AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF STARCH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Maugham,. of Ifield Terrace, Stockwell, in
the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF STARCH."
Sealed the 8th July 1856, and dated the 21st April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Maugham at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st April 1856.
I, WILLIAM MAUGHAM, of Ifield Terrace, Stockwell, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT.
IN THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF STARCH," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the preparation or.
manufacture of starch, and consists in making or preparing starch which shall
have the property of rendering the fabrics to which it may be applied incapable
of transmitting flame or fire. For this purpose, the starch having been manu-
factured, is saturated or mixed with phosphate of ammonia, and a small
quantity of muriate of ammonia. The starch is afterwards dried or prepared,
to render it suitable for the market.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Maugham in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MAUGHAM, of Ifield Terrace, Stockwell, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, 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 THE PREPARATION OR MANUFACTURE OF STARCH," 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 I, 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 the preparation or
manufacture of starch, and consists in making or preparing starch which shall
have the property of rendering the fabrics to which it may be applied incapable
of transmitting flame or fire. For this purpose, the starch having been manu-
factured, is saturated or mixed with phosphate of ammonia, and a small
quantity of muriate of ammonia. The starch is afterwards dried or prepared,
to render it suitable for the market.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.

page_text: After the water is decanted off at the end of the process usually practised
for making starch, and before the starch is dried, I mix and thoroughly
incorporate with it phosphate of ammonia, in the proportion of 480 grains to
1 oz. of the moist starch. The starch is then to be dried in the usual manner,
when it will be fit for the market, and is to be mixed with water and applied
to the fabric in the usual way. Or, after the starch has been made by any of
the usual methods and has become dry, I add phosphate of ammonia, in the
proportion of 600 grains of the salt to one oz. of starch. These ingredients
are then to be incorporated, by grinding them together, or by any other mode
of trituration that may be found convenient. The starch is then ready for
use, and may be mixed with the usual quantity of water, and applied to linen
or other fabrics in the ordinary way. It is, however, to be observed, that the
fabrics should not be thoroughly dried and then sprinkled with water, after the
manner generally adopted by laundresses, before ironing, but the fabrics should
be partially dried, and then rolled tight in a dry cloth, and allowed to remain
some time before ironing; and to prevent the iron from sticking, a little clean
tallow or white wax should be previously added to the starch when it is being
mixed with the water. This method is known to those who starch fabrics.
I find the abovo proportions of phosphate of ammonia and starch thoroughly
efficient in rendering fabrics fire-proof, but I do not confine myself to such
proportions. When starch is to be used for coarse fabrics for the purpose of
rendering them fire-proof, muriate of ammonia may be employed with the
phosphate of ammonia, and in that case the phosphate of ammonia is to be
diminished in proportion to the quantity of muriate of ammonia added.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
application of phosphate of ammonia in the manufacture of starch.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Maugham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
W. MAUGHAM. (L.S.)