PROVED METHOD, MEANS, AND PROCESS OF TREATING WOOD. SO THAT IT BECOMES 50 CHANGED AS TO BE WELL ADAPTED FOR USES FOR WHICH IT IS NATURALLY UNFIT
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wright, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars,
City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD,
Sealed the 12th September 1860, and dated the 13th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wright at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th March 1860.
I, JAMES WRIGHT, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, City of London
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
PROVED METHOD, MEANS, AND PROCESS OF TREATING WOOD. SO THAT IT BECOMES 50
CHANGED AS TO BE WELL ADAPTED FOR USES FOR WHICH IT IS NATURALLY UNFIT," a
communication to me from abroad by Philander Shaw, of Boston, Massa-
chussets, United States of America, to be as follows, that is to say:
The object of my Invention is to produce from wood as a cheap material, by
certain mechanical and chemical means, a new article of manufacture, which is
well fitted to be a substitute for more expensive materials now used in the arts,
the article produced being very dense, not liable to material change of form
from exposure to moisture, and well adapted to resist to an extraordinary
degree wear and friction.

page_text: The principle of my Invention consists in submitting wood to the dry heat
while confined in a compressed state within a mould subsequent to its prepara-
tion with waterproof material or otherwise. The wood, either wholly or
partially seasoned, and in suitable pieces, is submitted in a close vessel or
boiler to the action of high-pressure steam; after the wood is thoroughly
penetrated by the steam a vacuum is formed in the boiler by condensing the
steam or otherwise, and waterproof material with any desired dye or chemical
preservative is then introduced in a hot fluid state into the boiler. The whole
is then submitted to high pressure, in order to force the waterproof and other
matters into the pores of the wood, which is afterwards taken from the boiler and
submitted to dry heat to evaporate any watery or volatile matters therein con-
tained. The wood is now placed in suitable moulds. which may be heated and
compressed by a screw or other well known means, the moulds being secured
by means of bolts, so that the wood cannot recover any of its original bulk; the
moulds and the contents are then submitted to the action of dry heat, which is
most uniformly applied by means of an oven. The heat to be applied will
depend upon the nature of the wood made use of; judgement must, however,
be used in each case. Generally I have found about 300° Fah. sufficient,
which I find gives to the wood the requisite "set."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Wright in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WRIGHT, of 42, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, City of London, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth 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 James Wright, Her special licence that I, the said James
Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Wright, 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 AN IM-

page_text: PROVED METHOD, MEANS, AND PROCESS OF TREATING WOOD, SO THAT IT BECOMES SO
CHANGED AS TO BE WELL ADAPTED FOR USES FOR WHICH IT IS NATURALLY UNFIT,"
communication to me from abroad by Philander Shaw, of Boston, Massachussets,
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Wright, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 James Wright, 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:-
The object of my Invention consists in a peculiar mode of treating and
operating upon wood, by means of which I so alter its properties that I am
enabled to produce from it a substance capable of being substituted for more
expensive materials used in the production of various articles, and also to
apply it to purposes and uses in the arts and manufactures to which hitherto
it has not and cannot be applied in its present state. The resulting product
being extremely dense and hard, it is capable of resisting to an extraordinary
degree wear and friction, and will be found valuable as a cheap substitute for
horn, to be made into buttons, handles for cutlery, utensils, and such like articles;
also as a substitute for gun metal, alloys, and other metals, and as bearings for
the motive parts of machinery; for printing types, for pavements, building and
architectural purposes; to take the place of leather in the heels and soles of
boots and shoes, and other matters in the arts and manufactures too numerous
to mention.
The nature of my Invention consists in submitting wood to the action of
heat while confined in a compressed state within a mould, and also in so
treating the wood subsequent to filling or impregnating it, either wholly or
partially with resinous, oily, or other moisture-repelling substances, or with
metallic or mineral salts, or with any other preservative chemical or dyes.
The action of heat upon wood while confined in a compressed state in a mould
is to materially increase the hardness, which would result simply from com-
pression alone. Decay of the wood is also in a great measure arrested and
prevented, and its natural elasticity either wholly or partially destroyed,
according to the extent to which the process is carried. If the articles to be
made from the wood are to be finished or nearly so in the mould, then the

page_text: wood previous to compression should be cut into shapes of such size and form
But if the
as experience alone can determine for each different article.
articles to be made have to be shaped by cutting or other tools subsequent to
the compression of the wood, then the shape and size of the block of wood
may be of any suitable and convenient size and form.
In the practise of my Invention I submit the shapes or blanks of wood to
the action of high-pressure steam, within a strong closed vessel, as by this I
can perfectly season the wood, if it contains sap or moisture; and by the con-
densation of the steam within the vessel, I can obtain a vacuum in the pores of
the wood. After the vacuum has been obtained I admit into the vessel in a
fluid state. oily or resinous or other waterproof material, or any metallic or
mineral salts, or other preservative chemical, or any desired dye, or other
matter in accordance with the requirements of the article to be made from the
wood now subjected to the action of the injected matter. In some cases when
I desire to have the injected matter thoroughly forced into the wood I apply
any required amount of pressure to the contents of the vessel. When the
blanks are removed from the vessel they are submitted to the action of heat,
so as to drive off from the wood any moisture which may be thereon, and any
solvent of the injected matter which may be contained. The blanks of wood
are now compressed into moulds by a screw or any other suitable means. I
prefer to have the blanks or moulds in a heated or warm state, but this is not
essential. Before the action of the press upon the wood is removed, the
moulds in the moveable parts thereof are locked or bolted, so that the wood
cannot recover any of its original bulk by virtue of its elasticity. The moulds
with their contents are next removed from the press, and submitted to the
action of heat, which I prefer to apply in ovens. I have used a temperature
from 200° to 500° Fah., for the purpose of heating and hardening the wood
confined in the moulds, with good results; but I would observe that this
temperature may be varied for the different varieties of wood, and, for the
different uses to which the product of my process is to be applied.
Having now described my Invention, and in what the same consists,
and how it is carried into effect and produced, I wish it understood that I do'
not claim as my Invention moulding or bending wood under the action of
heat or steam, as this is well known and practised by ship carpenters and
others; I have only mentioned steam as a well-known method of expelling
sap and moisture from wood, and as effecting a convenient medium through
which a vacuum in the pores is obtained for a desired object, which is, the
impregnation of the wood, but not the moulding or bending of it; it is obvious,
however, that the wood could be seasoned by other means, and also that the

page_text: vacuum could be produced in a different manner. The wood in my process is
not moulded under the action of steam, but under and by pressure alone; and
if by choice the wood is left when taken from the oven or the mould in a
heated state, it is only intended to soften or render more plastic the matter
with which the wood is injected; neither do I claim the compression or
impregnation of wood with waterproof matter, preservative chemicals, or dyes,
as this is well known; but what I do claim and wish secured to me by the
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The method or process herein described of treating wood, consisting in com-
pressing it within moulds, and afterwards heating it while confined and under
pressure.
And also the process of treating wood by impregnating it with steam and
resinous, oily, or other waterproof matter, and mineral or metallic salts, and
preservative chemicals and dyes, or any of these or their substantial equivalents
prior to and in combination with the process above named.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Wright, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of September, in the year One thousand
eight hundred and sixty.
JAMES WRIGHT. (L.S.)