A Liquid for Producing Imitations of the Movements of Insects upon Water.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Aug., 1894-Accepted, 15th Sept., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Liquid for Producing Imitations of the Movements of Insects
upon Water.
I, ROBERT BIEWEND, of the School of Mines, Clausthal, in the Kingdom of
Prussia, Empire of Germany, Professor, do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The present invention relates to a liquid characterized by a very peculiar
physical phenomenon the cause of which is not yet known and whereby the liquid
is caused to dance about on the surface of water in such way that its action very
much resembles the motion of aquatic insects such as water beetles etc., and, owing
to this resemblance, it can be made to afford a very original and interesting, and,
at the same time, very attractive recreative pastime to both young and old alike.
The property of self-locomotion while floating on water belongs to several solid
bodies known in chemistry, but the phenomenon has not its analogy in liquids. It
has been claimed that ether placed in small flat shells on water would show an
automatic movement, but, notwithstanding a great many experiments which 1
have made to see if this was so, I have not been able to find the slightest trace of
locomotion.
The liquid I use differs essentially from ether, since, instead of spreading itself
over the surface of the water when placed on same directly, it divides itself into discs
complete in themselves and entirely free from each other and which discs have an
independent automatic motion.
The automatic movement noticed in solid bodies has been attributed-and
apparently with reason-to their volatility on coming into contact with air or gas
developed in water. But in order that a liquid produce the phenomenon of loco-
motion, it is necessary not only that it be volatile and that it contain volatile
bodies, but also that it be not of a nature to dilute itself in water as is the case
with alcohol, or spread over the surface of the water as is the case with ether.
There is only the solution of collodium and a mixture of ether and alcohol which
give a volatile liquid, drops of which have the coherent properties required.
Ether can be replaced by any other such substance such as acetic ether etc.
A solution of gun cotton and ether gives drops which have a pronounced loco-
motive movement when said solution is sufficiently dense; but this solution has the
defect of congealing in the neck of the bottle and of therefore blocking same up.
On the other hand it is impossible to use pure alcohol without adding ether, as the
collodium is not soluble. If a too great quantity of pure ether is added to
increase the liquidification, the result will be that the drops will not have sufficient
coherent properties and 'will in consequence spread over all the surface of the
water.
Gun cotton not being volatile does not contribute in any way towards developing
the locomotive properties of the liquid; but the addition of same is indispensable,
since, on the one hand, it prevents the alcohol from mixing with the water, whilst,
on the other hand, it prevents the ether from spreading over the whole surface of
the water. The gun cotton is therefore the agent which gives floating and
coherent properties to the alcohol and ether and I therefore prepare my liquid by
mixing one part of gun cotton to five parts of ether and fifty parts of alcohol.
Seeing alcohol forms four fifths of the composition, it will be evident that it is
alcohol which is the cause which animates the drops with their locomotive force
and which was not previously known in alcohol. This action must not be attributed
simply to the volatility of the alcohol, since ether is more volatile, but rather to its
L

page_text: force of expansion proceeding from the lighter specific solution of alcohol and of
water produced under each disc.
This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by experiments made with drops of the
new liquid on alcoholized water when it was found that the expansive force
acting on the drops was less energetic and the drops also rapidly lost their
movement but when the drops were re-placed on water, they immediately became
full of vitality again.
I will now describe the action of my liquid and the various ways in which same
can be manipulated.
If a drop of the liquid is allowed to fall on the surface of water, it floats oi same
in the form of a disc which immediately becomes very animated, sometimes turning
rapidly round on its own axis and at other times darting about in both directions.
These movements continue at their greatest intensity for about six or seven minutes
and then begin to slacken or get less intense until they finally cease which is after
about from thirteen to twenty minutes' time.
By coloring the drops black, the action of same exactly resembles insects
gambolling on the water, the insects appearing larger or smaller in accordance
with the size of the drops. Any sort of insect can be imitated by coloring the
drops or discs differently. To imitate worms, it is merely necessary to allow the
drops to congeal or get a little solid on the water, which takes place in a few
seconds, and then take them out, roll them into the form of a worm's body and
then re-place same in the water when the slow crawling movements will be
perfectly reproduced and the effect surprising-especially if the forms have been
colored differently.
Seeing solutions of ether and of alcohol are already known, I do not base my
claim on the composition of the liquid but on the use of same for the purpose of
amusement or recreation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
The use of a liquid consisting of a solution of gun cotton in a volatile substance,
such as ether, acetic ether, alcohol or the like, with or without the addition of
coloring matter, and which solution is characterized by the self-locomotive
properties of its drops on coming into contact with the surface of water and on
which said drops by reason of their inordinate movements resemble insects jumping
and gambolling on the water.
Dated this 2nd day of August 1894.
J. E. EVANS-JACKSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.