REDUCING THE BOTTLE OR IMPORTED INDIA-RUBBER TO A TRANSPARENT LIQUID STATE SO THAT IT MAY BE USED AS A TRANSPARENT VARNISH OR SOLUTION FOR MIXING WITH COLORS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustavus Gidley, of No. 14, Clinger Street, Hoxton,
and William Christopher, of No. 2, Oak Villa, Pinner, Middlesex, for the
Invention of "REDUCING THE BOTTLE OR IMPORTED INDIA-RUBBER TO A
TRANSPARENT LIQUID STATE SO THAT IT MAY BE USED AS A TRANSPARENT
VARNISH OR SOLUTION FOR MIXING WITH COLORS."
Sealed the 28th November 1856, and dated the 2nd June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustavus Gidley and
William Christopher at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd June 1856.
We, GUSTAVUS GIDLEY, of No. 14, Clinger Street, Hoxton, and WILLIAM
CHRISTOPHER, No. 2, Oak Villa, Pinner, Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "REDUCING THE BOTTLE OR IMPORTED INDIA-
RUBBER TO A TRANSPARENT LIQUID STATE, SO THAT IT MAY BE USED AS A TRANS-
PARENT VARNISH OR SOLUTION FOR MIXING WITH COLORS," to be as follows:-
We proceed in the first place to subject imported india-rubber to an alkaline
process with or without heat.
We prefer doing so with heat, taking then
from 48 to 60 hours; some rubber takes less, but attention to the boilers will
indicate when sufficiently boiled, by the rubber having become of a brown
instead of a black color, the extraneous matters, smoke, carbon, &c., having

page_text: been disengaged in the boiling. For this process we prefer carbonate of soda
or carbonate of potash, first, for cheapness, and next, because they do not
affect the rubber in the same way as acids or caustic alkali. We commonly
use one pound of carbonate of soda or potash to a gallon of water in the
boiling. We afterwards wash the rubber, or boil it in clean water for
4 or 5 hours, in order to free it from the particles of soda which may cling to it.
We then dry and afterwards dissolve it either in naptha, camphine, spirits of
turpentine, spirits of rosin, &c. In this transparent and fluid state we use it
to render cloths or silks of all kinds, plain or colored, and other articles
impervious to water, so that their original colors are transparently and vividly
displayed.
To make this transparent fluid into a varnish, we dissolve gum damar,
animi, bleached shellac, isinglass, or gelatine, in spirit (but we do not confine
ourselves to the above mentioned, but claim any description of gum,) and mix
it with the transparent solution of india-rubber, according to the article that is
required to be varnished; some articles being inflexible, as carriages, furniture,
paintings on wood, or other inflexible matter, and others flexible, as cloths of
all kinds, paper, engravings, drawings, &c. whether plain or colored, whereby
the article is rendered impervious to water, and is washable without injury.
The quantity and kind of gum used will depend upon the work in hand, but
generally it will be one pound of gum in one gallon of spirits to every gallon
of dissolved rubber.
We also mix color with the transparent solution as a paint or pigment for
houses, all kinds of structures, internal or external, furniture, &c.
We also are enabled to mix this colored india-rubber solution with the gum
or gelatinous solution for covering cloths of all kinds, silks, canvas, felt, hats,
bonnets, &c. of any required color, thus making a colored impervious covering.
Iaving thus described the nature of our Invention, our claim is for the
production of an india-rubber solution or varnish in a transparent state, and to
use the same as herein described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Custavus Gidley and William Christopher in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GUSTAVUS
GIDLEY, of 14, Clinger Street, Hoxton, and WILLIAM CHRISTOPHER, of No. 2,
Oak Villa, Pinner, Middlesex, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Gustavus
Gilley and William Christopher, Her special licence that we, the said
Gustavus Gidley and William Christopher, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Gustavus Gidley and William
Christopher, our 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 "REDUCING THE BOTTLE
OR IMPORTED INDIA-RUBBER TO A TRANSPARENT LIQUID STATE, SO THAT IT MAY
BE USED AS A TRANSPARENT VARNISH OR SOLUTION FOR MIXING WITH COLORE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Gustavus Gidley and
William Christopher, our exccutors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, or them, 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.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gustavus Gidley, on behalf of myself
and the said William Christopher, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to
say:
Our Invention consists in subjecting india-rubber (preferring the bottle india-
rubber) to an alkaline action, also to processes of boiling in water, and then
dissolving the india-rubber in suitable solvents, as hereafter described.
The india-rubber having been cut into pieces of a few ounces each, or less,
is placed in a copper or boiler with an alkaline solution, preferring carbonato of
soda by reason of its cheapness, using about 1 lb. to each gallon of water; and
we boil the india-rubber in this solution for forty to sixty hours, till the dark or
black color is removed and the india-rubber is brought to a light or whitish
brown color. The india-rubber is then to be boiled in water for about four or
five hours, in order to free the india-rubber from the alkali.
The india-rubber thus obtained is then to be dissolved in like manner to that
heretofore practised when using crude india-rubber, by a solvent such as here-
toforo employed, but by reason of the india-rubber having been subjected to

page_text: an alkaline and boiling processes, as above explained, the solution obtained
will, when laid on to surfaces, be transparent, and hence be more suitable to
be used in preparing transparent varnishes, and also for mixing with colors,
than other solutions obtained from crude india-rubber have heretofore been;
but we would state, that the solution of the purified india-rubber above
described may be improved by applying a small quantity of water, say, about a
table spoon full to each quart of the solution, then by shaking the solution well
for a short time, and then allowing the solution to stand, when the water and
impurities will separate, and the solution may be run off therefrom. In thus
using water we find that, if it be used cold, the solution will produce a bright
surface when used in varnish, and when hot water is used the surface will be
"flat" or dead.
The solution of india-rubber, whether water be used or not, is to be com-
bined with drying oil, in order to facilitate its becoming hard and dry when
used as a varnish, and such solution of india-rubber may be combined with
solutions of gums, isinglass, or gelatine in spirit, and also with colors, and may
be used on fabrics and other surfaces.
We would, however, remark that we make no claim to combining such
matters with solutions of india-rubber, nor do wo confine ourselves to the use
of carbonate of soda, as carbonate of potash may be used in place thereof; but
what we claim is; the manufacture of solutions of india-rubber first subjected
to alkaline and boiling processes, such as are herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustavus Gidley, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
GEO. PITT,
24, Southampton Buildings.
GUSTAVUS GIDLEY. (L.S.)