As IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO SHEEP AND OTHER ANIMALS FOR THE PURPOSES OF DESTROYING VERMIN AND PARASITICAL LIFE THEREON, AND FOR PROTECTING THEM THEREFROM."
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Girdwood, of Edinburgh, in the County of
Mid Lothian, North Britain, Wool Broker, for the Invention of “As
IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO SHEEP AND OTHER ANIMALS FOR THE
PURPOSES OF DESTROYING VERMIN AND PARASITICAL LIFE THEREON, AND FOR
PROTECTING THEM THEREFROM."
IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO SHEEP AND OTHER ANIMALS FOR THE
PURPOSES OF DESTROYING VERMIN AND PARASITICAL LIFE THEREON, AND FOR
PROTECTING THEM THEREFROM."
Sealed the 8th February 1868, and dated the 10th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Girdwood at the'
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
August 1867.
I, ROBERT GIRDWOOD, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid Lothian, North
Britain, Wool Broker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO SHEEP AND OTHER ANIMALS FOR
THE PURPOSES OF DESTROYING VERMIN AND PARASITICAL LIFE THEREON, AND. FOR
PROTECTING THEM THEREPROM," to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the use of oils obtained in the distillation of the
tar of coal, wood, peat, or seaweed in combination with an alkali and the
ordinary tar of wood or the tars obtained in the destructive distillation of peat,
seaweed-or-other-similar-substances,-or-rosin, crude-turpentine, or other-
resinons substances usually known under the designation of "gum-resins."

page_text: In carrying this Invention into practice a portion of one or more of the
tar oils herein-before referred to is taken, and to it is added an alkaline lye
of caustic soda or potash, together with a portion of one of the tars or of the
resinous matter above referred to. Various proportions of the different
ingredients may be adopted, but it is preferred to employ six parts of the
light oil of coal tar, sometimes called naphtha oil or light pitch oil to two.
parts of the tar of wood or the other substances herein-before specified, and
three parts of solution of caustic soda of (40°) forty degrees "Twaddle."
When the composition is sufficiently commingled, by agitation or otherwise,
it is ready for use, and in applying, it the composition is mixed with water
so as to constitute a bath for dipping the animals into or for pouring upon
them in any of the various ways practised by flock masters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Girdwoud in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GIRDWOOD, of Edinburgh, in the County of Mid. Lothian, North Britain,
Wool Broker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Girdwood, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Girdwood,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Girdwood, 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 "AN IMPROVED
COMPOSITION TO BE APPLIED TO SHEEP AND OTHER ANIMALS FOR THE PURPOSES OF
DESTROYING VERMIN AND PARASITICAL LIFE THEREON, AND FOR PROTECTING THEM
THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Girdwood, 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
.

page_text: 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 Robert Girdwood, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the preparation of a "dip" or com-
position to be applied to sheep and other animals, which whilst destroying
vermin or parasitical life and protecting the animals from the injurious effects
of such life also preserves and improves their fleeces or skins. My improved
dip has also the advantage of imparting a certain amount of adhesiveness
which keeps the fleece well together, and thereby makes it a better protection
from the weather in high or exposed situations. And my said Invention
consists in combining an oil or mixture of oils obtained by distillation from the
tar of coal, wood, peat, or seaweed, with an alkaline lye and the ordinary tar
obtained by distillation from wood, peat, seaweed, or similar substances, or
rosin, crude turpentine, or other resinous substance or substances commonly
known as "
gum resins."
In practising my Invention I dissolve a portion of the tar or resinous
matter in one of the tar oils or in a mixture of such oils, such solution being
made with or without heat and in any convenient way. I then add the
alkaline lye, and mix the whole together by preference in the cold state. Various
proportions of the ingredients may be adopted, but I prefer to employ six
parts by weight of the light oil of coal tar, sometimes called crude naphtha or
light pitch oil, two parts of what is known as "white tar," or the same
quantity of "thus" resin, and three parts of a lye of caustic soda or potash
of a strength of about forty degrees Twaddle. The compound formed in this
manner must be well stirred or agitated whenever it is about to be used.
applying it it is to be mixed with water to form a bath in which the animals
are to be dipped, or it may be applied in any other way that flock masters may
consider convenient.
In
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein-before described; but that what I believe
to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the compounding or mixing
together of an oil or oils obtained from tar, a tar or resin and an alkaline lye,

page_text: to form a "dip" or composition to be applied to sheep and other animals, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Girdwood, have hereunto set my
'hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
ROBERT GIRDWOOD. (L.S.)