AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF SEASONING AND PRESERVING WOOD
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OF SEASONING AND PRESERVING WOOD."-A
communication from abroad by Sigismund Beer, of the City and
State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 24th July 1868, and dated the 19th February 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 19th February 1868, pursuant to the 9th.
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
PROCESS OF SEASONING AND PRESERVING WOOD," and have petitioned Her
Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns,.
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that it has been communicated to me from abroad by

page_text: Sigismund Beer, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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:-
Wood freshly cut is full of sap composed of hygroscopic and very
perishable organic substances. Heretofore the idea has been in seasoning
and preserving wood to wash out these substances, or to chemically
combine and convert them into more durable compounds. Washing by
steam only removes matter having great affinity for water and soluble
therein, leaving those that coagulate by the action of steam to fill the
pores and stop further action. The chemical conversion of these sub-
stances is commonly produced by metallic salts, which combine with
them, forming insoluble compounds of more durability; but this
action is necessarily limited to the exterior, as deep impregnation is
stopped by the newly-formed products. Moreover the cost is high, and
the salts more or less injuriously affect the wood substance.
My Invention consists chiefly in treating the wood with a boiling
solution of borax in water, which easily and effectually dissolves, and
removes all those perishable substances without injuriously affecting the
wood fibre, which, on the contrary, becomes harder, impregnable to
water, vermin proof, perfectly indifferent to the moisture or dryness of
the atmosphere, and almost incombustible.
The process and operation are as follows:-In a tank of wood or iron
I prepare a saturated or nearly saturated solution of borax in water
sufficient to cover the wood. I then raise the temperature by steam or
otherwise to the boiling point, and keep it there from two to twelve
hours according to the porosity and thickness of the wood. I then
repeat this operation in a freshly-concentrated solution of borax in
water, but immersing the wood only half as long as before. The wood
is then taken out, and as soon as dry it is ready for usc if its hardness
and discolour are not objectionable; or it may be several times washed
in boiling water, which will extract the absorbed borax in connection
with the coloured matter, and restore its former colour and appearance
more or less at will. It is not necessary, but I prefer to use a very
strong solution on account of the facility for re-using the same.

page_text: Simple as my process is it may be advantageously altered in some
When thick lumbers are to be treated it is well to steam them
thoroughly in the ordinary way, and place them in the tank while still
warm and wet. The denser and heavier liquid of borax solution will
more quickly penetrate the pores of the wood and shorten the operation
considerably.
If it is desirable to impregnate the wood with tar, coal oil, or like
substances they are easily applied after the wood has been thoroughly
dried.
If it is desirable to make the wood perfectly water-tight shellac, or
other gum or resin or substance soluble in a boiling solution of borax,
and insoluble after drying in cold water, may be added to the liquid
of the second operation, or the prepared wood may be treated with a
solution of acetate of lead, or any other salt yielding an insoluble
borate.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be con-
veniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, seasoning,
preserving, and purifying wood by extracting its perishable matters
without injuring the wood substance, and associating therewith a
durable and antiseptic substance by a process in which borax or some
other borate or boracic acid, or a like compound, is employed,
substantially as and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
0
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Mess. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.