IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSES, FUSEES, AND MATCHES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Macintosh, of Great Ormond Street, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSES,
FUSEES, AND MATCHES."
Sealed the 23rd November 1855, and dated the 19th June 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Macintosh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
: June 1855.
I, JOHN MACINTOSH, of Great Ormond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FUSES,
FUSEES, AND MATCHES," to be as follows, viz.:-
My Invention consists in producing a safety fusee or match which will ignite.
by friction, giving during combustion a flame of sufficient persistence to resist
the action of the wind, and in preventing burning matter from falling from the
match while in a state of ignition.
The first part of my improvement consists in combining wire with com-
bustible and inflammable matter, usually employed in the manufactory of fusees'
or friction matches, which will prevent the burning matter from falling off the
fusee or match while in a state of combustion.
The second part of my improvement consists in dipping or spreading on the
match or fusee about.half an inch with any of the phosphorated gummy paste
usually employed for forming the igniting part of friction matches or fusees,
which will produce a flame that will resist the action of the wind.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Macintosh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MACINTOSH, of Great Ormond Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Macintosh, Her special licence that I, the said John Macintosh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tlie said John
Macintosh, 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 inight make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FUSES, FUSEES, AND MATCHES," upon, the condition_(amongst others) that I, the
said John Macintosh, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 John Macintosh, 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): -
The first part of my Invention relates to the manufacture of that description
of fuse, fusce, or match which consists of a strip of paper prepared with nitre
and tipped with a composition which ignites by friction. In the use of this
description of fuse as ordinarily manufactured great inconvenience is experi-
enced, from the ignited end falling off as soon as it is pressed against the end
of the cigar or other substance which it is desired to ignite. Now, this part
of my Invention consists in inserting a piece of wire into the interior of the
fuse, which greatly decreases the liability of the ignited end to fall off in the
manner described.
The following is the manner in which I prefer to manufacture my improved
fuse, fusee, or match:-

page_text: I take a roller of a convenient diameter, and as long as the sheet of fuse
board which I am going to make is wide; on this roller I wind as many
coils of wire as there are fuses to the width of the fuse board; these coils
are wound evenly on the roller, in the same way as the warp of wire cloth is
wound on the warp beam. When a sufficient quantity of wire is wound on
the roller, the ends of all the coils are fastened in a clamp of the same length
as the roller; the roller is then placed in bearing at the end of a table, and
a cord is passed round the axis of the roller, and a weight is attached to the
end of the cord, so as to cause friction on the axis of the roller and prevent its
turning too easily. A sheet of board which has previously been prepared in
the ordinary manner, but which is only of half the ordinary thickness, is laid
on the table in front of the roller, and a coat of thin glue is spread over the
surface of the sheet; then the clamp holding the ends of the wires is brought
forward to the front edge of the board and there fixed, so as to hold the series
of parallel wires drawn off the roller down upon the pasted board. When
this is done, another prepared board, of the same description as the former,
and also pasted on one face, is laid over the wires on the lower board, to which
it is caused to adhere by pressure. The clamp is then taken off the ends of
the wires, and put on again between the sheet of board just made and the wire
roller. The board is cut off and divided up into fuses in the ordinary manner,
and so that a short piece of wire passes up the centre of each fuse.
The object of the second part of my Invention is to obtain a fuse which
will not be extinguished by a high wind. For this purpose I spread phosphorus
paste (of the composition usually employed for tipping fuses) on a piece of
hard cardboard for a length of about half an inch or more. I then varnish
over the composition with a solution of shellac, so as to make it burn more
slowly than it otherwise would. Thus the whole burning part of the fuse
consists of phosphorus paste which is not extinguished by a high wind.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Macintosh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JOHN MACINTOSH. (L.S.)