IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF AND VERMIN-PROOF TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS, WHICH INVENTION COMPRISES A PROCESS AND SOLUTION OR COMPOUND FOR THE SAME AND SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lako at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th July 1880. A communication
from abroad by Daniel M. Lamb, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WATERPROOF AND VERMIN-PROOF TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS,
WHICH INVENTION COMPRISES A PROCESS AND SOLUTION OR COMPOUND FOR
THE SAME AND SIMILAR PURPOSES." [A communication from abroad by Daniel M.
Lamb, of the City and State of New York, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to waterproof and verminproof materials, and its object
is to prepare a compound for and apply the same to the treatment of various kinds
and qualities of goods for the purpose of rendering them impervious to water or
moisture, and indestructible by or repellant to moths or other similar vermin.
The compound prepared for this purpose is applicable to a largo variety of goods,
among which are embraced every variety of textile fabrics, all kinds of feathers,
furs, and the like, all leather, paper, felted and other like materials, as well as wood,
stone, and metal, and in short every article, the preservation of which from the
humidity of the atmosphere or more complete saturation with water is a desirable
object. The preparation or compound hereinafter described may also be used as a
preventive of the attacks of moths or other similar insects, and may be employed
where such vermin-proofing is the only object sought; or it may be used where
water-proofing is the only object sought, or where the requirement is a combination of
the two qualities. The materials used for this purpose are so entirely colorless
and odorless that they may be applied to any article however delicate it may
be, either in texture or color, without in the slightest degree injuring the color or
appearance of the object to which it is applied, even though the color or shade be
the most delicate tint possible, and the effect will be the same, no matter what the
object to which the preparation or compound is applied, that is to say, it will
become immediately water-proof or water-repellant, and the color of the article to
which the compound is applied will become and remain more permanent and
durable by means of the water-proofing, as fermentation and consequent decom-
position will thereby be prevented.

page_text: The materials used for this purpose, the manner of compounding them, and the
method of applying the compound to the goods, are as follows:-In the first place,
I form a solution of paraffin and a hydro-carbon gum dissolved in some hydro-
carbon solvent. For this purpose I take a hydro-carbon gum, such for instance as
india rubber, gutta-percha, milk-weed, or the like. The quantity of the hydro-
carbon gum so taken being about one quarter of an ounce to one ounce, more or
less, to each gallon of the solvent, and dissolve this article, whatever it may be, in
any light hydro-carbon oil or solvent, such for instance as naphtha, benzine,
benzole, gasoline, or the like, always using such as are of about 72° gravity,
more or less, and then into the hydro-carbon solvent so provided (and which may
be taken in any desired or convenient quantity), I also put for each gallon of the
oil or solvent about two ounces, more or less, of paraffin.
The hydro-carbon gum and the paraffin should be cut into small pieces before
they are put into the solvent, so as to facilitate the solution, and after they have
been thoroughly dissolved, the solution will be treated with a gas or gases in the
following manner :-
I introduce for each gallon of the solution about a half a pound (more or less) of
chloride of sodium or common salt, and also immediately thereafter about a half a
pound, more or less, of sulphuric acid in such a manner as to allow the acid to settle
down directly upon the salt, and act thereon so as to set free a gas or gases which
will rise through the mass of the compound under troatment and act upon it.
The aforesaid gas or gases will be introduced into the bottom part of the
fabricating vessel and rise through the mass of the compound under treatment, and
attack all the sedimentary and mucillaginous portions of the compound, and
-precipitate them to the bottom of the fabricating vessel, whence they may be drawn
off. This gaseous treatment will be continued from about, say, three to ten days,
more or less, during which time the solution will be thoroughly bleached, and rendered
colorless, or nearly so, and a complete chemical change will be effected upon it.
After the sediment shall have been drawn off or removed from the purified solution,
the remaining gas will be eliminated from the compound by any suitable means.
This may be accomplished by allowing the mixture to stand a sufficient length
of time to discharge the gas or the mixture, or compound may be agitated by any
suitable mechanical appliance, or by a powerful current of air driven through the
compound from the bottom to the top.
This agitation will be continued for from five to thirty minutes, or until the gas
is removed from the compound along with all foreign substances or impurities that
may be carried with it.
After the agitation of the compound or elimination of the gas therefrom, as above
described, shall have been completed, the sediment should be again drawn off; the
solution or compound is then thoroughly freed from any residual acid or gas, by
treating it with a small quantity of caustic soda or ammonia, or both, or with any
suitable alkaline solution, either with or without the use of water to facilitate the
washing or purifying process. During this process of freeing the compound from
any residual acid or gas, the compound will be agitated by some suitable mechanical
appliance to throw up the alkaline solution into the mass of the compound, so as
to enable the alkaline solution to act upon all parts of the compound, and thereby
completely remove all adhering gas or acid.
As above described, the gas for the purification and bleaching of the solution
under treatment may be generated within the mass of the compound under
treatment, but it will be equally within the scope of this Invention to generate the
gas within a contiguous vessel, and conduct it into the fabricating vessel by means
of suitable piping, so arranged as to deliver the gas at or near the bottom of the
solution, so that it may rise up through and permeate the entire mass under
treatment.
The gas or gases may also be generated from other chlorides and other acids than
those above mentioned; or an efficient gas or gases may be generated from the black
111 the chloride of sodium and acted upon by

page_text: sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, or any other suitable acid, but I prefer the use of
chloride of sodium and sulphuric acid, as first herein before described.
After the purification of the compound shall have been fully completed, as above
described, the solution will be retained in a tightly closed vessel if it is desired to
retain it in the form of a solution, but if it is desired to restore the solids contained
in the solution to a solidfied form, the compound should be placed in shallow tanks,
and the vaporization of the solvent accelerated by raising the temperature of the
apartment in which it is placed, to say 150° Fahrenheit.
The application of the compound to the goods or articles to be treated, may be by
means of a brush or sponge, but I prefer in ordinary cases for all articles, where it is
practicable to immerse the goods, to be treated in a bath, but in either case the
articles treated (if they be textile or other light and portable goods) will have all
adhering moisture drained off or pressed out, and then the treated articles will be
gently dried in a closed room at a temperature preferably kept at about
60° Fahrenheit. After the goods are so freed from moisture, the coating or material
remaining thereon will be thoroughly fixod and vulcanized or cured (preferably in
the same room in which they have been dried), by raising the temperature thereof to
about 180° Fahrenheit, more or less.