AN IMPROVED COATING COMPOSITION TO PROTECT VESSELS FROM MARINE, ANIMAL, AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hanham Collyer, M. D. and C. E., formerly
of No. 3, Park Road, Regent's Park, County of Middlesex, now of
Alpha Road, in the same County, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
COATING COMPOSITION TO PROTECT VESSELS FROM MARINE, ANIMAL, AND
VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 1st February 1859, and dated the 10th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hanham Collyer
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th August 1858.
I, ROBERT HANHAM COLLYER, M. D. and C. E., of No. 3, Park Road,
Regent's Park, County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED COATING COMPOSITION TO PROTECT VESSELS FROM
MARINE, ANIMAL, AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
It consists in mixing or combining with tar, pitch, paint, or other adhesive
matter, applicable to the sides and bottom of vessels exposed to the action of
water, metallic or compounds of copper or other metals and minerals reduced
to a proper condition which will form by the action of sea water a chloride
with it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hanham Collyer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HANHAM COLLYER, M. D. and C. E., formerly of No. 3, Park Road, Regent's
Park, County of Middlesex, now of Alpha Road, in the same County, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of August, in the-year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Hanham Collyer, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Hanham
Collyer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Hanham Collyer, 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 IMPROVED COATING COMPOSITION TO PROTECT VESSELS FROM MARINE,
ANIMAL, AND VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, 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 Robert Hanham Collyer, 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 :-
.
I employ zinc, lead, and tin either alone or in combination with such-other-
metals, minerals, and metallic compounds as will form a chloride by the action
of sea water, and preserve and keep clean the bottoms and sides of ships or
vessels by preventing the attachment of marine, animal, and vegetable
substances. For this purpose I make a coating composition, in which exists
the powder or finely divided particles of any one of the metals, zinc, lead, or
tin or their oxides, or a combination of the metals or of their oxides, so that a
chemical decomposition will take place by the action of the chlorides existing

page_text: in sea water. This compound being applied to iron vessels, a metallic chloride
is formed on the surface, and becomes a preventative against the fouling of the
bottoms. In applying these compounds I first clean the bottom and sides of
the vessel so as to remove all foreign matter, then I coat the bottom with tar,
pitch, varnish, paint, or any other such substance. This preliminary coating
being perfectly dry, I coat the surface again with a composition of pitch, tar,
varnish, or any other similar cohesive substance, in which has been mixed and
incorporated the metallic powder or particles of zinc, tin, lead, or a com-
bination of them or their oxydes. I prefer charging the cohesive medium to
its maximum extent without impairing its tenaceous or adhering property. I
apply it by means of a brush or rolling iron, or in sheets made on a coarse
textile fabric or otherwise. The result of this application or coating will be,
that as the sea water holds in solution the chlorides of sodium, potassium, and
magnesium, it will act on the metallic particles contained in the composition,
producing a poisonous chloride of the metal or metals used, which is destructive
to both vegetable and animal existence. The chemical action will be accom-
panied by a slight disintegration of particles from the surface, in fine,
continually presenting a clean or new surface; the chlorides of zinc, lead, and
tin are all exceedingly poisonous. These metals are easily reduced to a state
of powder, and the two former are of comparatively small cost.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is, the
use and application of the metals, zinc, tin, and lead or their oxides singly or
in combination when added to any adhesive or cohesive substance, so as to
form a coating composition to be applied to the sides and bottom of iron vessels
for preventing the attachment of marine, animal, or vegetable substances in
the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hanham Collyer, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. E. NEWSOME.
ROBT H. COLLYER. (L.S.)