IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-RESISTING SAFES, STEAM BOILERS, PIPES, OR VARIOUS OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE TO EXPOSURE TO HEAT
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Russell Arnold Ballou, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-RESISTING SAFES, STEAM BOILERS, PIPES, OR VARIOUS
OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE TO EXPOSURE TO HEAT."-A communication by
John Pevear Greely, a resident of the State aforesaid.
Sealed the 11th February 1870, and dated the 9th December 1869.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Russell Arnold Ballou
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 9th December 1869, pursuant to the
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RUSSELL
ARNOLD BALLOU, of the State of Massachusetts, of the United States of
America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-RESISTING SAFES, STEAM BOILERS, PIPES, OR VARIOUS OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE
TO EXPOSURE TO HEAT," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto

page_text: me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that such Invention
was communicated to me by John Pevear Greely, a resident of the State
aforesaid.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Russell Arnold Ballou, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
In carrying out my Invention I employ for the stuffing of an ordinary
safe lampblack either alone or in mixture with plaster of Paris or any
other suitable cement or material. Such may also be employed for the
stuffing of the jacket of a steam boiler, or a pipe for the conveyance of
steam or hot air, or for a common refrigerator as used for the cooling
or preservation of meats or other articles. A safe or other article so
stuffed or lined or protected with a mass of lampblack arranged against
either or all of its sides, or within such, becomes in fact an improved
article of manufacture. In the application of lampblack as a lining or
stuffing to a common iron safe for the preservation of books, papers, etc.
from fire we not only have a homogeneous material but one incapable of
destruction or of being cracked by heat.
I am aware that carbon in the form of coal or ordinary charcoal has
been used in refrigerators or meat safes as a non-conductor of caloric,
but lampblack, although carbon, is essentially differenta in form and
character, and in the practical results following its use as a safe stuffing.
A diamond is carbon in a crystalized state; lampblack is carbon also in
a peculiar condition; it is the product of flame and will not burn in
ordinary temperatures, as it will endure long exposure to intense heat
without any obvious change. While ordinary carbon in the state of
charcoal is a slow conductor of caloric lampblack is almost a non-
conductor of it.
For the mechanical application of lampblack as above specified it is
really another substance as respects charcoal, since it can be used where
charcoal cannot for the reason that the latter would be consumed when
exposed to heat in a safe, whereas lampblack will retain its normal
condition under very intense heat, especially when confined within or
between the walls of a fire-resisting safe. Owing to the minute divisions

page_text: of the lampblack, it being in the state of an impalpable powder, it is
capable of being condensed or packed to better advantage than charcoal
or ground gypsum, and as a natural consequence air can be better
excluded from a mass of it. Where gypsum and various other matters
used in stuffing safes, when exposed in a safe to great heat,.will give off
water and carbonic acid or other gases, and become cracked and rendered
useless thereby, the lampblack will retain all its useful properties and
remain intact.
The accompanying Drawing represents a horizontal section of a
fire-resisting safe as provided with the lampblack stuffing.
In this Drawing A is the outer iron wall, and B the inner wall of
the safe, C, C, being intermediate walls. The lampblack stuffing is
shown at D, D, an ordinary plaster of Paris stuffing being also represented
at E, E. A stuffing composed of plaster of Paris and lampblack is
shown at F. In one case the lampblack stuffing is represented as
between the outer wall and the cement or plaster stuffing; in the other
case it is shown as between the inner wall and the cement or plaster
stuffing, the lampblack stuffing in either instance being separated from
the cement stuffing by one of the intermediate walls.
My Invention is based on the discovery of the new properties of lamp-
black when used as described in a safe, especially when exposed to great
heat. It has been discovered that it will not only retain its normal
condition, but is a better non-conductor of heat than any known sub-
stance heretofore employed. A great difficulty with the common kinds
of stuffing heretofore employed is the liability to crack and contract,
thereby allowing the heat to readily pass through the stuffing to the
detriment of the contents of the safe. This is not the case with the
lampblack.
In further carrying out the Invention the mass of lampblack, when
used alone in a space between the walls of a safe, may be tamped or
beaten down very closely or firmly, so the mass of lampblack before
being put in its place may be compacted or moulded into a proper shape
or shapes therefor.
It is not essential to the Invention that the mass of lampblack should
be tamped or compressed, although in some cases it may be preferable to
do so, and may be an improved method of applying it, and be productive
of a better or new result.

page_text: What I claim as my Invention is as follows:-
I claim my improved manufacture or safe as having its heat-resisting
stuffing composed either of lampblack alone or such in mixture with
plaster of Paris or other equivalent material.
I also claim the employment of lampblack as a stuffing for a safe
whether it (such lampblack) be used alone for such or in connection or
mixture with plaster of Paris or other material.
I also claim the employment of lampblack as a heat non-conducting
stuffing for the jacket of a steam boiler pipe or other article exposed or
to be exposed to heat.
I also claim as my Invention and an improvement in a safe the
employment therein of a mass of lampblack, and the compacting of it
substantially as described, whereby a stuffing of a superior character
tending to render the safe practically fire-resisting is produced.
I also claim as of my Invention a safe having its stuffing composed of
lampblack compacted substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Russell Arnold Ballou, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November of the
year Eighteen hundred and sixty-nine.
RUSSELL ARNOLD BALLOU. (L.S.)