IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING INDIA-RUBBER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Goodyear, of Avenue Road, St. John's
Wood, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING INDIA-RUBBER."
Sealed the 3rd November 1853, and dated the 15th July 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Goodyear
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th July 1858.
I, CHARLES GOODYEAR, of Avenue Road, St. John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING INDIA-RUBBER
follows:-
to be as
This Invention consists of cutting india-rubber in pieces, by pre-
ference in thin slices, which are put into a mashing or fulling machine
with water thickened with lime, flour, or other fine matter, for pre-
venting the pieces of india-rubber adhering when they are beaten, by
which means some of the impurities are separated. The pieces of
india-rubber are next subjected to chopping or cutting, to reduce the
same to a granular state, which is believed to be best done by means

page_text: of machinery similar to what is used in paper making, employing
solutions of potash or lime or strong acid, which will decompose the
bark and foreign matters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Goodyear in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 14th January 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES GOODYEAR, of Avenue Road, Saint John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Goodyear, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Goodycar, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Goodyear, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, should at any tinic 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING INDIA-RUBBER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that T, the said Charles Goodyear, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and scal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
caine was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imnie-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Goodyear, 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):
.
This Invention consists of cutting india-rubber in pieces, by pre-

page_text: ference in thin slices, which are put into a washing or fulling machine
with water thickened with lime, flour, or other fine matter, for pre-
venting the pieces of india-rubber adhering when they are benton,
by which means some of the impurities are separated. The pieces of
india-rubber are next subjected to chopping or cutting, to reduce the
same to a granular state, which is believed to be best done by means
of machinery similar to what is used in paper making, employing
solutions of potash or lime or strong acid, which will decompose the
bark and foreign matters.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same.
. After washing the india-rubber as free as may be of any wood or im-
purities which may be separable by the aid of beating in water thick-
ened with lime, and by cutting or chopping by a proper engine or
other means to obtain the india-rubber in a granular or highly divided
and washed state, to which I make no claim, 1 procced to act by an
acid or alkaline process, preferring to resort to an alkaline process for
the purpose of removing impurities. It is well known that india-rubber
differs in quality very largely, and therefore it is impossible to say how
much alkali or how much acid is to be used in all cases for a given
weight of india-rubber, but a workman with experience will readily un-
derstand how to treat any quality of india-rubber with as little waste of
alkali or acid as may be; and I would state that the alkali best suited for
the purpose is potash, and the acid best suited for the purpose is sul-
phuric acid. When using alkali it is to be in a caustic state, and T
usually employ a solution composed at the rate of one gallon of water to
each pound of carbonate of potash, and I render the same caustic, as is
well understood, by lime, and I use at the rate of thirty pounds of lime
to each fifty pounds of carbonate of potash in solution. In this solution
of caustic alkali I soak the granulated or well divided india-rubber for
some hours, which will more or less depend on the state of impurity;
some very impure specimens have sometimes required forty to fifty
hours to dissolve or remove the impurities; a workman, however, will,
after some practice, readily ascertain when the desired result is obtained.
The india-rubber is then to be well washed to remove any alkali, after

page_text: which the india-rubber is to be kneaded or masticated in the ordinary
manner. If acid be used, the india-rubber is to be similarly soaked
in a solution thereof; for which purpose I prefer to employ at the rate
of one pound of sulphuric acid of commerce to one gallon of water,
and the soaking and subsequent washing and kneading or masticating
are to be performed as above directed.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the subjecting india-rubber in a divided state to an alkaline
or acid process to cleanse the same of impurities.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Goodyear, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four
Witness,
JNO. Cook,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
CHARLES GOODYEAR. (L.S.)