AN IMPROVED POLISHING POWDER
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Davis, of Tottenham Court Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
POLISHING POWDER."
Sealed the 14th September 1855, and dated the 14th March 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Davis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th March 1855.
I, ABRAHAM DAVIS, of Tottenham Court Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN.
IMPROVED POLISHING POWDER" to be as follows:-
..
This Invention relates to the preparation of an improved polishing powder
for polishing metal surfaces. For this purpose I take the bones of animals
and reduce them to charcoal in the ordinary way, and I, then-grind the char-
coal to a fine powder, and afterwards pass it again and again through sieves to
remove from it any large gritty particles that it may contain. The fine powder
thus obtained, I propose to apply for the polishing of plated goods and other
metal surfaces. In some cases I propose to add to the powdered charcoal
whitening and rotten stone ground very fine, so as to produce a sharper cutting
powder, suitable for the polishing of coarse articles, such as kettles, pans, and
other articles composed of copper and tin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Davis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, ABRAHAM
DAVIS, of Tottenham Court Road, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Abraham Davis, Her special license that I, the said Abraham Davis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Abraham Davis, 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,
excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED POLISH-
ING POWDER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Abraham
Davis, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Abraham Davis, do hereby declare thic
nature of my 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 (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to the preparation of an improved polishing powder
for polishing metal surfaces. For this purpose I take the bones of animals,
and reduce them to charcoal in the way ordinarily followed in manufacturing
animal charcoal. I then damp the charcoal with water to give it greater
consistency, and grind it to a fine powder and press it through a sieve or sieves
to remove coarse particles therefrom.
In order to increase the cutting or polishing power of the animal charcoal,
I add to the powdered charcoal whiting and rotten stone, or their equivalent.
These substances I mix together and with the addition of water produce a
compound of the consistency of a stiff paste; I then subject the compound to
artificial heat in an oven, and when the moisture is expelled, I submit the

page_text: mass to the action of grinding or crushing surfaces, and thereby reduce it to a
fine powder. The product thus obtained I pass again and again through sieves,
to remove from it any large gritty particles that may by accident remain in
it, and the powder is then fit to be applied to the polishing of plated goods
and other metal surfaces.
The proportions of the above-mentioned substances which I have found
to give satisfactory results, are one hundredweight of powdered charcoal,
whitening ten pounds, and rotten stone five pounds. It will be understood
that the degree of fineness to which the polishing powder is to be reduced
will depend upon the uses to which it is intended to be applied, a sharper
cutting powder being required for the polishing of coarse articles, such as
kettles, pans, and other articles composed of copper and tin, than for silver
or plated goods.
In manufacturing a polishing powder suitable for cleaning the buckles and
other metallic parts of harness, I find it desirable to render the same powder
applicable also to the polishing of the leather portions of harness, and for this
purpose I add lamp black as a coloring matter to the compound above described.
The ostler in using the polishing powder may, by adding oil thereto, render
it applicable to the polishing of the leather as well as to the metallic parts
of the harness. Oil or water may be used for the other applications of my
polishing powder.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved Polishing
Powder," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish
it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim
the manufacture of polishing powder from animal charcoal when treated in
the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Davis, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFatt,
66, Chancery Lane.
ABRAHAM DAVIS. (L.S.)