AN IMPROVED ELASTIC COMBINATION OF MATERIALS IMPERVIOUS TO ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WOODS, METAL, LEATHER, OR FELTING, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Kirrage, of No. 10, Goulston's Buildings
Bermondsey New Road, in the County of Surrey, Surveyor, for the
Invention of" AN IMPROVED ELASTIC COMBINATION OF MATERIALS IMPERVIOUS
TO ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WOODS, METAL,
LEATHER, OR FELTING, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Kirrage at the
office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
October 1858.
I, WILLIAM IRRAGE, of No. 10, Goulston's Buildings, Bermondsey New
Road, in the County of Surrey, Surveyor, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ELASTIC COMBINATION OF MATERIALS IMPERVIOUS
TO ATMOSPHERIC INFLUENCES, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD, Woops METAL, LEATHER,
OR FELTING, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:―
The material is produced by a combination of hemp or other fibrous
material, and pitch or tar, and india-rubber orgutta percha, and ground chalk,
and sulphur, and where less elasticity is required, then also shellac or other
gums, and by masticating the materials so combined, without the aid of
solvents.

page_text: The material produced by these combinations is then rolled into sheets or
moulded into shapes as required,and in cases where great resistance to tension
is required, strand or threads of hemp are inserted.
All articles so produced are then subjected to high temperatures, in order
to produce the change which is consequent upon applying high temperatures
to india-rubber combined with sulphur or matters giving off sulphur by heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Kirrage in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KIRRAGE, of Number 10, Goulston's Buildings, Bermondsey, New Road,
in the County of Surrey, Surveyor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Kirrage, Her special licence that I, the said William
Kirrage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Kirrage, my 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 aud 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 "AN
IMPROVED ELASTIC COMBINATION OF MATERIALS IMPERVIOUS TO ATMOSPHERIC
INFLUENCES, AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WOODS, METALS, LEATHER OR FELTING, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Kirrage, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and i
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 imine
· diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Kirrage, do hereby declar
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to b
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained inaud by the followin
statement (that is to say) :-

page_text: My Invention consists in the manufacture of certain compounds to be
employed for various purposes as hereinafter mentioned. The materials consti
tuting the compound are india-rubber, gutta percha, tar, and sulphur with
certain other ingredients, according to the purposes for which the compound is
required. The above materials are to be masticated so as to form, without
the use of any solvent except heat, a fine plastic substance or paste, by the
use of a masticating apparatus and heat, as is well understood, the india-
rubber being first masticated, and the other materials added to it, the process
of mastication being continued until the whole of the materials are thoroughly
incorporated into one substance.
1. If the new compound is intended to be employed for iron gutter flanges,
or for washers to pipes of waterworks, or for flange joints, washers or collars to
gas, steam, or water pipes, but in all cases where the heat is under two
hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or for packing under iron columns, or between
stone and metal, or metal and metal, I proceed as follows:-I take twelve
pounds of india-rubber, four pounds of gutta percha, twenty-five pounds of
Stockholm or coal tar, sixty pounds of fine powdered chalk, four pounds of
hemp or other fibre, and ten pounds of sulphur. These quantities will make
one hundredweight of the compound. The india-rubber is first masticated
or brought into a state of pulp, by a masticator which works the india-rubber
without tearing it, aided by a heated chamber, the heat being higher or lower
according to the nature of the india-rubber, care being taken not to use a
temperature which will injure the rubber. The other materials constituting
the compounds are added and thoroughly incorporated with the rubber after
it has been reduced to the pulpy state of the masticator.
In that compound (No. 4,) in which india-rubber is omitted, I subject the
gutta percha to this treatment in lieu of the rubber. The above compounds
having been formed by moulds or rolled, cut, or stamped into the required
articles, is placed in a steam chamber, and hardened by the action of steam of
from thirty to fifty pounds pressure on the square inch. If the compound is
to have a considerable degree of elasticity, an exposure to the action of the
steam for about three or four hours and a half is sufficient; if the compound
is required to be hard enough for polishing, it should be exposed to the action
of steam for six hours, and if excessive hardness is desired, the compound may
be exposed to the action of steam of greater pressure or higher temperature
for a similar period of six hours. The compound, instead of being submitted
to the action of steam, may be exposed to a temperature of three hundred
degrees of Fahrenheit for a longer or shorter period according to the degree
of hardness required.

page_text: 2. If the new compound is intended for cushions under springs for railway
carriages or locomotives, or for buffers to the same, or for cushions under
springs to carriages, gigs, and carts, or for cushions under heavy vehicles
when no other springs are used, or for cushions under iron chairs used for
supporting iron rails on railways, or for pump valves, hose, or piping, or for
soles of shoes, or for portmanteaus, or for other purposes as a substitute for
heavy leather, I take sixteen pounds of india-rubber, twenty-five pounds of
tar, forty-eight pounds of finely powdered chalk, sixteen pounds of hemp, and
ten pounds of sulphur. These substances are to be formed into a compound
moulded and hardened as above described.
If the compound is to be employed for driving bands or traces for harness,
strands of hemp are to be introduced before the hardening process; for this
purpose the compound is rolled into bands of about half the thickness of the
article to be made, the strands of hemp are then introduced the whole length,'
and the compound is rolled down making the two thicknesses one solid body.
It is then cut to the required dimensions and the hardening process applied as
already described.
The compounds above described may be employed when in a state of paste
and before hardening for the lining of cisterns and vats, or for caulking and
sheathing vessels, or for stopping joints in lieu of lead, and for covering
roofs and for other purposes requiring protection from water, or atmospheric
influences, or from the action of acids, and if intended to be employed when
in a state of paste for these purposes, the compound may if preferred, be
modified by the omission of sulphur from it.
3. If the new compound is intended for locomotive doom joints, steam
jackets to engines, gas flange joints near the retorts, and for all purposes
where there is extreme heat or very powerful pressure, I take twenty pounds
of india-rubber, twenty-five pounds of tar, twenty-five pounds of fine powdered
coke, twenty-five pounds of Stourbridge or other fire clay, ten pounds of
sulphur, five pounds of fine emery, and five pounds of steel filings. The
compound having been made, by mastication and admixture of these materials,
the required articles are formed and hardened as above described.
4. If the new compound is intended for the manufacture of articles to
imitate whalebone, ivory, jet, and hard woods, or for architectural purposes, I
take fourteen pounds of gutta percha, four pounds of shellac, seed lac, or stick
lac, twenty-five pounds of tar, sixty pounds of fine chalk, and twelve pounds
of sulphur. The compound having been made by mastication and admixture of
these materials, the required articles are formed and hardened as above
described.

page_text: Colouring matter, vegetable black, or other substances, may be employed
to give any required tint.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as the
Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters Patent, the manufacture
and adaptation of the said several compounds for and to the purposes above
stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Kirrage, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM KIRRAGE. (L.s.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named William Kirrage, in
the presence of
SEARLES V. WOOD, Jun. Clerks to Mr. George Bower,
JNO. CHAPPLE, Jr.
6, Tokenhouse Yard, London.