A SUBSTITUTE FOR VARNISH, TURPENTINE, AND OIL IN THE MANUFACTURE OR MIXING OF PAINTS AND PIGMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COATING OR COVERING WOOD, METAL, GLASS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, TO PRESERVE THEM FROM ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES AND FIRE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Prince, of the Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "A SUBSTITUTE FOR VARNISH, TURPENTINE, AND OIL IN
THE MANUFACTURE OR MIXING OF PAINTS AND PIGMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED
FOR COATING OR COVERING WOOD, METAL, GLASS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES,
TO PRESERVE THEM FROM ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES AND FIRE."-A com-
Sealed the 2nd February 1858, and dated the 4th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Prince at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th August 1857.
I, ALEXANDER PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A SUBSTITUTE FOR VARNISH, TURPENTINE, AND OIL
IN THE MANUFACTURE OR MIXING OF PAINTS AND PIGMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR
COATING OR COVERING WOOD, METAL, GLASS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, TO PRESERVE
THEM FROM ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES AND FIRE," (a communication,) to be as
follows:-
This Invention is designed for preserving wood, metal, glass, and other
substances, and as a substitute for varnish, turpentine, and oil, in the mixing
of paints used in painting, and consists in mixing siliceous earth oil with
Brien 87

page_text: other matters or ingredients hereafter described. The aforesaid earth oil,
which I call "perenator," may be used either with or without colors; in either
case the wood or other organic substance coated therewith becomes incom-
bustible, the coating preventing the wood or other substance from bursting
into flames. It also preserves wood from decay and worm holes. Metal
covered with the "perenator" will neither burn, rust, nor oxidize, and con-
sequently is unlimited in its.durability. To these incalculable advantages
may be added that of greater cleanliness, a complete freedom from smell; and
a saving in price of at least 50 per cent. "Perenator" may be also used for
mixing water colors.
The mixture which I call "perenator" is composed of a preparation of
silica with salts of potash or salts of soda (under the last-named salts also
sulphate of soda). It may be made either of silica and one of these salts, or
of silica and two of such salts in equal proportions. I have obtained a good
preparation by dissolving in an iron retort,at a temperature of 1840° Fahren-
heit, the following ingredients, viz. :-Silica, soda, and potash in equal quan-
tities, and 2 per cent. of charcoal. The mass when cold should be made into
a coarse powder and dissolved in boiling water, and the silicic acid precipitated
by muriatic acid. The precipitate is then washed with cold water until cocoa-
nut paper no longer reddens when immersed in the water that is flowing off.
The aforesaid precipitate is then dissolved in a strong alkali,and this solution
is the mixture which I call "perenator," which is now ready for use, and
when employed for coating or covering wood, metal, or other substances, has
the property of making them both water and fire proof. The "porenator'
may be applied either in a concentrated or thin liquid form; the thinning or
diluting should be done with soft water (rain or river water), and the rubbing
in of the paiut or color is performed with milk and "percnator" in certain
proportions, according to the purpose to which it is to be applied. It is
also proposed in some cases to mix fine powdered chalk with the
"perenator."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Prince in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
PRINCE, of the Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, in the
· County of Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant uuto me; the
said Alexander Prince, Her special licence that I, the said Alexauder
Prince, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alexander Prince, 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 "A SUBSTITUTE FOR VARNISH, TURPENTINE, AND OIL IN THE MANUFACTURE OR
MIXING OF PAINTS AND PIGMENTS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COATING OR COVERING WOOD,
METAL, GLASS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, TO PRESERVE THEM FROM ATMOSPHERIC
INFLUENCES AND FIRE," (a communication.) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Prince, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Alexander Prince, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement thereof; that is to say :-
This Invention is designed for preserving wood, metal, glass and other
substances, and as a substitute for varnish, turpentine, and oil in the mixing
of paints used in painting, and consists in mixing siliceous earth oil with
other matters or ingredients hereafter described. The aforesaid earth oil,
which I call "perenator," is a combination of silicate with one, two, or more
basic bodies, for instance, potash, soda, sulphate of soda, commonly called
Glauber's salt, Seignett's salt tartar, kali, or nitrate of soda. All minerals
belonging to the family of quartzes, as well as sand, silicate of alumina, and
the silicious scaly secretions of the infusoria found in alluvial deposits,contain
silicate.
The perenator may be produced by two different processes, first, either by
melting the silicate with one or with several of the above indicated basic
bodies; or, secondly, by a solution of the silicate in a concentrated caustic lye,

page_text: the perenator may even be obtained as a secondary product in the shape of
slag.
I obtain by the following process a product, which, though it contains an
equal proportion of solid matter, is yet much more fluid and fusible than any.
other combination, and is on account of that property better adapted for the
above indicated purposes. The purest quartz is finely pounded and thoroughly
mixed in proportions stated below with calcinated soda, purified potash, aud
finely pounded charcoal. This mixture is then put into a fire clay or iron
crucible, and melted by a strong red heat. The proportions of the ingredients
are as follows, viz, 10 parts of quartz, 2-3 parts of calcinated soda, 2..; parts
of purified potash, and 0.5 parts of pounded charcoal. This mixture when
entirely cold is again pounded, washed, and finally dissolved in boiling water
To render the sulphuret of potassium which the fluid may contain entirely
innocuous, a little oxide of copper or some litharge is added in course of
boiling. The proportion of water to solid inatter is regulated by the degree
of consistency of which the fluid is required, and that consistency varies
again according to the purposes to which the fluid is to be applied from 10
to 25 degrees, that is to say, from 10 to 25 partis of solid matter in 100 parts
of the fluid. It is best to allow the mass when perfectly dissolved to evaporate
to about 50 per cent. of solid matter, and produce thus a jelly, which when
it is intended to be used, may be easily reduced to the required consistency
by adding and well mixing with it cold soft water.
This solution, which I call "perenator," on account of the properties which
it imparts to the objects coated with it, is now fit and applicable as a coating
by itself, or as a binding medium in lieu of linseed, poppy, or turpentine oil
in the preparation and mixing up of colors to coat wood, glass, metal, and
other solid bodies. When applied on wood it will render it uninflammable
and protect it against fungi and dry rot; when applied on metal it will protect
it against rust and oxidation; on stone, brick, and compost walls it will
prevent
their decay; and when applied on all other substances of organic origins,
viz, paper, straw, linen, cloth, &c., it will protect them equally against flaine.
This latter property is on that account acquired by the objects coated with the
perenator that the silicate, even when melting, forms on the surface of the
object coated a kind of crust impervious to oxygen, in the absence of which
ignition can never take place.
To these advantages (which the hitherto employed oil paints do not afford)
are added moreover greater cleanliness, a complete absence of any smell
whatever, and a considerable saving in the expense of the coating, amounting
to no less than 60
per cent.
The manner in which the perenator is to be

page_text: worked and applied differs but little from tlie mode hitherto practised of
working the oil. To all colours (with the exception of vegetable ones) are
added according to circumstances from 6 to 30 per cent. either finely
precipitated whitening or artificial sulphate of baryta, which gives them a
greater body and renders them more durable, without impairing in the least
their pristine beauty. Artificial sulphate of baryta, mixed and prepared with
the perenator produces, even without the least admixture of colour a durable,
and very cheap white paint. Perenator paints are ground and laid on exactly
like oil paints; they dry very quickly, and the whole painting operation
is very soon completed.
I claim therefore the application of the silicate in its various combinations,
but especially in the above-described combination, either as a kind of varnish
or as a substitute for oil and turpentine in the mixing up and preparation
of colours and pigments. for coating, painting, or printing on wood, metal,
glass, or other substances, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Prince, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE, JR, Patent Office,
4, Trafalgar Sq., Charing Cross.
ALEX. PRINCE: (L.B.)