IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EMERY WHEELS AND EMERY CLOTH
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th November 1879. [A com-
munication from abroad by F. Copeland, of Boston, Massachusetts, United
States of America.]
"
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF EMERY
WHEELS AND EMERY CLOTH." [A communication from abroad by F. Copeland,
of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.]
The object of this Invention is to provide an omery wheel or emery cloth which
will not easily gum, and which can be readily cleansed without injury by the use
of acids whenever they may have become gummed.
Heretofore einery wheels have usually been made by mixing emery with hot
glue, and then moulding the wheels into the desired shape, and emery cloth has been
made by spreading the hot glue on cloth and then applying the emery. But the
use of glue is objectionable, as the wheel not being porous is easily gummed and
cannot be cleansed. It therefore soon becomes utterly worthless and the emery
cloth easily breaks and the emery scales off. If such an omery wheel be brought
in contact with any acid the wheel is destroyed. To overcome these several
objections is the object of the present Invention.
In making emery wheels according to the said Invention, I use instead of gluc as
an adhesive compound the silicates of potash or soda, and I thicken the same if
necessary with earthy substances, such as silicate of barytes, or the like, and in this
solution, cold, I mix emery or emery and corundum, in the proportions of about
two-thirds (2/2) emery and one-third (/) corundum, and press the plastic material
in the proper moulds, from which I afterward remove it to an oven and bake it for
about two days, gradually increasing the temperature to a white heat to drive out
every particle of moisture, but avoiding vitrifaction, after which the material is
allowed to cool and the wheel is then ready for use.
By the process of baking I drive from the material all moisture, which leaves the
wheel in a more or less porous condition and capable of absorbing water, which is
the essential feature in this part of my Invention, as the absorption of water tends
o prevent gumming.
.
The adhesive material I introduce resisting as it does the action of acids allows
my improved emery wheel to be readily cleaned (should it become gummed) by

page_text: immersing it in a bath of sulphuric acid, and applying to the surface a wire brush.
The sulphuric acid not only does not injure the wheel thus made, but really hardens
and improves it, as is well ascertained by actual experiments.
Heretofore emery-cloth has been made by spreading heated or melted glue on the
cloth, and then spinkling emery or emery and corundum on the melted gluc. This
is seriously objectionable as the glue when cold forms a thin cake or layer between
the emery and the cloth, and readily breaks and scales off on bending or rumpling
the cloth. To overcome this objection is the second object of my present improve-
ments, and in carrying into practice this part of the said Invention, I take an
adhesive compound formed of the silicates of soda or potash and spread it in a cold
liquid state on the cloth to be treated, and on this I sprinkle the emery, or emery
and corundum, as desirable; I then subject the cloth to a heavy pressure between
two heated rollers and compress the cloth, emery, and adhesive compound into a quasi-
homogeneous mass, so that when dry the cloth may he bent, folded, or rumpled in
any way, without injury to its qualities as emery cloth.