular grooves, as shewn in the
Drawing last mentioned. This countering thread is made by more
tightly spinning the same materials of which the threads for the
twisting are made, and being like those afterwards made up into balls;
the balls for countering are placed in a box, which box is to be sus-
pended about the waist of the person performing the operation of
countering. This countering consists in covering the already twisted
cord with a thread or other cord nearly at right angles to the line of
the first twist, and in this case is performed by fixing one end of the
already twisted fuze to the crook V, of the mandril marked W, as
herein-before described, and the other end at the swivel crook X,
which is turned round by the action of the wheel and line as aforesaid.
The person with the box containing the balls of countering thread
places himself or herself at the end of the twisted fuze next the
crook X, with his or her face towards the wheel, and passes the six
threads through the six holes of the jack, and then placing the open
jack upon or under the twisted fuze, and shutting the jack together, and
holding it so closed with the fuze therein, the wheel at Y, being then
put in motion, the countering goes on wrapping the additional threads
round the fuze in a screw-like manner, the person with the box pro-
ceeding regularly forward until arrived at the crook V, where the
operation of countering the fuze is coinpleat; the fuze is then removed
from the crooks and wound on reels for varnishing. By this operation
of countering the gunpowder or other combustible matter is confined in
the fuze more securely from waste, and the fuze itself is thus made
ready for the further operation of varnishing to be performed thereon,
as herein-after next mentioned. The third and last part of my process,
that of varnishing, I do and perform by means of a furnace of brick-
work, marked h, with fire place and ash hole in the usual way, support-
ing an iron pot or boiler, as shewn in the Drawing marked Drawing
No. 2, Figure 3. The flue passes under the boiler, and up a chimney

page_text: at the end opposite the fire place. The boiler is about four feet long
and ten inches wide, and is divided into two equal parts by a partition
of iron therein, which partition is somewhat lower than the sides of
that part or division of the boiler next the fire. The iron pot is now
charged with the materials for varnishing, which materials are com-
monly tar and rosin, in such proportions as best suit the temperature of
the air and the season of the year. The lower part of the boiler is
kept covered with wood, and is intended to receive any varnish that
may flow over the partition in case of its boiling too fast, fixed to the
wall of the furnace; about the centre of the division is a square hollow
case or tube marked 1, 1, in which rises and falls by a pull or handle a
square rod or piston marked m, to the bottom of which piston is fixed
a piece of iron eight inches wide or more, and six inches thick, marked
. On the under surface of this (which is denominated the plunger)
are six grooves, of the size sufficient to take a fuze in in each, and
over the other (or waste) end of the boiler, are racks for the reception
of the six reels on which the fuzes have been rolled after being
countered, marked each with the letter i; from these reels the fuzes
are drawn, and pass through the grooves in the plunger, which plunger
for the operation of varnishing is suffered to drop down and sink into
the heated varnish, and the ends of the fuzes being previously fastened
to the separate branches of the crook marked O are drawn along the
stage or shelf, or bench there, by a cord passing over a pulley marked u,
by winding the reel marked n. This stage or shelf or bench is seven
inches wide, and the sides one inch and an half in height above its
upper surface, except at the end next the furnace, which has sides four
inches high for a length of eight feet, and is strewed or charged with
whitening, sand, bran, or such like substance, through which the fuzes
are drawn for the purpose of being covered therewith, to preserve them
from moisture and prevent adhesion. The fuzes are then considered
to be completed, and may be cut into such lengths for use as occasions
may require, care being taken upon cutting them off to secure the ends
where separated by a tye, or otherwise to prevent the escape of the
gunpowder or other combustible material with which they may be

page_text: charged in manner aforesaid. The Drawing marked No. 3 is intended
as a perspective of the workshop or manufactory where the twisting,
charging, and countering the fuzes are in operation.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this
Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord One 5
thousand eight hundred and thirty-two.
WILLIAM (L.S.) BICKFORD.