IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO PAINTS OR COMPOSITIONS APPLICABLE FOR COVERING THE BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND OTHER EXPOSED STRUCTURES OR ARTICLES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Morgan Rees, of the Mumbles, in the County of
Glamorgan, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO PAINTS
OR COMPOSITIONS APPLICABLE FOR COVERING THE BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND
OTHER EXPOSED STRUCTURES OR ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Morgan Rees at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th February 1880.
MORGAN REES, of the Mumbles, in the County of Glamorgan.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN OR RELATING TO PAINTS OR COMPOSITIONS APPLICABLE FOR COVERING THE
BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND OTHER EXPOSED STRUCTURES OR ARTICLES."
The ingredients of which I make my improved paint or composition are tobacco,
chloride of lime, coal tar, turpentine, and sulphate of copper, and I usually prepare
them in the following proportions and manner: —
I first take, say, 28 lbs. of tobacco, steep it in 8 gallons of the turpentine for 48
hours, more or less; 28 lbs. of the chloride of lime should be steeped in 100 gallons
of the coal tar for a similar period, and 7 lbs. of the sulphate of copper may be added
afterwards. These are then all mixed together in a wooden or other suitable vessel,
and the composition will be ready for use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Morgan Rees in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd June
1880.
MORGAN REES, of the Mumbles, in the County of Glamorgan. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OR RELATING TO PAINTS OR COMPOSITIONS APPLICABLE FOR COVERING THE
BOTTOMS OF SHIPS AND OTHER EXPOSED STRUCTURES OR ARTICLES."
In order that my Invention may be fully comprehended I will now describe the
method which I prefer to adopt in the preparation of this paint or composition, and
the proportions which I find to yield the most satisfactory results.
28 lbs. of chloride of lime to be carefully stirred in 100 gallons of coal tar, and
left to steep for forty eight hours, more or less, till the two are intimately mixed.
28 lbs. of tobacco to be steeped in 8 gallons of turpentine for forty eight hours, more
or less, till thoroughly soaked, the tobacco fibre being removed by pressure or other
suitable means. The tobacco soaked in turpentine may now be stirred carefully
into the mixture of chloride of lime and coal tar.
When these are well mixed add 7 lbs. of sulphate of copper, and mix the whole
well together in any suitable vessel. This composition may be applied in any con-
venient manner, as, for example, with a brush, and is intended chiefly for coating
the bottoms of ships and other structures exposed to action of salt water, bad
weather, etcetera.
In conclusion I would observe that I do not bind myself to the exact quantities
herein described, for the paint will be effective if the quantities are considerably
varied, and I merely give these quantities as those which my experience has shown
to be the best in practice. Similarly chemically equivalent ingredients may be sub-
stituted for some or all those herein described.
The tobacco is useful as containing poisonous vegetable alkaloids, notably nicotine,
and other soluble substances if containing sufficient nicotine might be substituted
for tobacco. Similarly, the active principle of chloride of lime is the easily freed
chlorine, and there are other but more expensive chemicals known that have the
quality possessed by chloride of lime of gradually disengaging chlorine, and some of
these might be substituted for the chloride of lime without materially injuring the
quality of the paint for most purposes, though the cost would be enhanced.
Similarly, the spirits of turpentine is employed as a solvent and menstruum, and
every paint manufacturer knows of substitutes that will give very similar though
rather inferior results either as regards quality or price. Again, there are many
substitutes for tar, for instance creosoted pitch, which have substantially the same
chemical nature. Lastly, sulphate of copper is used chiefly as a poison, and to act
with a sort of tanning action on the hydrocarbonaceous matter, and other soluble
salts of copper will be found applicable.
CLAIMS.
Having now described my Invention and the best mode known to me of carrying 4
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I believe to be new and
desire to protect under the herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. The manufacture of paint or composition for covering ships' bottoms and

page_text: the like composed of chloride of lime, or its chemical equivalent, and hydro-
carbonaceous matters, with or without poisonous ingredients, substantially as
described.
2nd. The herein described employment of tobacco in the manufacture of paint for
covering ships' bottoms and other structures liable otherwise to get overlaid by
marine growth.
3rd. As an article of manufacture, a paint or pigment composed of the following
ingredients:-
(a.) Tobacco or other material containing an equivalent amount of nicotine or
similar poisonous vegetable alkaloid.
(b.) Turpentine or equivalent menstruum.
(c.) Chloride of lime or its chemical equivalent.
(d.) Tar or its equivalent.
(e.) Sulphate of copper, or equivalent salt of copper, or any four of these combined
together, substantially as and for the purposes above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Morgan Rees, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty.
Witness,
WILLIAM GROVE,
Rose Hill,
Mumbles.
MORGAN REES. (L.8.)