IMPROVE. MENTS IN TREATING PAPER AND WOVEN FABRICS TO PRODUCE THEREFROM WATERPROOF SHEETS AND SLABS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Scoffern, of 21, New North Street, Finsbury,
in the County of Middlesex, M.B., for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN TREATING PAPER AND WOVEN FABRICS TO PRODUCE THEREFROM
WATERPROOF SHEETS AND SLABS,"
Sealed the 20th November 1868, and dated the 25th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Scoffern' at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, ou the
25th May 186s.
I, JOHN SCOFFERN, of .21, New North Street, Finsbury, in the County
of Middlesex, M.B., do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PAPER AND WOVEN FABRICS TO PRODUCE
THEREFROM WATERPROOF, SHEETS AND SLABS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating paper and
woven fabrics to produce therefrom waterproof sheets and slabs. For
these purposes
I prepare a solution of copperised ammonia by ex-
posing copper to the action of ammonia. I immerse sheets of paper

page_text: in this solution, and afterwards place the sheets one on the other and
pass them between rollers; this causes the sheets firmly to adhere;
they are held flat (or in the form desired) whilst they are gently dried,
and may be passed through finishing rollers to give a glaze to the
surface. Any desired number of sheets may be thus accumulated until
a slab of the required thickness is obtained. Sheets of calico or other
woven fabric may be similarly combined, and compound sheets or slabs
may be manufactured partly of paper and partly of woven fabric.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Scoffern in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th November 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SCOFFERN, of 21, New North Street, Finsbury, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, M.B., send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Scoffern, Her special licence that I,
the said John Scoffern, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Scoffern, 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 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING PAPER
AND WOVEN FABRICS ΤΟ PRODUCE THEREFROM WATERPROOF SHEETS AND
SLABS," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said John
Scofferu, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE that I, the said John Scoffern, 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 :-
It is well known that ligneous matter, and more especially ligneous
matter in the condition of paper and vegetable woven tissue, can be
dissolved by immersion in copperized ammonia. It is well known also
that if paper or vegetable woven tissue be immersed in copperized
ammonia for a time insufficient to effect complete solution, whereby a
pasty or glutinous condition of surface is obtained, and if two surfaces
thus treated be brought together under pressure, they will adhere.
My process consists in so applying this principle that complete
adhesion shall ensue, whereby the resulting aggregation of ligneous
sheets shall be rendered applicable to numerous purposes. To this end
I proceed as follows:-Assuming two sheets of paper, of woven fabric
or of paper and woven fabric, to be cemented together, which is the
simplest case that can be presented to the operator, I employ an
apparatus such as is represented in the annexed Drawing.
To promote simplicity I do not indicate the framework of the
machinery I use as its nature will be obvious. It consists in its simplest
form of, (1), rollers A, B, from which the paper or woven tissue is
unwound; (2), feeding rollers C, C¹, whereby the same is conveyed
evenly edge to edge into the bath E, E; (3), draw rollers D, Di,
whereby the same are brought into contact under roller pressure and
made adherent. Having passed through the draw rollers the original
two sheets now cemented into one may be artificially dried by any of the
ordinary means known to paper manufacturers and stainers.
paper
As concerns the materials necessary to be used in the construction of
the above apparatus the supply rollers A, A, need no explanation;
being such (when paper is used) as ordinarily come from the paper
manufacturer. The feed rollers C, C', I prefer to be made of wood, the
draw rollers D, D¹, I prefer to be made of cast iron as being even better
than steel owing to the natural roughness of cast iron, thus enabling it
to grip the bathed fabric, which for some time after leaving the bath
is of the nature of a lubricant, more oily to the touch than even, oil
itself.
In order to have a full comprehension of my process it is necessary
to be aware that copperized ammonia developes an adhesive power

page_text: altogether peculiar; first, not being in itself of the nature of gum, glue,
or paste, it causes various matters with which it comes in contact to
assume a gummy or pasty feel, whereby they become adhesive and can
be made to adhere; secondly, that unlike the case of glue. paste, or
gum, the adhesive quality is not coexistent with mere wetness of surface
but rapidly passes away, so that in causing surfaces under my treatment
to adhere they must be brought into contact under pressure within the
duration of a certain time after the two or more sheets under treatment
have left the bath; thirdly, it is necessary to bear in mind that copperized
ammonia if allowed to come into contact with vegetable matter for
sufficient time dissolves it wholly.
To render my process more clear I will first assume my machinery
put in motion whilst the bath E, E', remains uncharged, whereby the
two sheets of paper will be drawn through dry. At the bottom of the
bath three steel or iron rollers are sectionally represented, they are
indicated in the Drawing at r, r1, 11. The arrangement is such that one
sheet of paper taking a turn round the topmost cylinder of the triangular
group whilst the other winds round the two lower rollers, it follows that
the two sheets never come into contact whilst passing through the bath.
The two sheets having passed beyond the draw rollers D, D', they are
dried and wound upon a roller. The subsequent drying and final
winding-up arrangements have not however any novelty.
Now I prefer (though it be not absolutely indispensible) to commence
my operation as already described with an uncharged bath, seeing that
as herein-before explained a too long immersion will cause solution of
the paper wholly, not mere surface solution, which is alone desired. As
soon as the machinery has delivered the two dry sheets beyond the
rollers D, D', and winding-up connection has been established, I charge
my bath in the manner to be now described. At the lowest side portion
of the bath a connection pipe p¹ is established between it and a reservoir
of copperized ammonia. Turning on a tap I cause the copperized
ammonia to enter and rise upwards to an extent shewn by a glass gauge
pipe fitted to the bath, but not shewn in the Drawing. When the
level has been attained that had previously been deemed necessary,
that level must be preserved, otherwise the result will not be uniform.
It follows from the nature of my operation that the time of bath
immersion will vary according to circumstances, such as strength and
condition of the copperized liquor, thickness or quality of the paper,

page_text: depth of fluid in the bath, and, lastly, quickness or slowness of the
machinery. As a general rule I find that half a minute of immersion is
sufficient, and whether the time of immersion be more or less it may
be regulated either by the depth of liquid in the bath or by the greater
or less velocity of roller action, or both combined, or lastly, by using
copperized ammonia partially saturated or "killed" by either ligneous
or other matter already dissolved in it.
The manufacture of copperized ammonia I do not now claim, never-
theless for the sake of precision I state that the standard copperized
ammonia preferred by me I make by immersing any quantity of copper
so long as it be in excess in liquor of ammonia of 880 sp. gr., and per-
mitting atmospheric air to enter from time to time. Under favourable
circumstances a month's immersion suffices to perfect my product, but to
satisfy myself of its perfection I use the following test:-I take a quarter
of a yard or about of thin white Persian silk, to which (being thrust. into
a wide mouthed pint bottle) I add half a pint of copperized ammonia
and shake it. If the silk dissolve wholly in not more than a minute I
conclude the copperization of ammonia to be sufficient. This is the
best test of efficiency I know of according to my experience; the test of
specific gravity is not in this case to be relied on.
An essential matter has now to be taken heed of and is this, my
paper in passing through. the bath of copperized ammonia takes cupreous
matter out of the same, just as certain dye stuffs are taken out of dye
vats, hence it may happen that the copperized ammonia deteriorates
faster than the paper can take it up. To obviate this I establish
two connections (not represented in the Drawing) with the stock tank
and a piston arrangement thereto, whereby a circulation of liquid is
effected, or what is more simple, when occasion favours, I have two
tanks on different levels, one the higher to feed my bath and the other
to receive, thereby avoiding the need of piston or pumping circulatory
arrangement.
Having described the manner of bringing two sheets of paper together
and incorporating them by my process in the manner herein-before
described, I must now state that three or more sheets may be similarly
treated by an obvious rearrangement and numeral increase of the bath
rollers, the object being to prevent contact of the several sheets until
they come to the draw rollers D, D¹,

page_text: For some purposes I modify the operation already described by passing
single sheets through the bath and rollers, then subjecting them to
reduplication either each on itself (as in manufacturing a tube) or each
upon a dry fabric, whereby I obtain a variety as to surface. It must be
particularly observed that neither sheets of paper nor of woven tissue
can be practically connected by copperized ammonia until the excess of
solution withdrawn from the bath be cleared off either by the pressure
of rollers (which I consider best), or by a metal or glass straight edge
on a metal or glass plane, or two straight edges.
It remains finally to state that the bath may be made of cast iron,
which is what I prefer. In no case must any part of the mechanism,
having to deal with copperized ammonia, be made of brass in any of its
varieties, or zinc. Copper also is interdicted except when used with the
specific intent of being dissolved.
Having thus fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
do not herein claim copperized ammonia as a cement, but the use of
the same in connection with roller or straight-edge pressure acting
upon fabrics partially dissolved by immersion in a bath of copperized
ammonia.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Scoffern, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JNº. SCOFFERN. (L.s).