AN IMPROVED MODE OF RENDERING PAINT UNINFLAMMABLE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International Patent
Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF RENDERING PAINT UNINFLAMMABLE."-A communication from
abroad by Joseph Benvhue Harris, of Germantown, Kentucky, United
States of America.
Sealed the 12th April 1867, and dated the 18th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1866.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Con-
sulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF RENDERING PAINT UNINFLAMMABLE," a communication,
to be as follows:-
The nature of the said Invention consists in the combination with ordinary
oil paints of calcined schist, shale, or mineral coal: The said schist, shale, or
coal is subjected to heat in a retort or kiln till all the bituminous and volatile.
substances have been expelled therefrom, and the residuum has been reduced.

page_text: to a friable and pulverous condition, the said residuum being of a light grey
or pearl color; this pulverous residuum is then bolted or sifted through a
fine sieve to free it from all hard lumps and gritty particles, and is then mixed
with the paint and ground in good boiled linseed oil. The quantity of the
calcined schist or shale required to render the paints uninflammable will
depend in some degree upon the "body" or other qualities of the various paints
employed. For white and read lead the following proportions may be used:-
Three parts (by weight) of the calcined schist, shale, or coal to one part of
the lead; and for ochres and umbers four parts of the calcined material to
one part of ochre or umber; for other paints the proportions should be about
the same as those last mentioned. No turpentine is used as a dryer, but
japan, or litharge, or dyers of a thin material should be employed. The
prepared schist, shale, or coal being, as before stated, of a light grey or pearl
color may be added to any paint without materially changing its hue, but a
paint without this ingredient may be used as a finishing coat if desired. The
chalky calcined residuum may be produced from nearly all kinds of mineral
coal, but the slightly bituminous schists or shales found in coal mines are the
best
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the said
William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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

page_text: Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF RENDERING PAINT UNIN
FLAMMABLE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
iny, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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
following statement:-
The nature of the said Invention consists in the combination with ordinary
oil paints of calcined schist, shale, or mineral coal, which is reduced to a
chalky and pulverous condition and freed from all hard and gritty particles.
The said schist, shale, or coal is subjected to heat in a retort or kiln till all
the bituminous and volatile substances have been expelled therefrom, and the
residuum bas been reduced to a friable and pulverous condition of a light
grey or pearl color; this pulverous residuum is then bolted or sifted through
a fine sieve to free it from all hard lumps and gritty particles, and is then
mixed with the paint and ground in good boiled linseed oil. The quantity of
the calcined schist or shale required to render the paints uninflammable will
depend in some degree upon the body or other qualities of the various paints
employed. For white and red lead the following proportions may be used:-
Three parts (by weight) of the calcined schist, shale, or coal to one part of
the lead; and for ochres and umbers four parts of the calcined material to
one part of ochre or umber; for other paints the proportions should be about
the same as those last mentioned. No turpentine is used as a dryer, but
The
japan, litharge, or dryers of a thin material should be employed.
prepared schist, shale, or coal being, as before stated, of a light grey or pearl
color may be added to any paint without materially changing its hue, but a
paint without this ingredient may be used as a finishing coat if desired. The
chalky calcined residuum may be produced from nearly all kinds of mineral
coal, but the slightly bituminous schists or shales found in coal mines are the
best.
When this improved composition is applied to wood the same will resist
the action of flame, sparks, and live coals, so that floors painted with the said
composition will not be liable to take fire from the falling upon them of
buining coals. Roofs of buildings will also be protected from the danger of

page_text: being ignited by sparks escaping from chimneys or burning shingles and
other light-burning substances carried by the wind from burning buildings in
the vicinity.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and shewn how the same may be conveniently and
advantageously carried into practice, I claim, the combination of pulverised
calcined schist, shale, or mineral coal with any kind of oil paint to render the
same uninflammable or fire-proof, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE HASELTINE.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)