IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOSITIONS FOR PREVENTING THE FOULING OF SHIPS BOTTOMS AND OTHER BUILDINGS EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF SEA OR IMPURE WATER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Sim, M.D., of Naples, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOSITIONS FOR PREVENTING THE FOULING OF
SHIPS BOTTOMS AND OTHER BUILDINGS EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF SEA
OR IMPURE WATER."
Sealed the 5th February 1869, and dated the 12th August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Sim at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1868.
I, ROBERT SIM, M.D., of Naples, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOSITIONS FOR PREVENTING.
THE FOULING OF SHIPS' BOTTOMS AND OTHER BUILDINGS EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF
SEA OR IMPURE WATER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in compositions for
preventing the fouling of ships' bottoms and other buildings exposed to.
the action of sea water, and consists in employing in the manufacture of
such compositions compounds or mixtures of iodine and mercury, or a
mixture or compound of these with other iodine compounds, but I take
by preference the compound of iodine and mercury known as red iodide

page_text: of mercury. Before applying such compositions to the bottoms of iron
ships or other metallic surfaces to be protected I first well clean the
surface to be covered, and then apply two or more coatings of a mixture
composed of two gallons of boiled linseed oil, half a gallon of spirit of
turpentine, and eighty pounds of red lead; afterwards when these
coatings are dry I apply one or more coatings of a mixture composed by
preference of one.and a half gallons of boiled linseed oil, half a gallon
of spirit of turpentine, seventy-two pounds of red lead, eight pounds of
the red iodide of mercury, or a mixture of the red and green iodides of
mercury.
I have found the before-mentioned proportions of the several ingre-
dients answer best under ordinary circumstances, but I do not confine
myself to these proportions only. To wooden surfaces, whether of ships
or buildings, I can apply the anti-fouling preparation at once without the
intervention of any priming paint. Where great rapidity of drying is
required a varnish may be employed made of some resinous or bitumi-
nous substance dissolved in a suitable menstruum, to which is added the
red iodide of mercury in the proportion of one pound of the red iodide
to one pint of varnish. I prefer however a mixture of spirit of turpen-
tine, red lead, and the mercury compound as given above.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Sim in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
SIM, M.D., of Naples, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Sim, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Sim, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Sim, 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
.

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMPOSITIONS POR PREVENTING THE FOULING OF SHIPS' BOTTOMS AND OTHER
BUILDINGS EXPOSED TO THE ACTION OF SEA OR IMPURE WATER," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Sim, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Robert Sim, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in compositions for
preventing the fouling of ships' bottoms and other buildings exposed to
the action of sea water, and consists in employing in the manufacture of
such compositions compounds or mixtures of iodine and mercury, but I
take by preference the compound of iodine and mercury known as red
iodide of mercury.
Before applying such compositions to the bottoms of
iron ships or other metallic surfaces to be protected I first well clean
the surface to be covered, and then apply two or more coatings of a
mixture composed of two gallons boiled linseed oil, half a gallon of
spirit of turpentine, 70 pounds of red lead, and 14 pounds of white lead;
afterwards when these coatings are dry I apply one or more coatings
of a mixture composed of one and a half gallons boiled linseed oil, half
a gallon spirit of turpentine, 65 pounds of red lead, and 15 pounds of
the red iodide of mercury or a mixture of this and the other iodides of
mercury.
I have found the before-mentioned proportions of the several ingre-
dients answer best under ordinary circumstances, but I do not confine
myself to these proportions only. Where great rapidity of drying is
required a varnish may be employed made of some resinous or bitumi-
nous substance dissolved in a suitable menstruum, to which is added the
red iodide of mercury in the proportion of one pound of the red iodide
to one pint of varnish. I prefer however a mixture of boiled oil,

page_text: spirit of turpentine, red lead, and the mercury compound as given
above.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Sim, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this. Third day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
ROBT. SIM. (L.S.)