IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING PROJECTILES AND CARTRIDGES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Scoffern, of 4, Barnard's Inn, Bachelor of
Medicine, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING PROJECTILES
AND CARTRIDGES."
Sealed the 29th September 1859, and dated the 6th April 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Scoffern at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th April 1859.
I, JOHN SCOFFERN, of 4, Barnard's Inn, Bachelor of Medicine, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LUBRICATING PRO-
JECTILES AND CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lubricating projectiles
and cartridges, and consists in employing for this purpose a composition
prepared by mixing together paraffine and napthaline. This composition may
be applied to the projectile or cartridge by dipping in the ordinary manner,
or in other convenient manner. Although I prefer to employ the mixture
above-mentioned, either paraffine or napthaline, or both may be employed in
combination with other lubricating matters or otherwise.. Paraffino. and
napthaline are much more suitable for the lubrication of projectiles and car-
tridges than the lubricating matters heretofore employed, for on the application
of heat they are volatilized without change. By paraffine I mean the hydro-
carbon or hydro-carbons generally known by this name in commerce.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Scoffern in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
October 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SCOFFERN, of 4, Barnard's Inn, Bachelor of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing dato the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Scoffern, Her special licence that I, the said John Scoffern, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Scoffern, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LUBRICATING PROJECTILES AND CARTRIDGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Scoffern, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Scoffern, 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 Invention has for its object improvements in lubricating projectiles and
cartridges, and consists in employing for this purpose a composition prepared
by mixing together paraffine and napthaline. The mixture of paraffine which
I prefer to employ when such mixture is to be used without the addition of
any other substance is prepared by mixing with paraffine, when in a melted
state, an equal weight of napthaline. I, however, much prefer to employ a
mixture containing paraffine and napthaline in conjunction with india-rubber.
This composition I prepare by melting india-rubber in an open vessel over a
fire; I then add, melt, and thoroughly mix with it four times its weight of
paraffine, and one-half its weight of napthaline. This mixture when required
for use is kept melted in a vessel plunged into heated or boiling oil, and the

page_text: temperature of the mixture is carefully kept as near 240° Fahrenheit as
possible. This composition may be applied to the projectile or cartridge by
dipping in the ordinary way, or in other convenient manner. Although I
prefer to employ the mixture above mentioned, either paraffine or napthaline,
or both, may be employed in combination with other lubricating matters or
otherwise. Paraffine and napthaline are much more suitable for the lubri-
cation of projectiles and cartridges than the lubricating matters heretofore
employed, for on the application of heat they are volatilized without change.
By paraffine I mean the hydro-carbon or hydro-carbons generally known by
this name in commerce.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Scoffern, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JNº. SCOFFERN. (L.s.)