AN IMPROVED COMPO- SITION FOR COATING THE BOTTOMS OF IRON SHIPS TO PREVENT THEIR FOULING, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John McInnis, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Oil Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPO-
SITION FOR COATING THE BOTTOMS OF IRON SHIPS TO PREVENT THEIR FOULING,
AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
Scaled the 12th December 1854, and dated the 21st June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John McInnis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
June 1854.
I, JOHN MCINNIS, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Oil Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
COMPOSITION FOR COATING THE BOTTOMS OF IRON SHIPS TO PREVENT THEIR FOULING,
AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The using of metalic soap, in which may be combined mineral poisons, or
the combination of mineral poisons, with fatty matter, which it is proposed to
apply in a liquid state to the surface to be coated.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John McInnes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonx
MINNES, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Oil Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing late the Twenty-first-day of June, in the year of cur Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John McInnes, Her special licence that I, the said John McInnes, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John McInnes,
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 yend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR COATING THE BOTTOMS
o IRON SHIPS TO PREVENT THEIR FOULING, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," upen
condition (amongst others) that. I, the said John McInnes, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be perforined, 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 John McInnes, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 (that. is to say):
==
My Invention consists in the application of a metallic soap, in which may
be combined mineral poisons, to the bottoms of iron or wooden ships, to
prevent their fouling at sea, by the adhesion of animal, and vegetable
matter, and which I propose to apply to the surface to be coated in a liquid
state.
My mode of preparing a metallic soap is as follows:-I take a quantity of
what is termed in commerce "pale yellow soap," which is a compound of fat,
resin, and an alkali. I dissolve the soap in water, and then add a solution of
a metallic salt; mutual decomposition takes place, the fat and resin com-
bines with the metal in a state of oxide, forming a metallic soap, and the

page_text: The
alkali combines with the acid of the salt, which remains in solution.
mass of soap is then well washed in several waters, and when cool pressed to
remove as much adhering water as possible; any remaining water is driven off
by heat in an iron or other vessel.
In preparing a metallic soap for the purposes here intended, I prefer to
employ a salt of copper, and, in preference, the sulphate, or, as it is commonly
called, "blue vitriol." I dissolve "pale yellow soap" in water by steam, or
otherwise, and to every hundred parts thereof I add from forty to fifty parts of
the sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), or in such quantity as will cause a com-
plete decomposition of the soap. Should there be an excess of the salt of
copper (blue vitriol) it will do no injury, as it will be removed by the after
washings.
A potash or soft soap" may be treated in a similar manner, and for the
same purpose. A metallic soap may also be prepared by combining, directly,
an oxide of a metal with an oil or fat, as is well understood; but I prefer the
method herein-before described of preparing it from the pale yellow soap" of
commerce, as I find it to contain just that quantity of resin which is sufficient
to give hardness and tenacity to the composition.
To coat the bottom of a ship or vessel with the composition, I heat it in an
iron or other vessel until it becomes sufficiently fluid; then with a stiff brush
apply, while hot, a moderately thick coat. In the case of an iron vessel, I
would recommend that the composition be laid on over a coat of common oil
paint, previously well dried.
The object of my Invention is not only to present a poisonous surface
(when a cupreous or other poisonous soap is used), but that it shall become
sinooth and polished by the friction of the water on the composition while the
vessel is passing through the water, thereby presenting a surface to which
neither barnacle or sea weed can adhere.
The composition or compositions herein-before described may have other
poisonous ingredients mixed therewith, such as arsenic, oxides of inercury, or
other substances known to act injuriously on animal or vegetable life. When
a cupreous or other poisonous metallic soap is use, they will be found to be
unnecessary.
The compositions herein-before described will be found applicable to the
coating of any marine work requiring protection from the adhesion of animal
or vegetable life..
Having now described my Invention, and in what manner the same may be
performed, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the mode or

page_text: modes of preparing a metallic soap, or to the use thereof, except for the pur-
poses herein-before expressed; but what I claim is,-
First, the application of a metallic soap to the bottoms of ships or vessels to
prevent their fouling, by the adhesion of animal or vegetable life thereto,
whether the metallic soap is mixed with other matter or not, provided a
metallic soap is the basis of such composition.
Secondly, the application of a metallic soap, as herein-before described, to
marine works generally, that may require to be protected from the adhesion of.
animal or vegetable life.
In witness whereof, I, the said John McInnes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
WILLIAM WALKER.
JOHN (L.S.) McINNES.