moulding, Carving, or turning, or UI vars and Lacquer, and for similar Purposes.
Year: 1887

page_text: .
[Communicated from abroad by EDMUND NEVILLE TODD, of 33, Clinton Avenue,"
Newark, New Jersey, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
moulding, Carving, or turning, or UI vars and Lacquer, and
for similar Purposes.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex-do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the manufacture of compounds such as those to which my present invention
relates, it is well understood that the pyroxyline or nitro-cellulose must be of the
class designated as soluble, to distinguish it from other classes which are not soluble.
As my compounds are intended to be used in the manufacture of various articles
formed by moulding or shaping the compounds in dies, or by cutting, carving or
turning it from a seasoned mass or in solutions of pyroxyline designed to be applied to
metals as lacquer or to wood, paper or fabrics as varnish.
It is well known that a mechanical mixture of nitro-cellulose and camphor maybe
made and afterwards subjected to heat and pressure in closed dies, the heat liquifying
the camphor and thus developing its solvent action, the camphor in such cases being
termed a "latent solvent" by reason of its inaction until liquified whether by heat or
by a menstruum.
It is also well known that solutions of pyroxyline dissolved in various of the well
known solvents and mixed with various of the well known menstrua, can be used as
a lacquers and varnishes are ordinarily applied, and that heretofore the iridescent colors
caused by the irregular refraction of light, shown in the lacquer when applied to
metal, and the irregularity of the film caused by rapid contraction when applied to
wood, paper or fabrics as a varnish, has greatly militated against the successful use
of solutions of pyroxyline designed to take the place of lacquers and varnishes hereto-
fore used.

page_text: The object of this invention is to effect the solution or conversion of soluble nitro-
cellulose by means of a latent solvent other than camphor and without necessarily
employing camphor in the compounds, and also to enable solutions of pyroxyline
dissolved in any of the known solvents, and mixed with any of the known menstrua,
to be used as lacquers or varnishes, and to render them more valuable by overcoming
the iridescent effect common to the one and the irregularity of film commonly known
as "creeping" in the other.
To this end I have ascertained that these results may be secured in the following
manner :
The soluble nitro cellulose should be ground and dehydrated by any well-known
process.
The dried nitro cellulose is broken up into small pieces and placed in a vessel
suitable to contain it.
To one part, by weight, of this nitro-cellulose, I add an equal quantity of balsam of
tolu which I have discovered to be શ "latent solvent" of nitro-cellulose.
The latent solvent being added to the pyroxyline as above described, I subject the
mass to pressure in closed dies at a temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
I have found that the above specified oleo-resin or balsam operates in the same manner
as camphor, in that it does not exert solvent power prematurely, and by its use I am
enabled to first make a mechanical mixture and suspend solvent action until a chemical
action is desirable and then, with the advantages of the suspension of the solvent
action, as is understood, to complete the process by the application of heat and pressure
as described. Moreover I have found that when the balsam of tolu, when dissolved in
the well known solvents and used as understood for making solutions of nitro-
cellulose and mixed with the known menstrua to be used as lacquers or varnishes, the
iridescence above mentioned, is entirely overcome when the solution is applied to
metal, and the creeping or irregularity of film is overcome in the varnishes when
applied to wood, paper or fabric.
"
It is an additional element of utility in my improvement that the use of this latent
solvent is compatible with the use of all the usual solvents now employed in con-
nection with nitro-cellulose, and it may be added to solutions of pyroxyline with an
enhancement of solvent action of the liquid solvent of such solutions when heated.
In some degree and for some purposes other oleo-resins, such as balsam of Peru,
balsam of copaiva, etc., are efficient and may be employed as equivalent solvents, but
they are more limited in solvent power. I therefore wish to claim more particularly
the use of balsam of tolu which accomplishes the desired results more quickly and
perfectly.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I declare that what 1 claim is :-
1. The herein described composition of matter consisting of pyroxyline or nitro-
cellulose and an oleo-resin, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The herein described composition of matter to be used in a lacquer or varnish,
consisting of pyroxyline or nitro-cellulose and balsam of tolu, substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
1
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.