The last we intend referring to is a composition frequently used in China, for preserving wood. Many buildings in the capital are painted with it. It is called _Schoicao_, and is made with 3 parts of blood deprived of its febrine, 4 parts of lime and a little alum, and 2 parts of liquid silicate of soda. It is sometimes used in Japan.
It would be practically useless to quote any further remedies, and the reader is recommended to carefully study those quoted in this chapter, and of their utility to judge for himself, bearing in mind those principles which we have referred to before commencing to describe the patent processes. A large number of patents have been taken out in England for the preservation of wood by preservative processes, but only two are now in use,--that is, to any extent,--viz. Bethell’s and Burnett’s. Messrs. Bethell and Co. now impregnate timber with _copper, zinc, corrosive sublimate, or creosote_; the four best patents.
We insert here a short analysis of different _methods_ proposed for seasoning timber:--
Bréant’s. Bethell’s. Payne’s. Perin’s. Tissier’s.
Tissier. Bréant. Payne. Renard Perin, 1848. Brochard and Watteau, 1847.
Employ Sulphate of Copper in closed vessels.
Bethell’s Patent, 11th July, 1838. Tissier, 22nd October, 1844. Molin’s Paper, 1853. Payen’s Pamphlet. Légé and Fleury’s Pamphlet.
Moll’s Patent, 19th January, 1835. Tissier’s ” 22nd October, 1844. Payne’s ” 14th Nov., 1846. Meyer d’Uslaw, 2nd January, 1851. Payen’s Pamphlet.
Tissier’s Patent, 22nd October, 1844. Knab’s Patent, 8th September, 1846.
The following are the chief _ingredients_ which have been recommended, and some of them tried, to prevent the decomposition of timber, and the growth of fungi:--
Acid, Sulphuric. ” Vitriolic. ” of Tar. Carbonate of Potash. ” Soda. ” Barytes. Sulphate of Copper. ” Iron. ” Zinc. ” Lime. ” Magnesia. ” Barytes. ” Alumina. ” Soda. Salt, Neutral. Salt, Selenites. Oil, Vegetable. ” Animal. ” Mineral. Muriate of Soda. Marcosites, Mundic. ” Barytes. Nitrate of Potash. Animal Glue. ” Wax. Quick Lime. Resins of different kinds. Sublimate, Corrosive. Peat Moss.
For the _non-professional_ reader we find we have _three_ facts:
1st. The most successful patentees have been Bethell and Burnett, in England; and Boucherie, in France: all B’s.