IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF GUNPOWDER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bruno Hoffmark, of Saint Petersburg, in the
Empire of Russia, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GUNPOWDER."-A communication by Bernhard Wiener,
Colonal of Antill
D
..…
Sealed the 23rd January 1874, and dated the 17th November 1873.

page_text: submit the mixture in a dry or unwetted state to the action of a press
heated by steam to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Centi-
grade). Under this temperature the sulphur melts and becomes
thoroughly distributed throughout the mixture, thereby transforming
the same into a compact black cake perfectly homogeneous.
Prismatic or any other special kind of powder of which each
single grain requires to be pressed is made by bringing the mixture
from the mixing barrels or tubs directly into hot powder presses which
produce grains of the desired form and size.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Bruno Hoffmark, in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BRUNO
HOFFMARK, of Saint Petersburg, in the Empire of Russia, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Bruno Hoffmark, Her
special licence that I, the said Bruno Hoffmark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Bruno Hoffmark, 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, tho Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER," (a communication from
Bernhard Wiener, Colonel of Artillery, a person resident at Saint
Petersburg, aforesaid), upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Bruno Hoffmark, 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 I, the said Bruno Hoffmark, 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
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
:―
This Invention consists in the manufacture of gunpowder by what I
term the dry way.
Instead of adding a certain quantity of water to the ingredients,
salpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, as in the ordinary mode of manufacture,
after they have been mixed together in the mixing barrels or tubs, I
submit the mixture in a dry or unwetted state to the action of a press
heated by steam to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120° Centigrade).
Under this temperature the sulphur melts and becomes thoroughly
distributed throughout the mixture, thereby transforming the same into
a compact black cake perfectly homogeneous.
Prismatic or any other special kind of powder of which each single
grain requires to be pressed is made by bringing the mixture from the