AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR LIGHTING FIRES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Nottingham; of Kennington Road, in
the County of Surrey, for the Invention of" AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR
LIGHTING FIRES."
Sealed the 7th April 1865, and dated the 11th October 1864..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Notting liai
at the Office of the Commissioners. of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1864.
I, JOHN WILLIAM NOTTINGHAM, of Kennington Road, in. the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
COMPOSITION FOR LIGHTING FIRES," to be as follows:-
This improved composition, which is intended to be used as a substitute for
firewood in lighting or kindling fires, is composed principally of the following
ingredients or materials, wood sawdust, coal, coal tar, paste made from flour
or meal. The coal is to be ground into a fine powder, and mixed with the
sawdust in the proportion of about four parts by weight of sawdust to one of
coal, and this mixture is to be stirred up with a sufficient quantity of coal
tar to saturate the sawdust without, making it, sticky to the touch, or
leaving any appreciable quantity on the surface, a sufficient quantity of p
(made from flour or meal, and water) is then to be added to
materials to adhere together, and the whole mass to be well stirred.
pasto..
cause the
The com-

page_text: position may be then pressed into moulds, or through dies of any convenient
and suitable form, and when dry it is ready for use. The composition may be
lighted by an ordinary match, and will burn with a vivid flame. for a long time
without falling to pieces.
I prefer to form the composition (by pressure through a die) into star-
shaped cakes, and connect a certain number of these cakes together so. that
their rays or points alternate, interposing small circular or other shaped cakes
between each star to keep them apart. The composition which I use for
sticking the cakes together in this or any other form is made of shellac, resin,
and coal tar.
The ingredients herein-before mentioned, namely, wood sawdust, coal, coal
tar, and paste, are the only ingredients which I consider necessary for forming
my improved composition, but I may. bere. remark that other inflammable
materials, such as pitch or resin, may be added without departing from the
principle of my Invention.
SPECIFICATION in pursuanco of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John William Nottingham in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th April 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL.COME, I, JOHN WILLIAM
NOTTINGHAM, of Kennington Road, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
.. WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters:
Patent, bearing: date the Eleventh day of October, in the year. of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John William Nottingham, Her special licence that I, the said
John William Nottinġliam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John William Nottingham, 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 yend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR LIGHTING FIRES," upon thé. condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John William Nottingham, 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

page_text: 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 John William Nottingham, 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:
This improved composition, which is intended to be used as a substitute for;
firewood in lighting or kindling fires, is composed principally of the following;
ingredients. or materials, namely, wood sawdust, coal,, coal tar, and paste
made from flour or meal.
"Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, for "An Improved
Composition for Lighting Fires," I will now proceed to describe more in detail
the manner in which the same is to 'be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, which is as follows:-
The coal is to be ground or reduced to a fine powder and mixed with the
wood sawdust in the proportion of about four parts by weight of sawdust to
one of coal, and this mixture is to be stirred up with a sufficient quantity of
coal tar to saturate the sawdust without making it sticky to the touch, or
leaving any appreciable amount of tar on the surface; a sufficient quantity of
paste (made from any kind of flour or meal and water) is then to be added
to cause the materials to adhere together and the whole mass to be well stirred.
The composition may then be pressed into moulds, or through dies of any con-
venient and suitable form, and when dry it is ready for use. The composition
may be lighted by an ordinary match, and will burn with a vivid flame for a
long time without falling to pieces.
I prefer to form the composition (by pressure through a die) into star
shaped cakes, and to connect a certain number_of these cakes together (on a
slip of wood or otherwise), so that their rays or points alternate, interposing
small circular or other shaped cakes between each star to keep them apart.
The composition which I use for sticking the cakes together in this or any
other form is made of shellac, resin, and coal tar, but any other adhesive and
inflammable mixture would answer the same purpose.
The ingredients herein-before mentioned, namely, wood. sawdust, coal, coal
tar, and paste are the only ingredients which I consider necessary for forming
my improved composition; but I may here remark that other inflammable
materials, such as pitch or resin, may be added without in any way departing
from the principle of my Invention.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention, for "An
Improved Composition for Lighting Fires," together with the manner in which

page_text: the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I claim as my Invention, the mixture for such pur-
poses of 'wood sawdust, coal, coal tar, and paste, either with or without the
addition of resin, pitch, or other similarly inflammable material (which as
above stated I do not advise nor consider necessary) without confining myself
to the proportions or method of mixing above described, nor to the particular
form or manner in which the said composition when so mixed is or may be
made up for use..
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Nottingham, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.