Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 31st October 1854, and dated the 17th June 1854.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, France, Patent Agent, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license
that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING BITUMEN," communicated to me by a foreigner
residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter
Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument in writing under
iny 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 calender months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in converting hard bitumen
into soft bitumen, by means of oil of petroleum and pyrogeneous oil, either
separately or combined, in the manner herein-after described.
To convert hard bitumen into soft bitumen, I mix with the hard bitumen
either oil of petroleum or pyrogeneous oil, the product of the distillation of rosin
or of any of the vegetable tars. 1 mix one of these oils, in the proportion of
one to three parts of petroleum, by the following means.
I make use of a sheet-iron boiler of an oblong form, having a capacity
of about one thousand five hundred gallons, which I set upon a brick furnace.
The lower part of the boiler which receives the greatest heat should be at
least one inch and a half in thickness.
The side of the boiler is provided with a cock, is fixed at the height of about 3
an inch from the bottom of the boiler. The cock is an inch and and a half in
diameter, and projects about ten inches beyond the brickwork of the furnace.
I place in the boiler about five hundredweight of hard bitumen, broken as
small as possible, and heat it moderately until it becomes soft; I then pour

page_text: in from forty pounds to fifty pounds of a mixture of oil of petroleum and
pyrogeneous oil, or of pyrogeneous oil alone, and subject it to a strong
heat, stirring the mixture at the same time to drive off the moisture in the
bitumen.
When the mixture has ceased forming bubbles and the surface is disen-
gaged of scum, the bitumen being of a clear and brilliant black colour, I
continue adding one of the eils above mentioned in small quantities, until the
bitumen attains the required consistence. In order to ascertain when the
bitumen has acquired the proper consistence, I put a small quantity of the
matter into water, let it cool, and then press it with the fingers while wet; if
it softens without adhering to the fingers, it is a proof that it has arrived at a
suitable state of preparation. I allow the whole to cool during two hours, and
then open the cock to let it run into the vessels intended to receive it.
The proportion of oil required to reduce the bitumen to a proper consistence
depends upon the greater or less degree of dryness of the bitumen to be
treated, and can only be ascertained by experiment. This operation being
completed, the boiler should be cleaned out previous to refilling it for another
operation. The boiler herein described is that to which I gave the preference,
but any other kind of boiler answering the same purpose may be substituted,
at option, with equal success.
And having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the inanner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise proportions herein laid down, so long as the
peculiar feature of the Invention be retained; but what I claim as new, and
intended to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is
the converting hard bitumen into soft bitumen, by means of oil of petroleum or
pyrogeneous oil, or a mixture of both, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)