An Improved Composition for use in Collecting or Saving Waste Gold Leaf.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Apr., 1899-Accepted, 20th May, 1899
[Communicated from abroad by FRANK HUBBARD LEWIS, of 153, Whalley Avenue,
New Haven, County of New Haven, State of Connecticut, United States of
America, Book Finisher.]
An Improved Composition for use in Collecting or Saving Waste
Gold Leaf.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, 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:-
My invention relates to an improved paste or composition for the use of book-
finishers, book-stampers, gold-beaters, edge-gilders, sign-painters, picture-frame
and furniture-gilders, and any other artisans employing gold-leaf, the object being
to provide a simple, cleanly, and effective medium for saving the maximum
percentage of waste gold-leaf which would otherwise be lost, and which is now
saved, so far as it is saved, by the use of a flannel-cloth.
With these ends in view, my invention consists in a paste or composition for
saving gold-leaf, having certain qualities and ingredients, as will be hereinafter
described and pointed out in the claim.
66
In carrying out my invention, I preferably take one pound of crude rubber,
which has been " chewed" or cut very fine by the employment of any of the
mechanical devices commonly used for the purpose. To this pound of finely
chewed" or cut rubber, I add one quart of refined kerosene oil, or any equiva-
lent substance. I let these two ingredients stand approximately twenty-four
hours, at the termination of which the oil will be found to have cut the rubber,
90 to speak, in the production of a pulp-like mass, which is now drained in any
After
suitable manner so as to strain off the superfluous oil, if there be any.
this draining operation I add to the mass three ounces of oil of benzoin, and let
the whole stand approximately twenty-four hours longer. The resulting mass is
then turned out on a marble slab and allowed to lie there for about twenty-four
hours, (more or less according to the weather), after which it is thoroughly
kneaded as bread is kneaded, so as to make it uniform in consistence. The mass
These operations above
is then allowed to dry, for which purpose it is turned.
detailed, I should have remarked, are to be carried on in a cool place. After the
mass is dried, it is divided into portions of the required weight, and put up for
the market, preferably being wrapped in parafine paper and enclosed in tin
boxes.
In using the paste or composition, a small fragment is torn from the mass and
worked into a wad, which is held in the fingers while it is applied to the work
being done so as to remove all superfluous fragments of gold-leaf, as well as
any fragments of gold-leaf which may drop onto the table or blow upon the floor.
On account of the presence of the oil of benzoin in the paste it is prevented from
adhering to the fingers, but at the same time the paste is of such a character that

page_text: it neither soils the fingers nor the articles with which it may come in contact.
The gold-leaf so picked up is kneaded into the wad by working the same with
the fingers. Finally when the wad so used has taken up all of the gold-leaf that
it can take up, it becomes somewhat sticky, which indicates that it must be laid
aside for sending to the smelter, who easily recovers the gold. In this way all
flying and waste fragments of gold-leaf are very simply saved with a minimum
expenditure of time and with the minimum of loss. The presence in the paste
of the oil of benzion, prevents the paste or composition from hardening, even
though it may be kept a very long time.
It will be understood of course, that the proportions stated for the ingredients
may vary more or less according to the quality and character of the ingredients,
and that the operation of combining them may be varied more or less from the
method described, with which however, I have secured very excellent results.
- I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exact
proportions or method described, and it may be that some equivalent substances
may be found for the ingredients mentioned.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
:-
A paste or composition for saving gold-leaf, prepared by compounding crude
rubber, kerosene oil and oil of benzoin in substantially the proportions stated for
producing a non-hardening, non-adhesive paste or composition.
Dated this 11th day of April 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
pril 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.