AN IMPROVEMENT IN RENDERING WOOD FIREPROOF
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Maugham, of Ifield Terrace, in the County
of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RENDERING WOOD
FIREPROOF."
Sealed the 14th November 1856, and dated the 20th May 1856..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Maugham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th May 1856.
I, WILLIAM MAUGHAM, of Ifield Terrace, in the County of Surrey, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN RENDERING
WOOD FIREPROOr," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in rendering wood fire-
proof, and is applicable when using phosphate of ammonia with or without
other ingredients; and the improvement consists in simply steeping wood in a
solution containing phosphate of ammonia, or of producing phosphate of
ammonia within the wood, and of subjecting the solution and the wood to
heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Maugham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1856.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Maugham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE, PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
send meeting
:

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Maugham, Her special licence, that I, the said William Maugham,
my executors; administrators, and assigns, or such others as I; the said
William Maugham, 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
IMPROVEMENT IN RENDERING WOOD. FIREPROOF," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Maugham, my executors or administrators,
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 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 J, the said William Maugham, do hereby declare
the nature of, the, said Invention, and in what manner the same is, to be.per
formed, to be, particularly described and ascertained in, and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in rendering wood fire-
proof, and is applicable when using phosphate of ammonia with or without other
ingredients; and the improvement consists in simply steeping wood in a solu-
tion containing phosphate of ammonia, or of producing phosphate of ammonia
within the wood, and of subjecting the solution and the wood to heat.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
I dissolve, by preference, phosphate of ammonia in water, at the rate of 9600
grains of the phosphate of ammonia to one gallon of water; I then submit
the wood, placed in the solution in a steam boiler of sufficient capacity, to the
action of heat, so that the wood may be subjected to the boiling temperaturo
during a sufficient period for expelling the air from the pores of the wood.
As a portion of the water will pass off by evaporation, which will be seen by a
the height of the liquid in the water guage of the boiler, water must be
added from time to time to compensate for such evaporation. After the wood
has been boiled sufficiently for expelling the air, the boiler is to be closed,
and the wood is to be exposed to steam pressure, so that the liquid: may be

page_text: made to permeate the pores of the wood, and the more effectually the air is
withdrawn the more effectually will this permeation take place. No fixed or
stated period can be given for boiling and subjecting the wood to steam
pressure; as the time required in each case depends on the size and the nature
of the timber to be operated upon, the workman by practice and observation
will quickly become informed. The pressure, when the boiler is closed, should
be about 15 lbs. on the square inch, but the process may be hastened by
using a higher pressure. The boiler should comprise a water guage for
determining the height of the liquid, an exit pipe to allow the steam to
escape, a safety valve loaded according to the pressure employed; when the
steam exit pipe is closed a man-hole above the boiler through which the
liquid is to be introduced, which is to be closed when the charge is complete,
and another man-hole at one end of the boiler sufficiently large to allow of
the wood being introduced and closely packed. This packing of the wood
should be completed before the introduction of the liquid into the boiler.
There should also be a pipe as low as it can be conveniently placed in the
boiler for drawing off the liquid after the wood is properly impregnated.
This liquid can be employed again with fresh stock liquid. I prefer, for the
sake of economy, that the wood should be fashioned for the purpose for which
it is intended, after which it is to be taken to pieces, packed in the boiler, and
operated upon as above described. Instead of using phosphate of ammonia,
phosphate of soda and muriate or sulphate of ammonia in atomic or equivalent
proportions may be employed, dissolved in water, and the wood impregnated
therewith; but I prefer the direct use of phosphate of ammonia, as above
described. The wood should be well dried before submitting it to the process
of impregnation, and it should also be well dried before putting it together after
it has been prepared.
What I claim is the impregnation of wood with phosphate of ammonia,
when the solution and wood are subjected to heat in a suitable vessel.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Maugham, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
my
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
W. MAUGHAM. (L.S.)