IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richard Jeune, of 4, Flower Terrace,
Campbell Road, Bow, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS."
Sealed the 27th July 1860, and dated the 6th March 1860..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richard Jeune
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th March 1860.
I, WILLIAM RICHARD JEUNE, of 4, Flower Terrace, Campbell Road, Bow,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-LIGHTERS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-lighters. For this
purpose I mix cork dust or shavings with pitch or other suitable inflammable
and cementing material; and I spread this composition on thin pieces of wood
or other material. To form a fire-lighter, I employ two rectangular pieces,
prepared as above described, each with several holes formed through it, and
connect the two together parallel the one to the other by connecting pieces
or pillars of wood passing from one to the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Richard Jeune, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHARD JEUNE, of 4, Flower Terrace, Campbell Road, Bow, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Richard Jeune, Her special licence that I, the said William Richard
Jeune, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Richard Jeune, 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 vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FIRE LIGHTERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Richard Jeune, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, 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 William Richard Jeune, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
'to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-lighters. For this
purpose I mix cork dust or shavings with pitch or other suitable inflammable
and cementing material; and I spread this composition on thin pieces of wood
or other material. To form a fire-lighter, I employ two rectangular pieces
prepared as above described, each with several holes formed through it, and
connect the two together parallel the one to the other by connecting pieces
or pillars of wood passing from one to the other.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The Invention consists in combining ground cork with pitch or other

page_text: suitable inflammable and cementing material, and in applying such coni-
position with thin pieces of wood. or other materials when making up "fire-
lighters." And the Invention also consists in combining thin pieces: of wood,
coated or combined with a composition such as above described, by means of
connecting pieces of wood, so as to retain the others or first-mentioned pieces
parallel to each other. In carrying out the Invention cork dust. (ground
cork) is mixed with melted pitch, or rosin, or other inflammable and cementing
material, which is conveniently done by the use of a pug mill, or the mixing
may be by any convenient apparatus, and such mixture is then applied to and
combined with thin pieces of wood, so as to make up suitable forms or
structures to be used for lighting fibres. I prefer that the quantity of pitch,
rosin, or other inflammable and cementing matters should only slightly coat the
grains of the ground cork, so that when they become cold and the cementing
inflammable matter is set, the same will retain the form into which it has been
shaped when in a plastic state. The thin pieces of wood I prefer should
be coated over or saturated with pitch, or rosin, or other inflammable material
used with the cork dust, and the composition of inflammable material and
cork dust may be applied all over the surfaces, or partly over the surfaces of
the thin pieces of wood. In making up suitable forms for " 'fire-lighters," by
the combined use of ground cork, inflammable cementing inatters, and thin
pieces of wood, I prefer to employ moulds suitably formed for receiving the
pieces of wood, which pieces may have holes in them, and may be attached
together by connecting pieces of wood, so as to hold them parallel to each
other, or such connecting pieces and the holes may be dispensed with, and thin
pieces of wood may be connected at intervals or at their ends by means of the
composition of cork dust, and inflammable material.
Figure 1 shews a plan, and Figure 2 a section of a fire-lighter in the form
which I prefer. a, a, are thin pieces of wood, saturated or coated with
inflammable matter with or without cork dust; these pieces of wood are
placed in a mould, and then the composition of cork dust and inflammable
cementing material is introduced in a heated state, and pressed into the mould
by which the pieces of thin wood (or it might be paper or straw, wood
shavings, or like materials, but I prefer thin pieces of wood,) are cemented
together, leaving spaces or interstices between them for the passage of air and
flames.
Figure 3 shows a plan, and Figure 4 a section of the mould used in
producing the form of "fire-lighter" shewn in Figures 1 and 2, but the forms
of fire-lighters may be greatly varied, proper moulds being used in each case.
In using the mould, Figures 3 and 4, the thin pieces of wood a, a, are intro-

page_text: duced into the mould, as shewn, then the composition or mixture of cork dust
and inflammable material is, whilst hot, introduced and rammed or pressed
into the mould, so as, together with the thin pieces of wood, to fill the mould.
When connecting pieces of wood are used, suitable recesses are made in the
moulds to receive then as well as the pieces a, a, and the pieces a, a, are
prepared with notches or openings to receive the ends of the connecting pieces,
and then the whole are cemented together by filling the other parts of the
moulds with the composition or mixture above described. It is preferred that
numerous moulds should be connected together, and simultaneously filled.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richard Jeune, have hereunto ]
set my hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM RICHARD JEUNE. (L.S.)