IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR RESTORERS FOR RESTORING THE COLOUR OF OR GIVING COLOUR TO FADED AND GREY HUMAN HAIR."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sidney William Rich, of Croydon, in the County of
Surrey, Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, for
an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR RESTORERS FOR RESTORING THE
COLOUR OF OR GIVING COLOUR TO FADED AND GREY HUMAN HAIR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sidney William Rich at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th March 1880.
SIDNEY WILLIAM RICH, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Fellow of the
Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR
RESTORERS FOR RESTORING THE COLOUR OF OR GIVING COLOUR TO FADED AND
GREY HUMAN HAIR."
This Invention has for its object to provide an efficient and harmless hair restorer
for restoring or giving color to faded and grey human hair, so as to avoid the use
of the extremely deleterious compounds of lead now generally employed.
For this purpose I employ a salt or compound of manganese, soluble or insoluble,
in conjunction with glycerine, gallic acid, pyrogallic acid, or derivatives or com-
pounds thereof, or other organic acid capable of readily combining with the oxygen
of the air. These active ingredients are mixed with borax, oils, scents, or other
agents commonly employed in dressing the hair, but for my purpose the latter
merely serve as vehicles or accompaniments.
I carry out the Invention in the following manner:-I first prepare a pure salt
or compound of manganese, either solid or in solution, and I prefer to use the acetate
or the carbonate of manganese. The acetate of manganese may be readily dissolved
in water, but the carbonate of manganese I prefer to dissolve by aid of an excess
of carbonic acid gas by one of the processes known to chemists. Having obtained
such a solution free from the products-known to chemists as the per-salts of man-
ganese, I then add the glycerine, the gallic acid, the pyrogallic acid, or the derivative
or compound thereof, or the other organic acid capable of readily combining with
the oxygen of the air, but I prefer to use gallic acid. I then add the subsidiary
ingredients to form an acceptable preparation for toilet use, such as borax, oils,
scents, or other agents commonly employed in dressing the hair.
I also prefer to add a small quantity of ammonia or other alkali to the solution.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Sidney William Rich in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
September 1880.
SIDNEY WILLIAM RICH, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Fellow of the
Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAIR
RESTORERS FOR RESTORING THE COLOUR OF OR GIVING COLOUR TO FADED AND
GREY HUMAN HAIR."
This Invention has for its object to provide an efficient and harmless hair restorer
for restoring the colour of or giving colour to faded, grey, or white human hair, so
as to avoid the use of the extremely deleterious compounds of lead now generally
employed.
For this purpose I employ a salt or compound of manganese, soluble or insoluble,
in some cases with and in other cases without glycerine, and with gallic acid, tannic
acid, pyrogallic acid, or derivatives or compounds thereof, or other organic acid
capable of readily combining with the oxygen of the air, or other organic or inorganic
substance, which increases the tendency of slightly coloured manganese compounds
to become highly coloured by exposure to air. These active ingredients, or other
substances producing them, are either used unmixed and consecutively or are mixed
as required for use, or are mixed at once with borax, oils, fats, perfumes, spirits,
water, or other agents commonly employed for dressing the hair.
When a solution or mixture of a salt of manganese, together with gallic acid or
other organic acid capable of readily combining with the oxygen of the air, is used,
and the solution is not to be at once used, but is to be kept for use at any time
required, then I add glycerine to the solution to retard the manganese in the solution
or mixture from being chemically acted upon.
I prefer to carry out the Invention in the following manner:-I first prepare a
pure salt or compound of manganese, either solid or in solution, and I prefer to use
the acetate or the carbonate of manganese. The acetate of manganese may be
readily dissolved in water, but the carbonate of manganese I prefer to dissolve, by
aid of an excess of carbonic acid gas, by one of the processes known to chemists.
Having obtained such a solution or mixture, I then add the glycerine, the gallic
. acid, the pyrogallic acid, or the derivative or compound thereof, or the other organic
acid or compound capable of readily combining with the oxygen of the air, but I
prefer to use gallic acid. I then add the subsidiary ingredients to form an acceptable
preparation for toilet use, such as borax, oils, scents, or other agents commonly
employed in dressing the hair. In some cases I mix together the glycerine and
gallic acid, and heat them to about 300° Fahrenheit, and allow them to cool before
mixing the water and the salt of manganese with them.
I also in some cases add a small quantity of ammonia or other alkali or acid
neutralizing substance to the solution or mixture.
Or, with a view of rendering the film deposited upon hair from the solution less
soluble, and therefore less liable to be washed off, I add to the mixture of salt of
manganese, glycerine, and gallic acid a small portion of acetate of alumina, with, if
necessary, a slight excess of acetic acid.
The following are examples of formulæ for producing solutions from manganese,
acetate, and carbonate:-

page_text: Or, Acetate of manganese
Glycerine
Gallic acid
P
Acetate of alumina
Glacial acetic acid
Water, up to
Or, Manganese carbonate
Glycerine
Gallic acid
Water, up to
-
-
25 grains.
4
"
4
"
">
12
1/10 "
10 ounces.
28 grains.
2 ounces.
61, grains.
8 ounces.
To prepare this latter solution I first prepare a concentrated solution in boiling
water of carbonate of manganese; I then add the glycerine to the solution and
filter it. After the lapse of one or two hours, and when the solution is quite cool,
I add to it the gallic acid in about 1 ounce of water.
I do not confine myself to the exact proportions given in the above formulæ, as
these may be considerably modified.
In place of the manganese and other compounds being made up into a solution or
mixture which has glycerine added to it to allow of the solution being kept for a
considerable length of time, and used whenever required, the manganese and other
materials might be made up as a pomade (that is, mixed with oils and fats), or
might be sold as powders, either already mixed or in separate packets, and ready
to be dissolved for use, or might be sold as two separate fluids to be mixed prior to
being used, or to be used unmixed one after the other.
A solution of a salt of manganese mixed with glycerine might be kept in one
bottle, and gallic acid or such like acid and glycerine in another bottle.
Or bicarbonate of manganese kept in solution by excess of carbonic acid and
glycerine might be in one bottle, and gallic acid and glycerine in another bottle.
In place also of glycerine being used in the solution to retard chemical action,
the solutions might be charged with carbonic acid gas and kept in well closed
bottles; in this case it would be necessary to use the solution shortly after opening
the bottle containing it.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would have it understood that I claim, -
First. The employment of manganese compounds for the production of a hair
restorer, or hair dye, or hair paint, substantially as herein before described.
Second. The manufacture of hair restorer, or hair dye, or hair paint, by the
combination of a solution or mixture of salt, or compound of manganese with
glycerine and gallic acid, or other acid capable of readily combining with the oxygen
of the air, substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sidney William Rich, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
SIDNEY W. RICE. (L.S.)