IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING OR PREPARING CAOUTCHOUC, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HANCOCK, of Goswell Mews, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Waterproof
Cloth Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of January now last
past, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Hancock, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
Hancock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Hancock, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING OR
PREPARING CAOUTCHOUC, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
Thomas Hancock, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Hancock, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, by the
following description thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements in the method of manufacturing caoutchouc consist in
forming this substance into sheets and into long uniform slips or threads in the
manner following:-I prepare the caoutchouc for forming these sheets in
the manner fully described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me for
an improvement or improvements in the process of rendering cloth and other
fabrics partially or entirely impervious to air and water, by means of caoutchouc
or india-rubber, bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven; and to that Specification I refer for the particulars
of such process.
I will now describe the manner in which I form this prepared caoutchouc
into sheets.
I take linen, silk, cotton, or other suitable cloth, and saturate or fill the
texture with common glue, size, gum, paste, or any other similar substance,
easily removeable by water, and when dry I pass this cloth through a calender,
or otherwise smooth the surface of it more or less, as the case may require. I
then spread the prepared caoutchouc upon this cloth by means of a machine
similar to that described in my said former Specification as suitable for
this purpose. If one coating is not sufficient I repeat the operation, and
when the coating is dry I immerse the whole in moderately warm water,
and let it remain until the gum or size is sufficiently softened to allow
the caoutchouc to be separated from the cloth. If the sheets are required
of greater thickness than can be conveniently made by successive coatings
upon one cloth, I spread the caoutchouc upon two cloths, and unite the two
coated sides together before they are quite dry, and I then strip off the cloth
from one side and apply a third coating, which has been spread upon prepared
cloth, in the manner before described, on that side, and continue to add fresh
coatings in the same manner until the required thickness is obtained. Instead
of filling the cloth with gum or size, one side of it may be covered with paper,
pasted on, and caoutchouc spread upon it, and the cloth and sheet separated
by immersion in water, as before stated. If it is desired to attach the sheets
permanently to cloth, leather, &c., I spread a coating or two of the well-
known common solution of caoutchouc upon it by way of cement, and when
nearly dry, unite the sheets thereto by pressure, and then strip off the gummed
cloth by immersion in water, as before described. Any suitable pattern or
graining may be given to the sheets of caoutchouc by raising figures previously

page_text: on the prepared cloth, either by embossing or otherwise. Coloring matter may
be added to the caoutchouc in the manner described in the aforesaid Specifi-
cation; or the sheets may be colored by laying on with a brush any of the
common pigments, such as flake white, vermillion, lamp black, blue verditer, &c.,
mixed with a very thin solution of caoutchouc, composed of about ten ounces
of manufactured caoutchouc to one gallon of rectified coal oil or turpentine.
The sheets may be printed with the same colors by means of plates, type,
blocks, or stencilling, in the manner commonly practised. I also form sheets
to be used as tablets for writing or drawing on with crayons, French chalk, &c.,
by adding pumice powder, fine emery, or other similar gritty substances, either
in the manner described in my said former Specification, with reference to
coloring matters during the preparation of the caoutchouc, or by coatings
of these substances mixed with a thin solution of caoutchouc after the sheets
are made, as before described. I also form sheets from the original native
and liquid caoutchouc as imported from South America, by preparing the
cloth with gum or size, as before stated; and I find a convenient mode of
doing this is by attaching two of the gummed cloths together by means of paste
or gum, and then immersing the cloth in the liquid caoutchouc, and allowing
the superfluous liquid to run off; I then hang up the cloth to dry, and when
dry immerse it again in the contrary direction, and again allow it to dry, and
continue the operation until the sheet has acquired the desired thickness; I
then separate the cloth from it by immersion in water, in the manner before
described. The edges must be trimmed or cut off, if necessary, to allow the
water to penetrate into the cloth. The surface of the cloth may be either
plain or figured, as before described, and coloring matter or emery or pumice
powder introduced into the first or subsequent coatings. If the sheets are
required to be only of a comparatively small size, or of particular shapes, I
form the flat or figured surface upon which I make them of plaster of Paris,
and pour on the liquid caoutchouc. If required of considerable thickness, I
find it best to pour on a thin coating first and allow it to dry, and continue
to do so until the desired thickness is obtained. If a very smooth surface is
wished, I spread it upon plate glass. In some cases I employ a raised edge
of wood or other material, as a guide to regulate the required thickness of the
sheet, and to prevent the caoutchouc from spreading too far. I also find for
some purposes that a coating of native liquid caoutchouc improves the sheets
formed of manufactured caoutchouc, first described; in such cases I apply it
either by dipping the sheets in the liquid, or spreading it on with a spatula, or
other convenient instrument. I manufacture the long uniform slips or threads
from the native liquid caoutchouc upon cylinders of wood or metal by turning

page_text: or otherwise forming a spiral groove of the width and depth of the required
slip or thread; I fill this groove by immersing the cylinders in the liquid,
and with a straight piece of wood or metal clear the liquid from the projecting
parts; and when dry I immerse it again, and continue so to do until the
groove is filled, when, by immersing the cylinder for some time in moderately
warm water, the slip or thread of caoutchouc may be drawn off, and will be
of the length and size of the spiral groove. I also follow the same process of
coating a plain cylinder with the liquid until a uniform substance of the
required thickness is obtained. The cylinder is then put into a machine
attached to a screw motion, and the slips or threads cut with a circular knife
to the required size. As the machine is well known to persons conversant
with this manufacture I need not further describe it.
And, lastly, I do further declare that I do not, under the said first-recited
Patent, claim as new the processes described by my said former Specification,
nor the mixing of coloring matters with the caoutchouc, nor the common
solution of caoutchouc as a cement, nor the use of calenders, or of any other
machinery, matters, or things that have been previously used or practised.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hancock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
THOMAS HANCOCK. (L.B.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventeenth day of July,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Hancock came before our
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
AL
*ALLAVIT