AN IM- PROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING EXPOSED SURFACES, OR SURFACES LIABLE TO DETERIORATION AND DECAY
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edgar Cook, of Greenock, in the County of
Renfrew, North Britain, Booking Clerk, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING EXPOSED SURFACES, OR SURFACES LIABLE
TO DETERIORATION AND DECAY."
Sealed the 14th March 1856, and dated the 27th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edgar Cook at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1855.
I, JAMES EDGAR COOK, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, Booking Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention:
for "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING EXPOSED SURFACES, OR SURFACES
LIABLE TO DETERIORATION AND DECAY," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the preparation and use of a new compositon for.
protecting exposed surfaces, or surfaces liable to oxidation, deterioration, or
decay. The said composition is applicable to all kinds of iron work, brick
work, stone work, plaster work, Roman cement, and, amongst other things, to
mirrors or silvered glasses. In making up this composition, from two to six
pounds of gum shellac are dissolved in every gallon of methylated spirit; or
instead of methylated spirit, wood spirit may be used. The dissolved gum may
then be mixed with any suitable coloring matter, and is to be applied to the
surface to be protected like ordinary paint or varnish. In using the com-

page_text: position for protecting the silvered side of mirrors, it may either be applied
directly like paint, or a piece of guaze or other woven fabric, or of paper or
other suitable material, may be stretched over the silvered surface, the com-
position being applied above, so as to incorporate the woven or other material
with itself for the purpose of preventing the shrinking action of the com-
positition from wrinkling or injuring the mercury or reflective coating on the
glass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Edgar Cook in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDGAR COOK, of Greenock, in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, Booking.
Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day. of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Edgar Cook, Her special license that I, the said James Edgar
Cook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Edgar. Cook, my.executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 IMPROVED, COM-
POSITION' FOR PRESERVING EXPOSED SURFACES, OR SURFACES LIABLE TO DETERIORATION
AND DECAY," upon the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said James Edgar
Cook, by an instrument: in writing under' my hand and seal, should parti-:
cularly 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 Edgar Cook,, 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 in writing, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the preparation and use of a new composition:

page_text: for protecting exposed surfaces, or surfaces liable to oxidation, deterioration, or
decay. The said composition is applicable to all kinds of iron work, brick
work, stone work, plaster work, Roman cement, and, amongst other things, to
mirrors or silvered glasses. In making up this composition, from two to six
pounds of gum shellac are dissolved in every gallon of methylated spirit; or
instead of methylated spirit, wood spirit may be used. The dissolved gum
may then be mixed with any suitable colouring matter, and is to be applied
to the surface to be protected like ordinary paint or varnish. . In using the
composition for protecting the silvered side of mirrors, it may either be applied
directly like paint, or a piece of gauze or other woven fabric, or of paper or
other suitable material, may be stretched over the silvered surface, the com-
position being applied above so as to incorporate the woven or other material
with itself for the purpose of preventing the shrinking action of the compo-
sition from wrinkling or injuring the mercury or reflective coating on the glass.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the preparation, application, and use of a composition, consisting of
gum shellac dissolved in methylated spirit or in wood spirit, for coating exposed
surfaces so as to protect them from oxidation, deterioration, or decay, as herein-
before described.
Second, the system or mode of protecting the silvered surface of mirrors
from deterioration and injury, by the application thereto of a composition con-
sisting of gum shellac dissolved in methylated spirit or in wood spirit, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edgar Cook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
JAMES EDGAR COOK. (L.S.)