AN IMPROVE- MENT IN COATING SHEATHING METAL
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Barnabas Daft, of Tottenham, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN COATING SHEATHING METAL."
Sealed the 3rd February 1860, and dated the 22nd November 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Barnabas Daft
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd November 1859.
66
I, THOMAS BARNABAS DAFT, of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
IMPROVEMENT IN COATING SHEATHING METAL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in coating sheathing
metal, and consists in coating Muntz's or such like yellow metal sheathing
with india-rubber combined with sulphur. For this purpose india-rubber is
combined with sulphur, and made into thin sheets, which are laid on sheets of
yellow metal sheathing, and subjected to heat whilst pressed in contact with
the clean metal surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Barnabas Daft in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd May 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BARNABAS DAFT, of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the Twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Barnabas Daft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, 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 " AN
IMPROVEMENT IN COATING SHEATHING METAL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly 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 Thomas Barnabas Daft, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in coating sheathing
metal, and consists in coating Muntz's or such like yellow metal sheathing with
india-rubber combined with sulphur. For this purpose india-rubber is combined
with sulphur and made into thin sheets, which are laid on sheets of yellow
metal sheathing, and subjected to heat whilst pressed in contact with the clean
metal surface.
The following is the manner in which I prefer to proceed:-I take sheets
of Muntz's or such like yellow metal, and clean the surfaces by acid or
otherwise, and scour them so as to remove all scale or oxide, and when quite
clean and dry I place them one by one on a flat strong iron plate of suitable
dimensions, interposing between each plate of yellow metal and the next plate
a sheet of india-rubber compound prepared with sulphur, as is well under-
stood, for the purpose of vulcanization. Over each india-rubber sheet I
place a sheet of tinned iron or zinc, and then another plate of yellow metal,
and so on until I have a pile of from 50 to 100 sheets of yellow metal, each
being covered with a sheet of india-rubber compound prepared with sulphur,
and laid together with clean surfaces and with sheets of tin, tinned iron, zinc, or

page_text: other suitable separating metal laid between the top of each sheet of india-
rubber and the next sheet of yellow metal. I then on the top of this pile
place another strong flat iron plate similar to the bottom plate, and by means
of bars and bolts and nuts I compress the pile before described as closely as
possible together, forming as nearly as practicable a solid mass, which I now
put into a steam chamber and close it up, and then submit the whole pile,
whilst under a great pressure, to the action of steam at from 40 to 60 lbs. on
the inch from 30 to 90 minutes, according to the degree of vulcanization
required, and according to the nature of the india-rubber compound used. In
all cases I keep the pile in the steam chamber long enough to "vulcanize"
the india-rubber compound, and by which time the same is found to have
firmly adhered to the yellow metal. If I wish to cover sheets of iron, copper,
or any other metal with india-rubber, I first coat them with Muntz's or such
like yellow metal by any of the ordinary or well known processes, and then I
proceed as before. Sometimes I require sheets of Muntz's or such like yellow
metal covered on both sides with india-rubber compound; I then commence
by laying a sheet of the india-rubber compound on a sheet of tin, tinned iron,
or zinc, the latter being first placed on a strong flat iron plate, then I lay the
yellow metal on the rubber, and then another sheet of india-rubber, and then
a sheet of tin, and so on, each sheet of yellow metal being in contact on both
sides with india-rubber, so that when acted upon by steam and pressure, the
vulcanization and adhesion will be found perfect. And in some cases I
require to have two sheets of yellow metal firmly united by means of a sheet of
india-rubber. In this case it will be evident, from the description of the
process already given, how I proceed, namely, to place the surfaces of the two
sheets of metal in contact with one sheet of india-rubber compound; and in a
pile of sheets so arranged no tin, tinned iron, or zinc plates are required, as
the yellow metal sheets touch each other on one side, and form the separating
parts. Sheathing metal coated as above described will be found to be much
more durable than sheathing metal not so coated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS B. DAFT. (L.S.)