AN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF PREPARING CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND FITTING-UP OF HOUSES, SHIPS, AND OTHER WORKS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Draftsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of October, in the second year of
Her reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
eight, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years, therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and, in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OR METHODS OF PREPARING CERTAIN SUBSTANCES FOR THE PRESERVATION
OF WOOD, AND OTHER MATERIALS USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND FITTING-UP OF
HOUSES, SHIPS, AND OTHER WORKS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" being a communication from a foreigner residing
abroad, in which said Letters, Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and

page_text: seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that
11
is to say):-
This Invention has for its object certain processes by means of which natural
or other bitumen, or any product derivable from the distillation of bituminous
schistus coal, and such substances, may be put into a permanent liquid state
and used in that state cold either as a waterproof paint for covering fences,
wooden palings, or other constructions of wood for the purpose of protecting
them from the weather or for making a composition which may be applied to
the construction of roads or ways. The methods employed in carrying this
"Invention into effect are as follows:-As the bitumen being generally found in
a.pure and solid state, it must be fused or melted in an iron cauldron or
boiler, by means of steam, and in order that it may be reduced to a molten
state with greater facility, it should be reduced to powder, or to very small
pieces; the bitumen is then put into the cauldron or boiler, and about ten
per cent. of common turpentine is added during the operation of melting.
"When this mixture is perfectly melted, about seventy-five per cent. of oil of
schistus, or other mineral oil in a rectified state is to be added, and the whole
being well heated should be stirred for some time to render the mixture of the
several ingredients complete, after which the whole is to be. poured into an
iron reservoir and allowed to cool. When the above preparation is nearly
cold, about twenty-five per cent. of the essence of turpentine should be added,
and the whole well stirred and agitated with a large iron ladle, whilst the
essence of turpentine is being added in order that the consistence of 'the whole
mass of liquid should be the same. "When this has been done, take ten per
cent. of the hydrate of lime and pass it through a wire sieve and mix it with a
sufficient quantity of bitumen (the preparation of which has been described
above) until it arrives at about the consistence of honey, then add it to the mass
of liquified bitumen and mix them well with a large ladle, or other suitable
instrument, so that the lime shall be equally distributed throughout the whole
mass. Natural, or other bitumens prepared in this manner, will be found to

page_text: be in a permanent liquid state, and in this state they may be used cold, firstly,
as a waterproof paint for covering or preserving from the effects of the weather
bricks, stones, plasters, concretes, wood, metals, mill-board, paper, cordage, and
any other articles requiring such protection; and secondly, as a mastic to be
used in the construction of roads or ways. In this latter instance it will be
necessary to add chalk, sand, and small stones or pebbles in sufficient quantities
according to the situation and circumstances of the case.
Having now described the Invention communicated to me, I wish it to be
understood that I do not mean or intend to confine myself to the exact pro-
portions in which the above ingredients are mixed, as they may, perhaps, be
beneficially varied in some cases, but the proportions mentioned have been
found to answer very well, and will serve to point out the manner in which
the Invention may be carried into effect. And I hereby declare that what I
claim as the Invention secured to me by the present Letters Patent is the pre-
paration of a bituminous composition that shall remain in a permanent liquid
state without the application of heat, and which bituminous composition may
be used in a cold state as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, One thousand