CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF RENDERING WOOD IMPERISHABLE AND UNINFLAMMABLE
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mayelston Haldon, of Lime Street,
in the City of London, Esquire, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF RENDERING WOOD IMPERISHABLE
AND UNINFLAMMABLE."- A communication.
Sealed the 28th May 1853, and dated the 30th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Mayelston
Haldon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 30th November 1852.
I, JAMES MAYELSTON HALDON, of Lime Street, in the City of
London, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF RENDERING WOOD IM-
PERISHABLE AND UN-INFLAMMABLE " to be as follows: -
After having dilated the pores of the wood by steam in a thin
cast iron cylinder hermetically closed, you effect the vacuum of the
dissolved sap, and you introduce sulphur of calium or sulphate of
iron, which renders the wood un-inflammable and imperishable.
You place the wood in a cylinder hermetically closed, in order to
dilate the pores, after which you effect the vacuum; you then in-

page_text: troduce into the pores of the wood a solution of quartz in caustic
soda (natron caustique); you add a solution of boracic acid (acide
borique), and you extract the wood from the cylinder to dry it in
the open air.
You then prepare a mixture composed of a solution of quartz in
caustic soda (natron caustique), borate of soda, commonly called
borax, pulverized quartz and clay; you wash the wood all over.
with this new mixture, and after it has been thoroughly dried in
the open air it is submitted to a heat of from 80 to 100 degrees
Réaumur; you thus obtain a perfectly imperishable wood. The
woods which are to be used for under-ground purposes must undergo
the first process as above mentioned only; you need not wash
them with the un-inflammable compositions; and you then introduce
in their pores a solution of sulphate of zinc, which gives a wood
capable of resisting either the effects of the open air or of per-
nigione dompness
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said James Mayelston Haldon in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JAMES MAYELSTON HALDON, of Lime Street, in the City of London,
Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Mayelston
Haldon, Her special licence that I, the said James Mayelston
Haldon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Mayelston Haldon, my executors, adminis
trators, 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,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF RENDERING WOOD IMPERISHABLE AND UN-INFLAMMABLE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Mayelston
Haldon, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the saine to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Mayelston Haldon, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
My Invention consists in treating and preparing wood for the
above purposes in the following manner (that is to say):
To prepare wood by process No. 1, so as to give it the properties
of being imperishable, I proceed as follows:-I place the wood to
be operated upon within a cylinder, the ends whereof are after-
wards to be hermetically closed. I then introduce steam into said
cylinder for the purpose of dilating or opening the pores of the
wood; and having done this, I effect a vacuum in said cylinder by
any of the known means, so as to extract the dissolved sap from the
wood, and all air and moisture from the cylinder. I afterwards
introduce into the pores of the wood a solution of sulphuric calcium
heated to five degrees of Beaumé's thermometer, and at the pressure
of eight atmospheres or 116 pounds upon every square inch of
surface. I then effect another vacuum in the cylinder, and next
introduce a solution of sulphate of iron at three degrees Baumé,
and at the same pressure as before.
I would remark that, instead of using the sulphate of iron, the
same effect may be produced by infusing into the pores of the wood.
a solution of the chloride of zinc; and by this mode of treating and
preparing wood I impart to it the property of resisting the action
of atmospheric air thereon and pernicious dampness, which causes

page_text: wood in its natural state to rot; and wood treated and prepare
according to iny said Invention will be found eminently calculated
for underground structures, and other purposes.
And to prepare wood by process No. 2, so as to give it the pro
perty of being un-inflammable as well as imperishable, I proceed as
follows:
as before stated.
I first place the wood within a cylinder, the ends whereof are
hermetically closed, and then dilate the pores of the wood by steam
I then effect a vacuum in the cylinder as before
so as to extract the dissolved sap and moisture therefrom. I then
introduce into the cylinder a solution of sulphur of alum, which I
neutralize by the addition thereto of about ten per cent. of boracic
acid and iron; or instead of the sulphur of alum before mentioned,
I employ a solution of quartz in caustic soda (or natron caustique),
neutralized as above mentioned; and I introduce this solution into
the pores of the wood whilst they are dilated in the same manner
as that before stated with reference to the process for rendering
wood imperishable.
And having done this, I again effect a vacuum in the cylinder
as before, and then infuse a solution of sulphur of calcium, by which
I render the wood un-inflammable. I consider, however, that the
process will be much improved, and the un-inflammable property
of the wood rendered more certain, by the use of the following
mixture: I take a solution of quartz in caustic soda (natron
caustique), and borate of soda, commonly known as borax. And to
this I add pulverized quartz and clay. And I wash the wood all
over with this mixture, and then thoroughly dry it in the open air;
after which I submit it to a heat of from eighty to one hundred de-
grees Beaumé, by which I obtain a perfectly imperishable and un-
inflammable wood. I would remark, that in preparing wood which
is not required to be un-inflammable, I do not then wash the wood
with the last mentioned mixture, but simply treat it in the manner
before stated.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be and may be performed, I desire it

page_text: to be distinctly understood that I do not claim the exclusive use of
any of the separate ingredients, matters, or things above mentioned
and referred to, except when the same are employed in combination
and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I hereby declare
to consist in, and I claim as of my Invention for "Improvements in
the means of rendering Wood Imperishable and Un-inflammable,"
the mode set forth of treating and preparing wood by infusing into
the pores thereof the matters and solutions herein-before particu-
larly described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mayelston Haldon, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Thirtieth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
Witness,
ALEX'. PRINCE,
JA. MAYELSTON HALDON. (L.S.)
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.