IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND TREATING GUNPOWDER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Gale, junior, of No. 8, Devonshire Terrace,
Plymouth, Electrician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING
AND TREATING GUNPOWDER."
Sealed the 10th October 1865, and dated the 22nd June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Gale at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
June 1865.
I, JAMES GALE, junior, of No. 8, Devonshire Terrace, Plymouth, Elec-
trician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING AND TREATING GUNPOWDER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing and treating
gunpowder. For these purposes gunpowder is mixed with a dry fine unexplo-
sive powder; the mixed or combined mass is thus rendered unexplosive, and
in this state the mass is stored in casks or other vessels or holders. When
the powder is required for use it is separated from the dry fine powder by
sifting or winnowing; the dry fine powder thus separated from the gunpowder
may be again and again used for the same purpose. Various dry materials
in the state of very fine powder may be thus used, but it is preferred to
employ ivory or bone black for the purpose reduced to an impalpable powder.
The relative proportions of the fine powder and of the gunpowder will vary"
to some extent, depending on the sizes of the grains of the gunpowder; it is
however found that about three parts by weight of the dry fine powder to
one part by weight of gunpowder answers well in practice.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Gale in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
GALE, junior, of No. 8, Devonshire Terrace, Plymouth, Electrician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Gale, Her special licence that I, the said
James Gale, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Gale, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING AND TREATING GUNPOWDER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Gale, 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 James Gale, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing and treating
gunpowder with a view to render it non-explosive when in store or when being
transported from place to place, and then to restore the gunpowder to its
original condition. For these purposes gunpowder is mixed with a dry fine
unexplosive or incombustible powder finer than the finest garins of the gun-
powder; the grains of gunpowder are thus isolated or separated from each
other, and the mixed or combined mass is thus rendered unexplosive, and in
this state the mass is stored in casks or other vessels or holders, and so long

page_text: as the gunpowder remains in combination or admixture with the dry unex-
plosive or incombustible powder it will as a inass be incapable of explosion.
When the gunpowder is required for use it is to be separated from the dry fine
powder, which may, be effected by sifting, or winnowing, or other adequate
means, but I deem sifting the most convenient. The dry fine powder thus
separated from the gunpowder may be again and again used for the same
purpose.
Various dry unexplosive or incombustible materials in the state of very fine
powder or a mixture of such material may be thus used, taking care that
it is reduced to a finer state than the grains of the gunpowder, but it is
preferred to employ ivory or bone black or glass powder reduced as nearly as
may be to an impalpable powder; glass powder is however much cheaper than
ivory or bone black, and is for that reason to be preferred. Any other fine
dry incombustible powder may be used, taking care that it is not capable of
readily taking up moisture when exposed to the air, and is capable of being
separated from the gunpowder.
The relative proportions of the fine dry powder and of the gunpowder will
vary to some extent, depending on the sizes of the grains of the gunpowder;
it is however found that about three parts by weight of the dry fine powder
to one part by weight of gunpowder answers well in practice.
In carrying out this Invention it is important that the powder mixed with
the gunpowder should be very dry and of a character not liable to imbibe or
take up moisture, and it is further desirable that such material should be
reduced to a very fine powder in order that the grains of gunpowder may,
when subjected to the action of a sieve, or to winnowing, or to both, be readily
separated from the dry and fiuer powder mixed therewith.
The dry fine powder is to be intimately mixed with the gunpowder; the
mixture may be placed in casks or other vessels or holders, and whilst so
mixed the mass will not explode, and in this condition the gunpowder may be
safely transported from place to place or kept in stores, and when intended for
use the gunpowder will readily be separated from the dry powder by sieving
or winnowing, or by the joint action of sieving and winnowing.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim to mix
or combine dry unexplosible or incombustible powder generally when not used
in such manner as to isolate or separate the grains of gunpowder from each
other; but what I claim is the combining or mixing with gunpowder, for the
purpose of rendering it unexplosive, fine dry unexplosive powder which is

page_text: capable of being separated from the gunpowder when it is required for use,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Gale, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JAMES GALE. (L.B.)