A New IMPROVED VULCANIZABLE WATERPROOF GUM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of
OR
Harris and Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A New
IMPROVED VULCANIZABLE WATERPROOF GUM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE
SAME." -A communication from abroad by Daniel Martin Lamb, of
Strathroy, in the County of Middlesex, Province of Ontario, and
Dominion of Canada. Machinist.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 17th June 1873.
I, BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and
Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED VULCANIZABLE WATERPROOF GUM AND PROCESS FOR PRO-
DUCING. THE SAME," a communication to me from abroad by Daniel Martin

page_text: Lamb, of Strathroy, in the County of Middlesex, Province of Ontario,
and Dominion of Canada, Machinist, to be as follows:-
The subject of this Invention is a waterproof gum produced from the
inspissated juice of plants of the asclepias or milk weed family, or any
other plants possessing like properties, or from flax or other analogous
seeds, and capable of being vulcanized in any of the well known modes
of vulcanizing caoutchouc.
In applying the Invention to the production of gum from the stalks
of the asclepias or milk weed, or from plants possessing similar properties
the said stalks are cut in the green state and laid together, and
preferably left for some hours, or for a sufficient period to cause fermen-
tation. The viscid juice is then separated by pressure and straining,
and the aqueous matter driven off by evaporation by which means the
inspissation is effected. Seeds are treated by maceration in water either
with or without previous crushing or grinding. The juice may then be
separated and inspissated in the manner already set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 17th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BEN- :
JAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of
35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
Her special license that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 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,

page_text: 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED VULCANIZABLE WATER-
PROOF GUM AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," (a communication to me
from abroad by Daniel Martin Lamb, of Strathroy, in the County of
Middlesex, Province of Ontario, and Dominion of Canada, Machinist)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills, 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
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The subject of this Invention is a waterproof gum produced from the
inspissated juice of plants of the asclepias or milk weed family, or any
other plants possessing like properties, or from flax or other analogous
seeds, and capable of being vulcanized in any of the well known modes
of vulcanizing caoutchouc.
In applying the Invention to the production of gum from the stalks
of the asclepias or milk weed, or from plants possessing similar
properties, the said stalks are cut in the green state and laid together,
and preferably left for some hours, or for a sufficient period to cause
fermentation. The viscid juice is then separated by pressure and
straining, and the aqueous matter driven off by evaporation, by which
means the inspissation is effected. Seeds are treated by maceration in
water either with or without previous crushing or grinding. The juice
may then be separated and inspissated in the manner already set forth.
For the extraction of the desired gum from the stalks of plants the
process may be carried out in the following manner :-Take for example
the common milk weed cut in the green state when it is full of juice and
its fibre is tender, and pack it in a suitable vessel in masses sufficient to
cause fermentation. For this purpose it is best to use tanks or boxes:

page_text: with walls sufficiently open to afford slight ventilation, and with a
covering to exclude rain.
The fermentation may, if desired, be carried to an extent sufficient to
destroy the fibre of the plant without injuring the gum, the degree and
duration of fermentation being dependent somewhat upon temperature,
moisture, and the condition of the plants must be governed by the
judgment of the workman. A period of seventy-two hours has been
found sufficient to thoroughly separate the gum from the fibre.
The Invention is applicable also to flax, either wild or cultivated, and
to some other analogous plants; it is also applicable to the seeds of flax
and some other plants, as for example cotton and rape with slight
modifications.
In treating flax seed or other seed which is found to contain vul-
canizable gum, the seeds may be crushed or boiled to prevent germi-
nation, though this preliminary treatment is not essential. They are
then macerated with water, for which purpose a quantity of water equal
to four times the bulk of the seed may be used to advantage. After
standing for a period of forty-eight hours, more or less, during which
time some fermentation occurs, a viscid liquid may be strained off either
with or without moderate pressure, the said liquid resembling, for the
purposes of this Invention, the liquid obtained by expressing the juice
of the stalks of milk weed and other analogous plants. The solid
portion of the seeds from which the juice has been separated by this
process is valuable as food for stock, being far superior to the oil cake
which is obtained by expressing the oil from dry linseed meal. The
liquid obtained from either plants or seeds is evaporated in open pans
with a moderate heat until the inspissated juice or gum is sufficiently
hard to be manipulated; it may then be used in its raw state or may
be vulcanized or otherwise treated in any of the modes now practised
with the ordinary caoutchouc of commerce, which gum it closely
resembles in its characteristic properties.
No peculiar machinery or apparatus is required in carrying out the
process.
A specific description of the simple apparatus which may be used is
deemed unnecessary because it constitutes no part of the Invention, and
its construction and use will be familiar to those skilled in the art to
which the Invention appertains.

page_text: The Invention is not limited to the use of any specific apparatus, or
to specific details in the process set forth, neither is it limited in its
application to the particular plants or seeds named.
The Invention is based on the discovery that the gum known to exist
in milk weed and analogous plants, and in flax seed as well as some
other seeds, can be extracted and rendered available as an article of
commerce and for use in manufactures, and in an economical process by
which this discovery can be practically applied.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the mode
in which the same is carried into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-
Firstly. A waterproof vulcanizable gum produced from the inspissated
juice of plants or seeds, substantially as herein set forth.
Secondly. The art or process of producing a vulcanizable waterproof
gum from the stalks or seeds of milk weed, flax, or other plants, or seeds
possessing similar properties by fermentation or maceration, or both, and
by subsequent inspissation of the resultant liquid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
RIR MILLS (T.α)