IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING TIMBER, AND GENERALLY ALL KINDS OF WOOD
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, and of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING TIMBER, AND GENERALLY
ALL KINDS OF WOOD."
Sealed the 2nd June 1854, and dated the 15th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Edouard Paschal
Le Gros at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Peti-
tion, on the 15th March 1854.
I, ANTOINE EDOUARD PASCHAL LE GROS, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
and of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING TIMBER, AND
GENERALLY ALL KINDS OF WOOD" to be as follows, and to consist in immersing
the wood in a solution of muriate of magnesia, reduced to a neutral state by
an admixture of carbonated chalk or alumina, and diluted with water. The
preserving solution may be still further improved by the admixture of some
tarry or resinous oil, previously treated with concentrated sulphuric acid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 30th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
EDOUARD PASCHAL LE GROS, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 16,
Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, Her special licence that I, the said
Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, my execu-
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING TIMBER, AND
GENERALLY ALL KINDS OF WCOD," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and scal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Antoine Edouard Paschal Le Gros, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
My improvements consist in a new mode of effectually preserving timber
and all kinds of wood by means of a cheap chemical compound, which does not
destroy the fibrous structure of wood or otherwise injure it. For this purpose,
I use a solution of muriate or hydrochlorate of manganese resulting from the
manufacture of chlorides of lime, and of the bleaching liquid called lye, or
water of javelle, or chloride of potash, which residue has no use at present, and
is treated like waste by the manufacturers of those articles. This salt con-
taining a great proportion of acid, I neutralize it by admixture of a sufficient
quantity of chalk, carbonate of chalk, or of oxyd of alumina. The salt thus
reduced to a neutral state, gauges by the areometer, used for concentrated acids,
from thirty to thirty-five degrees, and may therefore easily be carried to the
place where it is to be applied as a solution, containing three parts weight water
to one of acid. The acid in the residue may also be neutralized, and the
ferruginous matter in it precipitated by means of oxyd-of zinc.. I thus obtain
a double salt of -manganese and of zinc, which has the same or superior
preserving qualities as the double salt of manganese and of lime produced, as

page_text: above described. This double salt of manganese and zinc is very efficiently
applied to absorbing the effluvia of putrid or putrescent matter. For preserving
wood, the solution obtained in either of the two ways described is poured into
a trough, and the immersion of the logs or pieces of wood is effected by
placing them vertically in the trough, in such manner that they are steeped in
the liquid, to about three quarters of their length. The wood is thus subjected
to the action of the solution during a length of time, varying from twelve to
forty-eight hours. The solution rises in the fibres of the wood, and impreg-
nates them by the capillary force alone, without requiring any mechanical action,
whilst a horizontal immersion under the same circumstances has been found to
produce no satisfactory effect. The timber which has been thus prepared
acquires new properties, having become incombustible, and the changes of
temperature having no influence upon it; they also are hardened, and their
preservation is a more lasting one than that effected by metallic sulphates,
which weaken the ligneous fibre and impart to wood brittleness and a tendency
to crack and warp under the action of heat. It will be easy, and, in some
cases, convenient, to combine the good effects of creosote with those of either of
the two solutions obtained as above described. For this purpose, I dissolve in
concentrated sulphuric acid a variable quantity of some tarry or resinous oil;
I then dilute this solution with water, and mix a suitable quantity of it with
the solution of muriate of manganese when required.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is, preserving all kinds of wood, or timber, or organic matter by means
of a solution of a double salt of manganese and of lime, or of a double salt of
manganese and of zinc, used both either alone or with an admixture of
creosote, obtained in the manner described above.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Edouard Paschal le Gros, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 23rd (Twenty-third) day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1854.
A. E. P. LE GROS. (L.S.)