Patent GB-1153551-A (GB)
Title: Method and apparatus for Obtaining Electro-Deposited Shaped Articles from Fibrous Protein Fibrils
Inventor: MIZUGUCHI JUN
IPC: B29C48/08
Filed: 1967-09-14
Abstract: 1,153,551. Electro-depositing proteins. J. MIZUGUCHI, C. KINOSHITA and S. KINOSHITA. Sept. 14, 1967 [June 15, 1967], No. 42005/67. Heading C7B. Fibrous proteinous material is electro-deposited from an aqueous suspension thereof on to an electrically conductive former and the deposit removed from the former to produce a shaped product, such as string for musical instruments, surgical thread, racquet gut, or a tube, sack, bag or sheet for enveloping foodstuffs e.g. ham and sausages. Preferably the former is used as cathode when the pH of the suspension is less than 6 (e.g. obtained by adding HC1 or acetic or lactic acid), and as anode when the pH is more than 9 (e.g. obtained by adding KOH or NaOH). The former 101 Fig. 1 may be of stainless steel, Ni, Au, Ag, Pb, an alloy thereof, base metal coated with Au, Ag or Pt group metal, graphite or bonded electrically conductive powder, and the other electrode may be of Pt, PbO 2  or stainless steel and may be formed by the walls of the electrodeposition vessel 107 itself. The former may have therein at least one passage e.g. a pipe 102 communicating via stop-cock 120 with a pressure control device 130 for supplying gas at sub- or super-atmospheric pressure. The concentration of the proteinous material, which may be derived from intestine, tendon, skin, hide, hypodermal tissue and include collagen, fibroin (silkworms), keratin (hairs), fibrinogen (bloods), myosin (muscles), preferably lies between 0À001 and 3% by weight. The suspension may also contain the following: 0À01-0À% by weight of coagulating agent, e.g. formalin, acetaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, (methyl) glyoxal, epichlorohydrin, epoxy oil, glycol dialdehyde or acrolein; 0À1-1% by weight of flexibility improving agent, e.g. glycerin, ethylene or propylene glycol or sorbitol; surface active agent; and/or barbed fibres of floss-silk, silk-yarn, cellulose, cotton, P.V.C., P.V.A., polyvinylidene chloride or polyamide, of larger size than that of the proteinous fibres. After removal of the shaped product, it may be treated with an aqueous solution of the above coagulating and/or flexibility improving agent, and/or dried and heat cured. The aqueous solution containing the coagulating agent may further contain alum, aluminium sulphate or tannin. The shaped product e.g. a tube 100 may be continuously withdrawn from a former 101 throughout the process Fig. 1 or removed as a shaped unit from movable formers 210 mounted on a chain 242 after deposition has ceased Fig.3. The process may be alternatively used for purifying fibrous proteinous materials having electrolytes mixed therewith, e.g. in a vessel 308 containing a rotatable drum 301 as cathode on which proteinous fibrils are deposited and continuously scraped off by a scraper 307 Fig. 6. Pulsed D.C. may be used. A diaphragm, e.g. of unglazed porcelain, (Registered Trade Mark), "Alundum" synthetic resin, cotton or silk cloth, may be provided between the electrodes: the catholyte containing a suspension of hydrated proteinous fibrils and the anolyte containing a conductive solution e.g. of HCl or H 2 SO 4 . The aqueous suspension may be continuously circulated through the electro-deposition vessel, a cooler, and a mixing vessel for restoring the concentration.