IMPROVEMENTS GITEMADE FOR BOOKBINDING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene Carless, of the East London Works, Mile
End, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
GITEMADE FOR BOOKBINDING AND
Sealed the 22nd February 1856, and dated the 25th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugene Carless at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
August 1855.
I, EUGENE CARLESS, of the East London Works, Mile End, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, SUITABLE FOR BOOKBINDING
AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in manufacturing artificial leather by the use
and employment of certain materials and substances not heretofore employed
in combination in and for such manufacture.
The nature of these improvements will be better understood by the following
description of the means by which they may be effected, that is to say :-I
employ felted cotton or other felted material, prepared either with or without
gutta percha or caoutchouc, which, if so prepared, I subject to a chemical process
for depriving it of the smell of the gutta percha or caoutchouc; having done
which, I then proceed to prepare that side of the material which is not required
to be exposed when in use, by applying thereto a stiffening mixture, composed
of paste made from barley, rye, and wheat flour, colored of any desired tint,
and afterwards dried and rolled by suitable means. I then prepare the other
or surface side of the material with paste, as before described, but without any
tint of color, and again dry and roll the material as before; the surface is then

page_text: in a fit state to receive the coloring matter, which is prepared by mixing any
of the earths or pigments, either metallic, mineral, or vegetable, previously
prepared with size, glue, or gelatine, in combination with barley flour paste,
which is applied to the surface of the material already prepared, and afterwards
subjected to the before-mentioned drying and rolling processes; after which
the surface is finished, by applying thereto a composition of animal size and
saponaceous compounds, produced from white or yellow wax or stearine, pre-
'pared by combination with potash, pearlash, or ammonia, or any other alkali.
The material thus manufactured is in a fit state to be embossed, or otherwise
ornamented or finished on the surface side thereof, according to the purpose to
which it is to be applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugene Carless in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th February 1856..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
CARLESS, of the East London Works, Mile End, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most' Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Eugene Carless, Her special licence that I, the said Eugene Carless, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Eugene
Carless, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, SUITABLE FOR BOOKBINDING AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon
the condition (amongst others). that I, the said Eugene Carless, 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.
d
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene Carless, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention; and. in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My-improvements consist in manufacturing artificial leather by the use and
employment of certain materials and substances not heretofore employed in
combination in and for such manufacture.
In order to explain my said. Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the improved process practised by me of manufacturing
artificial leather, which I have found well adapted for bookbinding and other
purposes.
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE.
I take felt, made either with cotton in combination with a solution of gutta
percha or caoutchouc, which I deodorize by one or other of the means here-
after described, or I employ any other felted material. The following means
are employed for deodorizing the felted material.
First, by passing it through a bath of water containing one part of chloride
of zinc to every ten gallons of water, and immediately passing it in its wet
state over a series of heated cylinders until it is perfectly dry; or, secondly, by
adding to the bath one pint of liquid ammonia, or one pound of carbonate of
ammonia to every ten gallons, and proceeding as before.
When I require a stronger material, I unite the felted material to paper or
thin calico; I then proceed to prepare that side of the material which is not
required to be exposed when in use, by applying thereto a stiffening mixture,
composed of paste made from barley, rye, or wheaten flour, separately or in
combination with each other, or in combination with animal size or glue in
equal proportions, and if desirable I tint this mixture with any shade of color
I may 'deem suitable for the purpose; it is then dried and rolled by suitable
means. I then prepare the other or surface side with a similar composition,
tinted or not tinted with color, as occasion may require, and again roll and dry
as before. The surface side is then in a fit state to receive the coloring matter,
which is prepared by mixing any of the earths or pigments, or animal,
vegetable, mineral, metallic, or other colors, with size, glue, or gelatine, in
combination with barley flour paste and a chemical solution of gum shellac,
or other of the gums or gum resins, as a menstruum.
The color so prepared
is then applied to the surface side already prepared, as herein-before mentioned,
and dried and rolled in the usual way.
I next proceed to describe the method practised by me of preparing the
menstruum. I take four parts of gum shellac and four parts of biborate of
soda (or any other alkaline compound, such as liquid or carbonate of ammonia,
potash, soda,) and forty parts of water, and boil them together in a closed

page_text: .vessel until the shellac is dissolved; I then add two parts of Turkey or East
India gum arabic previously dissolved in water, and having boiled the mixture
for five minutes, I strain it and it is fit for use. I may here observe, that when
any of the colors as herein-before mentioned are mixed in this preparation
and applied to paper or any other material and dried, the color becomes fast,
and will resist the action of wet or damp, or any of the vegetable or mineral
acids. When I require to give a particular character to the material, such
a softness, pliability, smoothness to the touch, &c., I combine with this pre-
paration, according to the degree of pliability required, certain proportions of
barley, rye, or wheaten flour paste, sugar or treacle, and animal size, glue,
gelatine, or albumen, either by themselves or in combination, and it is
essentially necessary that the size, glue, or gelatine so employed should be
made without alum or any other acid.
The surface side having been colored as herein-before described, I proceed
to apply a finishing composition to it, which is made as follows:-I make a
saponaceous solution of white or yellow wax or stearine, by boiling two parts of
wax or stearine in twenty parts of water, to which has been added two parts
of potash or pearlash, or any other of the alkaline salts; to every three parts of
this solution I add two parts of barley, rye, or wheaten flour paste, and one
of animal size, glue, gelatine, or albumen. This being applied, the material
is dried and rolled, and if needful, hot or cold calendered, and is ready to be
used for any of the purposes for which leather is usually employed.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention of Im-
provements in the Manufacture of Artificial Leather, suitable for Bookbinding
and other Purposes, together with the best means I am acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I
claim as my Invention, the manufacturing of artificial leather in the manner
and by the means above particularly described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Carless, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
EUGENE CARLESS. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE, Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.