Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Kyan, John H.

KYAN, John H., inventor, b. in England in 1775; d. in New York city, 9 Jan., 1850. He was the first to introduce a chemical process for the preservation of wood, finding that, where timber was steeped in a solution of corrosive sublimate or placed in an exhausting-cylinder and the solution forced in under atmospheric pressure, the wood was rendered capable of resisting decay for a great length of time. This process he patented in England in 1832, and subsequently introduced it into the United States. This method was named kyanizing, after its inventor. Its expense and the difficulty of manipulation at first largely prevented its use, but with improved means it now finds wide application.