Improvements in Protective Paints or Compositions for Ships.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 19th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Protective Paints or Compositions for Ships.
I, LUDWIG PFLUG, of Kiel, Germany, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
Of the protective paints or compositions heretofore employed for coating ships
bottoms, none fully satisfy the practical requirements. Up to the present time
more or less poisonous substances were mixed with these compositions, for the
purpose of preventing the adhesion of objectionable animal or vegetable organisms.
Practice has shewn that in nearly all cases such additions do not accomplish their
object.
The present invention is based upon the observation made by me that the living
organisms which approach a ship in incredibly large quantities and of some size,
do not adhere thereto as completely developed objects, but are almost entirely in
an embryonic condition. Only after these embryonic, protoplasmic masses have
existed for some time floating about in the sea, they experience the necessity of
depositing themselves in a gelatinous condition upon surfaces suitable for their
further development, and where they have also the ready means of obtaining fresh
nourishment from every successive wave.
In consequence hereof these organisms are to be found on every object that is
sufficiently exposed to the sea-water, such as stones, piles, buoys or ships.
As the deposited animalculæ, whether in the embryonic or more developed
condition, are, as is well known, devoid of all organs by means of which they
would be capable of assimilating solid food or food of difficult solubility, it is of
course quite impossible for them to absorb solid or with difficulty soluble substances
of a poisonous nature, such as corrosive sublimate, oxide of mercury &c., so that
the supposed effect of addition of such substances to the paint or composition is
quite illusory.
In consequence of these observations I have arrived at the result, that the ships
composition should not contain the poisonous substances referred to, but a substance
that is capable of destroying the power of germinating or developing of such
organisms, and thus to prevent them from developing into the animalculæ which
act so detrimentally upon the behaviour of the ship.
My invention consists essentially in imparting to the ships bottom the property
of destroying in its germinal condition every protoplasmic mass that adheres to a
ship, that is to say in giving to the ships bottom a coating to which is added in
sufficient quantity a substance which shall possess the said physiological property.
As such substance may serve every chemical compound that will, on the one
hand, have a coagulating action upon the said protoplasmic masses, and on the
other hand will behave in a neutral or non injurious manner in respect to the other
substances contained in the composition and to the sheathing of the ship.
As effective substances for this purpose I have found to be hydrazin and its
salts, as also hydroxylamine and its salts. These substances, although they may
be more or less poisonous, act mainly directly coagulating upon albumen; and
consequently destructive upon the protoplasms of the organisms in question, while
on the other hand they have no injurious action upon the other constituents of the
composition or upon the ship's sheathing.
In preparing the composition or paint any compound suitable for a protective
composition or coating may be employed whether the vehicle used be spirit oil or
lac, and to this compound is added hydrazin, or bydroxylamine or their salts, or

page_text: any other body having similar physiological properties, and the whole is incor-
porated in such manner that the said substance is uniformly distributed throughout
the mass.
The proportions in which the substance is used are very variable and are not
easily specified, as they depend upon the particular nature of the waters in which
the ship is to sail. Thus for example ships navigating the North Sea require less
of the said substance than ships sailing in other waters.
Generally speaking the proportion may vary between one per cent. and ten per cent.
or even more.
Dated this 11th dow of Iul 1900
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Protective Paints or Compositions for Ships.
I, LUDWIG PFLUG, of Kiel, Germany, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Of the protective paints or compositions heretofore employed for coating ships
bottoms, none fully satisfy the practical requirements. Up to the present time
more or less poisonous substances were mixed with these compositions, for the
purpose of preventing the adhesion of objectionable animal or vegetable
organisms.
Practice has shewn that in nearly all cases such additions do not accomplish their
object.
The present invention is based upon the observation made by me that the living
organisms which approach a ship in incredibly large quantities and of some size, do
not adhere thereto as completely developed objects, but are almost entirely in an
embryonic condition. Only after these embryonic protoplasmic masses have existed
for some time floating about in the sea, they experience the necessity of depositing
themselves in a gelatinous condition upon surfaces suitable for their further
development, and where they have also the ready means of obtaining fresh
nourishment from every successive wave.
In consequence hereof these organisms are to be found on every object that is
sufficiently exposed to the sea water, such as stones, piles, buoys or ships.
As the deposited animalculæ, whether in the embryonic or more developed
condition, are, as is well known, devoid of all organs by means of which they would
be capable of assimilating solid food or food of difficult solubility, it is of course
quite impossible for them to absorb solid or with difficulty soluble substances of a
poisonous nature, such as corrosive sublimate, oxide of mercury &c., so that the
supposed effect of addition of such substances to the paint or composition is quite
illusory.
In consequence of these observations I have arrived at the result, that the ships
composition should not contain the poisonous substances referred to, but a substance
that is capable of destroying the power of germinating or developing of such
organisms, and thus to prevent them from developing into the animalculæ which
act so detrimentally upon the behaviour of the ship.
My invention consists essentially in imparting to the ships bottom the property of
destroying in its germinal condition every protoplasmic mass that adheres to a ship,
that is to say in giving to the ships bottom a coating to which is added in sufficient
quantity a substance which shall possess the said physiological property.
As such substance may serve every chemical compound that will on the one hand,
have a coagulating action upon the said protoplasmic masses, and on the other hand
will behave in a neutral or non injurious manner in respect to the other substances
contained in the composition and to the sheathing of the ship.

page_text: As effective substances for this purpose I have found to be hydrazin and its salts,
as also hydroxylamine and its salts.
These substances, although they may be more or less poisonous, act mainly
directly coagulating upon albumen, and consequently destructive upon the
protoplasms of the organisms in question, while on the other hand they have no
injurious action upon the other constituents of the composition or upon the ships
sheathing.
In preparing the composition or paint any compound suitable for a protective
composition or coating may be employed whether the vehicle used be spirit oil or
lac, and to this compound is added hydrazin or hydroxylamine or their salts, or any
other body having similar physiological properties, and the whole is incorporated
in such manner that the said substance is uniformly distributed throughout the
mass.
The proportions in which the substance is used are very variable and are not
easily specified, as they depend upon the particular nature of the waters in which
the ship is to sail. Thus for example ships navigating the North Sea require less
of the said substance than ships sailing in other waters.
Generally speaking the proportion may vary between one per cent. and
ten per cent. or even more.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Preventing the adhesion of living organisms to ships bottoms by adding to the
paint or composition to be applied thereto a substance such as, for instance,
hydrazine, hydroxylamine, and their salts that will effect the direct coagulation or
destruction of the protoplasmic substances that deposit upon the ships bottom, sub-
stantially as described.
2. A paint or composition for ships containing a substance such for instance as
hydrazine, hydroxylamine, and the salts thereof, that will act destructively upon
the protoplasmic organisms adhering to the ships bottoms, substantially as
described.
Dated this 19th day of November 1892.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.