CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES, SAFES, OR OTHER DEPOSITORIES FOR THE PROTECTION OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIALS FROM FIRE
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MILNER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Safety Box Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Milner, Her special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Milner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Thomas Milner, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should agree with, and no other, 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 and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOXES, SAFES, OR
OTHER DEPOSITORIES FOR THE PROTECTION OF PAPER OR OTHER MATERIALS FROM
FIRE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Thomas Milner, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Milner, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My improvements in boxes, safes, or other depositories for the protection of
papers or other materials from fire, consist in constructing, forming, or manu-
facturing such boxes, safes, or other depositories of an outer case of iron or
other metal or material, enclosing one, two, or more inner cases, with spaces or
chambers between them, containing an absorbent material or composition, such
as porous wood, dust of wood, dust of bones, or similar substances, in which are
distributed vessels, pipes, or tubes filled with an alkaline solution, or any other
liquid or matter evolving steam or moisture, the tubes or vessels bursting or
otherwise discharging themselves, on the exposure of the box or other deposi-
tory to heat or fire, into the surrounding absorbent matter, which, thus prevaded
with moisture and rendered difficult of distruction, protects the inner cases or
boxes and their contents. I would here remark, that this Invention is equally
applicable to all depositories or receptacles of property, in order to protect the
same from fire, as, for instance, the linings of strong rooms, safes, closets,
chests, and also for enclosures for alphabetical or other nests of partitions or
chambers for depositing office papers, &c.; and it may also be applied sepa-
rately to book bindings, such as their covers, backs, and edges, for ledgers,
valuable manuscripts, or other books in libraries, which, thus protected, the
exterior may fearlessly be submitted to a red heat without the slightest injury
to the enclosed property. It is also equally applicable to lining secrataries,
writing and travelling desks or cases, portfolios, chests for laces, silks, or other
valuable goods, plate and jewel boxes, &c. Although it may appear that I
have sufficiently described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be practically applied, yet, for the sake of illustration, I
have attached to these Presents a Drawing, representing a safety box or depo-
sitory, for the purpose of shewing the application of my Invention distinctly,
and marked the same with figures and letters of reference, placing similar
letters upon corresponding parts in all the Figures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a top view of a safety box open, or with the lid thrown
back; Fig. 2, a horizontal section; and Fig. 3, a vertical section, taken
through the same. The outer casing of metal or other material is represented
at a, a, a, a, and the inner casing at b, b, b, b, enclosing any absorbent material

page_text: or substance; c, c, c, c, vessels, pipes, or tubes filled with liquid, as shewn at
d, d, d, d, which is the arrangement or distribution I prefer, but of course to
which I am not confined.
Having now particularly described my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that I do not claim
the construction of a hollow chambered box or case, nor the interposition
of a non-conducting material therein, as I am aware that such contrivances
have hitherto been used to protect property from fire; but I claim as my
Invention, the introduction or application of the combined effect in chambered
boxes or depositories of the moisture and material kept humid in the space
surrounding the innermost box and its contents, without in any way being con-
fined to the material or liquid employed, or the manner in which it may be
distributed or arranged, in order to produce the desired effect of protecting
boxes, safes, or other depositories enclosing papers or other materials from
fire.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Milner, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.