CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF VARIOUS KINDS OF WATERPROOF GARMENTS.
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Richardson Fanshawe and John Americus
Fanshawe, of North Woolwich, in the County of Essex, Manufacturing
Agents, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS KINDS OF WATERPROOF GARMENTS.'
cus Fanshawe at
Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th December 1854.
We, HENRY RICHARDSON FANSHAWE and JOHN AMERICUS FANSHAWE, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS KINDS OF WATERPROOF GARMENTS" to be as
follows:-
This Invention has reference to improving the manufacture of various kinds
of waterproof garments, such, for instance, as capes, cloaks, coats, trousers,
overalls, leggings, gaiters, hats, and caps, which we effect by taking the
appointed piece of non-waterproof fabric, and rendering the fibre of the same
non-absorbent or wet-repellent throughout its entire texture by saturating,
impregnating, or closing the pores thereof with caoutchouc, gutta percha,
jintawn, or any of the elastic gums or compounds (the performance of which
operations are well understood by manufacturers). We then, as in the ordinary
method, coat the outer or inner surface, or both (if desired).

page_text: With the above object, it may be desirable, in order to produce a cheap
article, to saturate the fabric with a compound of linseed or other oils, and
opaque or other coloring matters (sufficiently to render the fibre of the same
non-absorbent or wet-repellent), and then coat one or both surfaces with
caoutchouc, gutta percha, jintawn, or other flexible gums or compounds.
The object attained by the above treatment is, that such articles will be
more lasting than ordinarily the case, especially for sea use, by reason of their
being perfectly non-absorbent on either surface, which is not the case with
goods coated as now usually practised, on one surface only.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe and John Americus Fanshawe
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
RICHARDSON FANSHAWE and JOHN AMERICUS FANSHAWE, of North Woolwich,
in the Parish of West Ham, in the County of Essex, Manufacturing Agents,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe and John Americus Fanshawe, Her
special licence that we, the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe, and John
Americus Fanshawe, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe and John Americus Fanshawe,
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
VARIOUS KINDS OF WATERPROOF GARMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe and John Americus Fanshawe,
by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe and
John Americus Fanshawe, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The nature of the said Invention, which has been already intimated gene-
rally by the Provisional Specification, filed on application for the said Letters
Patent,is hereby fully and particularly described, as follows:-Our improve-
ments have reference to manufacturing various kinds of waterproof garments,
such, for instance, as capes, cloaks, coats, trousers, overalls, leggings, gaiters,
hats, and caps, so as to render the same better adapted to sustain great
wear and tear, changes of weather, climate, and other vicissitudes than
garments manufactured as hitherto practised. This we effect by taking the
piece of non-waterproof fabric which is intended to form a garment, and
rendering the same non-absorbent or wet-repellent throughout its entire
texture by saturating, impregnating, or closing the pores thereof with caout-
chouc, gutta percha, jintawan, or any of the elastic gums or compounds
insoluble in water. We then, by any suitable method of waterproofing, coat
the outer or inner surfaces, or both surfaces, if desired.
With the above objects we sometimes (as when a low-priced article is
required) saturate the fabric with a compound of linseed or other oils, and
opaque or other coloring matters, sufficient to render the same non-absorbent
or wet-repellent. In this case, one surface or both surfaces must be coated
with caoutchouc, gutta percha, jintawan, or other gums or compounds insoluble
in water. Articles thus treated being non-absorbent or wet-repellent on either
surface, which is not the case with articles treated according to the methods
hitherto practised, will be found to last longer than is ordinarily the case,
especially in sea service.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, we now proceed to
describe and ascertain in what manner the same is to be performed or carried
into practical effect.
We take the piece of cotton, or linen cloth, or textile fabric, and coat the
same on the upper surface in the ordinary spreading machine or "guage,"
applying altogether from four ounces to six ounces of solution of india-rubber
to the yard superficial. When dry, we coat the same on the reverse side
with, say, four ounces of the same kind of solution to the said yard superficial.
When this priming coat is dry, we submit first one side and then the other of
this piece of cotton, linen, or textile fabric so coated to the coating action
of the ordinary callender rollers, as heretofore used in the trade for coating
(though on one side only), between which is a roll of india-rubber, or other

page_text: suitable waterproofing material, in the paste form, placed so as to act upon the
uppermost surface of the piece of cloth passing through the rollers. When
one side of the piece of cloth has passed through and taken as thick a film of
the pasty material as the rollers will permit that is sufficient to render the
same impervious, the piece is allowed to dry, and the other side is then
coated by passing it through in a similar manner. The sufficient quantity
alluded to is about from six to eight ounces of such paste for each surface per
yard superficial.
In manufacturing very light garments, we take a piece of fine cotton or
cambric, and coat the upper side to the extent of seven or eight oz³ of solution
of caoutchouc or waterproofing material to the superficial yard, and when
dry and firm we reverse the surface, and coat the other surface so reversed to
the same extent.
In garments subject to great wear and tear, we would prefer employing
unbleached cotton sheetings, and even in some cases cotton canvas of a thin
kind, in preparing which, for sea use especially, we commence by coating one
side of a piece of unbleached sheeting or cotton canvas, if the same be close
in texture, to the extent of four ounces to the yard superficial with the solution
of caoutchouc and other matters hereafter described as No. 3 compound; but
if the same be open in texture we do not so coat the same. We take this
piece of material and submit it with the coated (if coated) side up to the
pessure of the ordinary callender rollers used by the trade, laying a thin film
of the pasty india-rubber compound, described as No. 4 compound, to an
amount by weight sufficient to render the same waterproof, varying the quantity
according to the nature of the texture and the kind of garment, the amount
of variation being well understood by the practical man. When dry and free
from tackiness, we cut out the garments from the suitable piece and make up
the same, either laying and sticking down the seams or sewing them, and
applying a waterproof tape in the usual manner. Upon completion of the
garments so made, we place them in a vessel capable of sustaining the requisite
degree of steam pressure to give 280° of Fah, or thereabouts, and submit
them to this heat for a time, varying from two to three hours, according
to the substance and quantity to be operated on, when the articles are
removed. We then spread the articles out upon a table if necessary, as
in the case of one side of the goods being rendered non-absobent with oil,
and coat over their uncoated sides by means of a small hand brush, using the
oil mixture No. 5, causing by three separate coatings the uncoated sides to
absorb enough to render the fibre of the same non-absorbent (no more being
necessary).

page_text: Our object might be accomplished by another mode of rendering the material
waterproof, particularly useful for heavy work, and that is, by spreading masti-
cated gum and compounds upon the fabric by means of very powerful rollers,
as practised in America, and in some manufactories in England; the same may
be coated on both sides or on one side, and the other side (after the garment is
completed and sulphurized) be oiled, as before described. After the goods have
been sulphurized, we (when necessary, from the presence of efflorescence, apply
to the surface, by means of a fine platina wire, glass, or asbestos brush, such
as is in use amongst operative chemists and others, a thin coating of nitrous
acid (concentrated in strength), going over only a small surface at a time, and
carefully washing off the same with a sponge and cold water after the lapse of
a minute or so; or we submit the goods to the alkaline bath, such as chemists
would use for desulphurization; but for stout goods we prefer the acid
coating insoluble in water which we prefer, is composed of masticated india-
rubber, ten parts; ashphaltum, three parts; pure mineral naptha, fifty parts;
and the best vegetable black, one part.
(No. 2. Paste compound). The paste form of compound or flexible coating
insoluble in water which we prefer, is composed of masticated india-rubber, ten
parts; ashphaltum, three parts; pure mineral naptha, ten parts; and vegetable
black, one part.
In the compound which has to be submitted to heat for sulphurizing, as
before mentioned, we find it necessary to leave out the ashphaltum and include
the "curatives" or sulphurizing ingredients, as, say, seven and a half
per cent.
to fifteen per cent. (according to the firmness of the texture required) of crude
sulphur to the nett weight of india-rubber employed, whether rubber be used
alone or in combination.
No. 3. The form of "curative" or sulphurizing liquid compound would be
as follows:-India-rubber masticated, ten parts; sulphur, three-quarters to
one and a half, according to the firmness of texture to be treated; vegetable
black, one part; and pure mineral naptha, fifty parts.
No. 4. The paste form of india-rubber and its compounds is as follows:-
Masticated india-rubber, ten parts; sulphur, three-quarters to one and a half,
according to the texture treated; vegetable black, one part; pure mineral
naptha, ten parts.

page_text: No. 5 compound.-Boiled linseed oil, eight pounds; vegetable black, onc
pound; curd soap, one ounce and a half; water, four pounds.
All the above compounds numbered No. 1 to No. 4 are now used more or
less in the trade, and therefore we do not give further practical directions; but
with regard to the oil compound No. 5 it may be as well to state that we
proceed as follows:-Into an iron or other vessel we place the four pounds of
water, and when the same has become by heating near the boiling point, we
introduce the one and a half ounce of curd soap shred thin; when it is
thoroughly dissolved by beating with a birch or other switch we add the one
pound vegetable black, and beat the whole up to a fine black fluid mass, then
introduce gradually the eight pounds of boiled oil, and it is then ready for
application to the fabrics in the manner herein-before described.
We would here remark, that we recommend it as advisable. for some gar-
ments, especially heavy garments, and those intended for sea service, that the
fabric should (before being coated with any of the compounds mentioned) be
immersed for several days in a series of oak bark oozes, beginning at a low
degree, say, 2° of Fage's hydrometer, then 4°, then 6°, as the maximum
strength, laying the same in the bark liquid cold, as tanners would do skins, two
days in each strength or ooze, throwing them up to drain between each ooze.
The most ready way of imparting strength by vegetable astringency is to be
obtained by terra saponica taking the place of bark liquor, say, for first two
days, in a vat containing to one hundred parts water kept to blood heat
(98°), three pounds of terra saponica; 2nd, five pounds; 3rd, seven pounds, to
same quantity of water. Any of the astringents besides bark and terra
saponica will. have the same effect, as, for instance, sumac, valonias, marabolans,
nut galls, &c., as we find that the "tannin" imparts strength, particularly to a
loose fibrous fabric such as cotton canvas.
Having now herein-before particularly described and ascertained the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we
wish it to be understood that we do not claim the details of the processes
exemplified in this Specification, as they might be varied without endangering
their utility, as will be evident to the practical man; what we claim as regards
the Invention as above described being,―
First, rendering the entire texture of garments non-absorbent or wet-repellent
by saturating, impregnating, or closing the pores thereof with caoutchouc or
other elastic insoluble gums or compounds, and which may likewise be coated
on one or both sides with caoutchouc or elastic insoluble gums or compounds,
as aforesaid.

page_text: Secondly, rendering the entire texture of garments non-absorbent or wet-
repellent by using oil compounds in combination with the coating of the same
texture or fabric on one or both sides with india-rubber or other elastic and
insoluble gums or compounds, as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Richardson Fanshawe, on behalf
of myself and the said John Americus Fanshawe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W CAMPIN, Patent Agent,
156, Strand.
H. R. FANSHAWE. (L.S.)