IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING NITRO-GLYCERINE FOR CONVEYANCE AND STORAGE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Horsley, of Cheltenham, in the County of
Glocester, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING
NITRO-GLYCERINE FOR CONVEYANCE AND STORAGE"
Sealed the 18th September 1869, and dated the 23rd March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Horsley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd March 1869.
I, JOHN HORSLEY, of Cheltenham, in the County of Glocester,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
IN PROTECTING NITRO-GLYCERINE FOR CONVEYANCE AND STORAGE,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the incorporation of nitro-glycerine with
finely powdered common alum or Epsom salts, either of which will
answer, but preference is given to the salt of alumina, the earthy salts

page_text: being washed or dissolved out by water whenever the nitro-glycerine
is required for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Horsley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HORSLEY, of Cheltenham, in the County of Glocester, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Horsley, Her special licence that
I, the said John Horsley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Horsley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROTECTING NITRO-
GLYCERINE FOR CONVEYANCE AND STORAGE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Horsley, 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 John Horsley, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
For the purpose of protecting nitro-glycerine I use freshly powdered
common alum (aluminous sulphate of potash or ammonia) or Epsom

page_text: of crystallization, that is, undried or unexsiccated; either of these earthy
salts will answer, but I give preference to the alum salt, which I reduce
to an extremely fine powder, and after passing it through a brass wire
sieve of from 90 to 100 or 120 boles per linear inch (the finer the better),
I take, say (although I do not confine myself to this quantity), 1 pound
or 16 ounces of the powder, and incorporate therewith in an open dish
4 fluid ounces (equal to 5½ or nearly 6 ounces by weight) of nitro-
glycerine, stirring the ingredients well first with a bone or wooden
spatula till the oil or nitro-glycerine is absorbed, and finishing it after-
wards by the hands or other suitable means so as to get it thoroughly
blended.
In this state the nitro-glycerine is rendered perfectly safe from leakage
as well as from explosion by any kind of rough treatment, such as the
direct application of fire, or a red heat, or a violent blow between iron or
stone, and it is not liable to any spontaneous change or decomposition,
and may therefore be removed from place to place with the utmost
confidence. Whenever it be desired to extract or separate the nitro-
glycerine for use either at home or abroad all that is necessary is to put
a certain quantity of the solid compound into a spouted basin or jug,
drench it well with hot water, which instantly dissolves out the earthy
salt leaving the nitro-glycerine at the bottom of the vessel as a "dense
oil," from which the supernatant aqueous fluid can be decanted off, and
reserved if necessary for subsequent crystallization and utilization. If
the oil or nitro-glycerine be required pure and perfectly free from
water, which is not of so much consequence for blasting purposes, it
will be necessary to pour the oil with as little of the water as possible on
to a filter of strong blotting paper resting in a funnel and previously well
wetted; when all the water has passed through the pure nitro-glycerine
will be retained and may be collected in a dry glass measure on pricking
a small hole at the bottom of the filter with a long needle or wire.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
protecting nitro-glycerine by incorporating it with certain readily soluble
earthy salts as above mentioned and described, so as to form an in-
explosive compound for the safe conveyance and storage of the nitro-

page_text: glycerine and from which the nitro-glycerine can be recovered for use
whenever desired, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Horsley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
JOHN HORSLEY. (L.S.)