AN IGNITER, OR APPARATUS FOR IGNITING EXPLOSIVE AND COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Norton, of Cork, in the County of Cork,
Esquire, for the Invention of "AN IGNITER, OR APPARATUS FOR IGNITING
EXPLOSIVE AND COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS."
Sealed the 6th February 1855, and dated the 23rd August 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Norton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
August 1854.
J, JOHN NORTON, of Cork, in the County of Cork, Esquire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IGNITER, OR APPARATUS FOR
IGNITING EXPLOSIVE AND COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
I take a small pipe-clay, glass, or other suitable tube of about one inch and
a half in length, more or less; I plug up one end with a wooden, cork, or other
suitable plug, secured with liquid gluc or other strong waterproof cement,
and fill it with a similar composition to that employed in the formation of
congreve matches, or with some other compound explosive by percussion or
friction; I then plug up the open end of the tube and varnish it all over.
The apparatus becomes thus hermetically sealed, whereby corrosion and.
oxidation are prevented. I employ this igniter to explode railway fog signals,
as a percussion primer for shells, and generally for all purposes of igniting

page_text: explosive and combustible materials. The tube, when charged as above, may
be covered with a wrapping of paper, leather, or linen, varnished over. This
covering, by confining the explosive charge within the tube, after the fracture of
the tube by the wheel of the engine, ensures a loud report.
SPECIFICATION in-pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
February 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NORTON, of Cork, in the County of Cork, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and. grant unto me,
the said John Norton, Her special licence that I, the said, John Norton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Norton, 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 IGNITER, 02 APPA-
BATUS FOR IGNITING EXPLOSIVE AND COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Norton, 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 Scal 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 Norton, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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 :-
.:
"
My Invention consists in an igniter, or apparatus for igniting explosive and
combustible materials, and the manner in which the said igniter or apparatus
is constructed is as follows:-I take a small pipe-clay, glass, or other suitable
tube of about one inch and a half in length, more or less; I plug up one end

page_text: with a wooden, cork, or other suitable plug, secured with liquid glue or other
strong waterproof cement, and fill it with a similar composition to that employed
in the formation of congreve matches, or with some other compound explosive
by percussion or friction; or I coat the interior of the tube with the lucifer or
other explosive composition, and fill it with gunpowder; I then plug up the
open end of the tube and varnish it all over. The apparatus becomes thus
hermetically sealed, whereby corrosion and oxidation are prevented. I employ
this igniter to explode railway fog signals, as a percussion primer for ordnance
and for shells, and generally for all purposes of igniting explosive and com-
bustible materials. The tube, when charged as above, may be covered with a
wrapping of paper, leather, or linen, varnished over. This covering, by confining
the explosive charge within the tube, after the fracture of the tube by the wheel
of a locomotive engine, or otherwise, ensures a loud report.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,
An igniter, or apparatus for igniting explosive and combustible materials, the
said igniter or apparatus being composed of a pipe-clay, glass, or other suitable
tube, (that is, possessing like properties of strength and frangibility,) charged
with a compound explosive by percussion or friction, and hermetically closed at
both ends, with or without an external wrapper of waterproof material, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Norton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JOHN NORTON. (L.S.)