IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Hodges, of New York, in the United States
of America, temporarily resident at 2, Palace Yard, Westminster,
Gunpowder Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER."
Sealed the 22nd December 1857, and dated the 22nd August 1857.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Henry Hodges at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration, on
the 22nd August 1857, pursuant to the 9th section of the Patent Law
Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, HENRY HODGES, of New York, in the United States of
América, temporarily resident at 2, Palace Yard, Westminster, Gunpowder
Manufacturer, have this day presented my petition to Her most Excellent
Majesty Queen Victoria, for a grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, of Letters Patent in respect of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER."
NOW KNOW YE, that I do hereby declare the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in mixing the ingredients or component parts of gun-
powder, namely, charcoal, saltpetre, and sulphur, in their usual proportions in
the ordinary way, and in then putting them into a suitable pot or vessel made
of any description of metal or earthenware, into which vessel sufficient steam
is admitted by any suitable apparatus, to damp the composition, dissolve the
saltpetre, and soften the sulphur. By these means the saltpetre is more inti-

page_text: mately blended with the other ingredients than by ordinary processes of
manufacture. During this process the composition should be kept well
stirred up, to expose it as much as possible to the action of the steam, and
this may be continued until the whole of the saltpetre is dissolved, when it is
taken out, and when sufficiently dry it is ground under the mill runners in the
usual way.
I would prefer the vessel in which the composition is placed for the action
of the steam to resemble the construction of a coffee grinder, churn, or
revolving barrel, but any description of vessel may be used, with or without a
cover or lid; I should, however, recommend a lid to be used for the purpose
of retaining the steam as much as possible. After the composition has under-
gone this process it can be withdrawn from the vessel, and a fresh supply
placed therein. The process may be applied either to a small quantity or to a
quantity weighing a ton or upwards, but the vessel must of course be made of
a size in proportion to the quantity of composition intended to be dealt with at
once. I recommend that the vessel should be large enough to hold three
times the quantity of the composition actually under treatment.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating
from the principles or main features of my said Invention, nor do I claim any
of the mechanical elements of which the said apparatus and parts of apparatus
are respectively composed as being separately or apart from the use or
application of such elements to form the combination constituting such apparatus
and parts of apparatus respectively, as being any part of my said Invention;
but what I claim as my Invention is, the application and use of steam or the
vapour of water to and in the process of the manufacture of gunpowder, for
the purposes and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Hodges, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
HENRY HODGES. (L.S.)