A NEW PREPARATION FOR SUBDUING AND EXTINGUISHING FIRE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Benjamin Spaeth, of Philpot Lane, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "A NEW PREPARATION
FOR SUBDUING AND EXTINGUISHING FIRE."-A communication from abroad
by Gustav Zeisler. of Leipsig. Saxony.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Benjamin Spaeth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th May 1865.
I, CHARLES BENJAMIN SPAETH, of Philpot Lane, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
PREPARATION FOR SUBDUING AND EXTINGUISHING FIRE," to be as follows:-
This preparation is made up and enclosed in cases, which from their simi-
larity to I call cartridge cases. I take about sixty per cent. of saltpetre,
about 36 per cent. of sulphur, and about 4 per cent. of charcoal; reduce
to powder, and form into a paste with water or other liquid, and I press
this paste into the cartridge cases; I next enclose the cartridges in air-
tight boxes in any quantities required. The cartridges communicate with
the outside of the boxes by a train of thread protected by a capsule. The
cartridges are set into operation by removing the capsule and by igniting the

page_text: train by a match, or by being thrown into the fire. As soon as the composition
burns the fire is extinguished. The cartridges do not interfere with the
ordinary mode of extinguishing fire with water, but they extinguish fires that
water will not, such as gases, resiny, oily, fatty, and spirituous flames and
fires.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Benjamin Spaeth in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BENJAMIN SPAETI, of Philpot Lane, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most, Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Benjamin Spaeth, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Benjamin Spaeth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Benjamin Spaeth, 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
"A NEW PREPARATION FOR SUBDUING AND EXTINGUISHING FIRE," (communicated
to me from abroad by Gustav Zeisler, of Leipsig, Saxony), upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles Benjamin Spaeth, 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 Charles Benjamin Spaeth, do hereby declare
'the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This preparation is made up and
larity to I call cartridge cases.
enclosed in cases, which from their simi-
I take about 60 per cent. of saltpetre,

page_text: (refined), about 36 per cent. of sulphur (refined), and about 4 per cent.
of charcoal and chalk; reduce to powder, thoroughly mix it, and form
the powder into a paste with water or other liquid; I press the paste into
the cartridge cases by hydraulic or other power; I next enclose theo
cartridges in air-tight boxes in any quantities required. The cartridges
communicate with the outside of the boxes by a train of thread or fuse
protected by a capsule. The cartridges are set into operation by removing
the capsule and by igniting the train or fuse by a match or otherwise, or by being
thrown into the fire. As soon as the composition burns the fire is subdued,
and very soon extinguished. The cartridges do not interfere with the
ordinary mode of extinguishing fire by water, but it may be used as auxiliary
thereto. When the composition is ignited water will not put it out.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the new preparation
herein-before described for subduing and extinguishing fire.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Benjamin Spaeth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
CHS. B. SPAETH. (L.S.)