A DISCOVERY AND PREPARATION OF A MUCILLAGE OR THICKENING MATTER TO BE USED IN PRINTING OR COLORING LINEN, WOOLLEN, AND COTTON CLOTHS AND SILKS, IN CASES IN WHICH GUMS, MUCILLAGES, OR OTHER THICKENING MATTERS. ARE NOW EMPLOYED
Year: 1823

page_text: BOURDIEU'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BOURDIEU, of Lime Street, in the City of London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of April 1828, in the fourth year
of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said John Bourdieu, my exors,
admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Bourdieu, my exors, admors, and assigns,
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, the Invention of which I am in possession, in consequence of a
communication made to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad, of "A
DISCOVERY AND PREPARATION OF A MUCILLAGE OR THICKENING MATTER TO BE USED
IN PRINTING OR COLORING LINEN, WOOLLEN, AND COTTON CLOTHS AND SILKS, IN
CASES IN WHICH GUMS, MUCILLAGES, OR OTHER THICKENING MATTERS. ARE NOW
EMPLOYED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if
1, the said John Bourdieu, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, and cause the
same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Bourdieu, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-
The mucillage or thickening matter to be used in printing or coloring linen.
woollen, and cotton cloths and silks, in cases in which gums, mucillages, and
other thickening matters are now employed, is made from the grain or -seed-
which is found in the fruit or pod of the tree called in English "carob trec," or
"Saint John's bread," in French "caronbier." This grain or seed may be
used in any manner by which its mucilaginous parts or properties can be applied
in the operations of printing and coloring above referred to. The mode which
the person who informed me of the discovery thinks is best adapted to this
end is as follows:-When the fruit or pod of this tree is ripe, the grain or scel
is to be taken out of it by cutting, threshing, friction, or by a mill, or in any
other manner which may be found convenient. The seed, when separated
from the fruit or pod, is to bo cleansed from the pulp or flesh which may
adhere to it; this may be done by washing, drying, scraping, or friction, or in
another manner, which may be found convenient. The seed is to bo very
finely pulverized by any process adequate to effect the operation; it may be
done by the pestle and mortar, or by a mill, or by the methods used in the
pulverization of drugs and substances of a hard nature for medicinal or che-
mical purposes. As the pellicule or skin forms about one-tenth part of each
seed, and is not mucilaginous, it will be desirable that the seed should be
divested of it before the operation of pulverizing is commenced. The method
to be pursued to get rid of the pellicule or skin is to steep the grain in sul-
phuric or other corrosive acid till the pellicule or skin is so carbonized that it
will slip off or leave the seed; this usually takes place in good sulphuric acid
in about six hours, and the effect of the process may be judged of by taking
out from the acid some of the grains from time to time, in order to find whether
the destruction of the pellicule is completed; this may be ascertained by
immersing some of the seeds in water, and then rubbing them between the
thumb and fingers. When the pellicule is sufficiently carbonized or destroyed,
the seed is to be taken out of the sulphuric acid and washed in water, and

page_text: then the skin will be easily got rid of by stirring it about in the water, or the
seed may be dried and then rubbed in cloths, or shaken in sacks or sieves; by
either method the skin will be removed. The seed must be dried before the
operation of pulverizing commences. The carob seed, when reduced to a fine
powder, is to be used in the various operations of printing and colouring linen,
woollen, and cotton cloths and silks, in the same manner as flour and starch
are now respectively mixed and used as thickening matters in such operations,
with this difference, that the carob seed should be kept in a boiling state, with
the liquid to be thickened, for a space of from thirty to forty minutes according
to the heat of the fire. The quantity of carob seed which is necessary for
each operation is to be regulated according to the degree of consistence which
may be required; the quantity will be different according to the different
mordants, and the different modes of impression or colouring to which it is to
be applied. The workman must, according to the work to be done, ascertain the
degree of consistence required to be produced by the carob seed, in the same
manner as the degree of consistence required to be produced by gum senegal,
or other thickening matters is now ascertained; and it is necessary to observe,
that in all cases in which carob seed is used without having been first divested
of its pellicule or skin, whether applied as a substitute for gum, or for other
thickening matters, the mordants and colours prepared with carob seed ought
to be of rather a thicker consistence than would be requisite for a mordant or
colour for a similar operation when such mordant or colour is thickened by or
used with gum senegal, but when used after the pellicule or skin has been
removed, its consistence must be the same as when such mordants or colours
are thickened by or used with gum senegal. In general, it will be found that
when the pellicule is not removed, one pound of carob seed should be used
where about eight pounds, or from eight to about nine pounds of gum senegal
are now required. In cases where the pellicule or skin has been detached
from the carob seed, about one pound of carob seed should be used where about
nine pounds, or from nine to ten pounds of gum senegal are now required.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Bourdieu, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of August,
in the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid John Bourdieu 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 Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.