A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A BLASTING POWDER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSE OR PURPOSES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Gray, of the Office for Patents,
16, Southampton Buildings, Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED COMPOUND
TO BE USED AS A BLASTING POWDER, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSE OR PURPOSES."
- A communication from abroad by Raymond Cahuc and Louis
Soulages, both of Toulouse, France.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John William Gray
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 14th November 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN:
WILLIAM GRAY, of the Office for Patents, 16, Southampton Buildings,
Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
COMPOUND TO BE USED AS A BLASTING POWDER, AND "FOR OTHER PURPOSE OR
PURPOSES," and have petitioned Her most Excellent Majesty Queen

page_text: Victoria to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that the same has been communicated to me from abroad
by Raymond Cahuc and Louis Soulages, both of Toulouse, France.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John William Gray, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new or improved compound to be used as
a blasting powder, and for other purpose or purposes, and to be known
by the name of carboazotine.
For the purposes of my Invention I combine the following materials
or substances:-Fifty to sixty-four equal parts by weight of nitrite of
either potash, soda, or lime, or any two of them, or the three combined
in any proportions; thirteen to sixteen equal parts of sulphur; fourteen
to sixteen equal parts of tanners' bark (if containing refuse animal
matter preferred), or of sawdust, or the two combined in any proportions;
nine to eighteen equal parts of either soot or lampblack, or the two
combined in any proportions; five to six equal parts of sulphate of iron
to every one hundred parts of the other substances in combination.
This sulphate of iron is to be dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water
to well moisten the other substances or materials.
The above materials or substances are first ground between stone, and
are then placed together in a boiler with the water, in which the
sulphate of iron has been dissolved, after which they are submitted to
from 110 to 120 degrees of heat (centigrade), when the necessary
chemical reactions take place, and the whole becomes first liquid and
then gradually solidified, and when nearly solid the compound is
removed and submitted to a somewhat lower heat until quite dry, when
it is ready for use.
The said boiler should be much larger than necessary to hold the raw
materials, as during the chemical reactions they increase greatly in bulk.
The compound thus formed when compressed may be used for all
blasting purposes, and will be found much cheaper and much more
effective than any other material at present in use for such purposes.
To secure the best results it should be well compressed and confined
before being exploded. It can be ignited by the means ordinarily &
employed for such purposes.

page_text: This compound finely triturated and dissolved in water in the pro-
portion of about two pounds of the former to 10 gallons of the latter
forms a very effective mixture for neutralising the phyloxera vastatrix.
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Gray, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.