IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DOUGLASS, of Morpeth, in the County of Northumberland, Rope Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of August, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Douglass, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Douglass, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Douglass, my exors, adññors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed; and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Joseph Douglass,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within two 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
Joseph Douglass, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
According to the ordinary means of making oakum, the same is most
generally produced from old cables untwisted, and in some instances, it is made
by twisting or spinning hemp into ropes, tarring the same, and then untwisting
and shaking them out. Now, the object of my Invention is to manufacture
oakum by saturating hemp without previous twisting, spinning, or forming into
ropes, whereby much labor and time are saved, consequently the cost is
reduced, and an excellent quality of oakum is produced. In order that my
Invention may be carried into effect, I will describe the process used by me. I
lower into an open boiler containing boiling tar a strong bag net, I then take
about one hundredweight of hemp at a time (that being a convenient quantity)
and throw the same gradually and little by little into the net, so that it may be
immersed in the tar, where the same is to remain for about fifteen minutes, by
which time the hemp will be saturated; I then, by means of a crane, raise
the net containing the hemp out of the boiler and place it in an hydraulic
press and express the superfluous tar therefrom. It is desirable that the press
should be situated sufficiently above the boiler, that by means of a spout the
tar as it is expressed from the hemp may flow again into the boiler. The hemp
thus treated is now to be taken from the net and well shaken out on to a floor,
or on to boards in order to dry, when the oakum will be ready for use in the
caulking of ships and such like purposes.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would remark that it is evident that other
descriptions of presses might be used, and the hemp might be placed in the
boiler by other means than by nets above described, though I believe not
with equal facility to that offered by the process above described. I would,
therefore, have it understood that I do not confine myself to the means
above described, but do claim the manufacturing of oakum by saturating
hemp, without previous twisting or spinning into ropes, and expressing the
superfluous tar therefrom, in place of making oakum by unwinding old
hempen cables, or by twisting hemp into ropes, tarring them, and unwinding
the same again in order to produce oakum therefrom, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Douglass, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
JO DOUGLASS. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Joseph Douglass came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-six.