IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES AND IN CERTAIN COMBINATIONS OF THE SAME SUBSTANCES ALONE OR WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME ALEXANDER
PARKES of Birmingham Artist send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain bearing date at
Westminster the Twenty-fifth day of March in the ninth year of Her reign
did for Herself Her heirs and successors give and grant unto me the
said Alexander Parkes Her especial licence full power sole privilege and
authority that the said Alexander Parkes my exors admors and assigns
or such others as I the said Alexander Parkes my exors admors or assigns
should at any time agree with and no others from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed should and lawfully might
of
make use exercise and vend within England Wales and the Town
Berwick-upon-Tweed my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES AND IN CERTAIN COMBINATIONS OF THE
SAME SUBSTANCES ALONE OR WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that 1 the said Alexander Parkes shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent as in and by the same
reference being thereunto had will more fully and at large appear,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE that in compliance with the said proviso I the said
Alexander Parkes do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof that is to say.
My Invention relates to preparing the vegetable matters called caoutchone
and gutta percha separately and when combined and also when these matters
or either of them are or is combined with other matters.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
It is well known that caoutchouc is very readily acted on by changes of
temperature becoming hard and losing elasticity when subjected to low tem
peratures and it is permanently injured by high degrees of heat when in the
natural state. I would however remark that I am aware that within the last
few years caoutchouc has been rendered more permanent in its character and
less liable to the prejudicial effects of varying temperatures by combining
sulphur therewith and subjecting the compound to high degrees of heat by
which a peculiar change is produced in the character of caoutchouc such sub-
stance being now manufactured by Mackintosh and Company under a Patent
granted to Mr. Thomas Hancock and which manufacture is now well known
by the name of vulcanized rubber." In carrying out my improvements!
employ bisulphuret of carbon or sulphuret of carbon or 1 employ coal naptha
or turpentine or any other suitable solvent of caoutchouc and I dissolve in
either of them (preferring bisulphuret of carbon) the other matters hereafter
described and produce thereby in a greater or lesser degree the improvements
I contemplate in this portion of my Invention and which improvements for
the sake of brevity I will hereafter call the change." I take forty parts of
bisulphuret of carbon and add to it one part of chloride of sulphur or hypo-
chloride of sulphur prepared as neutral as possible and well mix them in an
earthen or other suitable vessel and immerse caoutchouc in sheets or other
forms in this mixture allowing them to remain therein a longer or shorter time
according to the thickness or substance of the article but I find that for general
purposes a sheet of one sixteenth of an inch in thickness is sufficiently changed
in from one to two minutes but in case the caoutchouc is of considerable thick-
ness I use a smaller proportion of the chloride of sulphur that it may act more
slowly upon the mass as 1 have found that a strong solution when in contact for
a long period acts prejudicially upon the surface. I employ mixtures of other
matters with the above solvents to effect "the change" such as the chlorides
nitrites, nitrates, fluorides, bromides iodides, sulphurets phosphurets of the earths
and metals preferring those of sulphur of antimony of arsenic and carbon but I

page_text: believe the chlorides in the order above given to be the best for the purpose. The
caoutchouc when taken out of the solution is to be suspended in a drying room
or stove heated to about eighty degrees of Fahrenheit and when the solvent
of caoutchouc has been evaporated I cause the caoutchouc to be well washed
in water or boiled in a caustic ley which I prepare by employing at the rate
of one pound of caustic potash or soda to a gallon of water and boil the
caoutchouc in it for about an hour. The caoutchouc being then dried it is
ready for use and it will be found to have received the change" before stated.
When I wish to produce the change upon caoutchouc in the dry state I
mix with it in the kneading machine or by rollers as is well known the dry
chloride of sulphur in the proportion of one pound of the chloride to eight or
ten pounds of the caoutchouc or one or more of the other changing substances
and continue the action of the kneading machine or rollers until the substances
are well combined and the change" effected. This will take place in a
longer or shorter time according to the speed of the machine or the quantity
of the matters operated upon but the state of the mass may easily be tested
by occasionally cutting off thin pieces and examining them and if the elastic
strength is found to be sufficiently encreased (which will readily be judged of
after a little experience) and as soon as it is perceived that the change" has
been effected the mass is to be removed from the machine and whilst hot
pressed into a mould or otherwise manufactured. The proportions may be
varied and in general the time required to produce the change will be less in
proportion to the quantity of the changing agent employed.
I would remark that I have found that when this operating on caoutchouc
it is desirable to apply small quantities of a solvent of caoutchouc (as has here-
tofore been done when preparing caoutchouc into a state of dough) but I have
not found that this process is so equal and perfect as that before described by
The changing agents being in solution.
I have now described the means by which I produce "the change" in caout-
chone and I pursne precisely the same processes in regard to gutia percha
with this difference that in general find it expedient to use a smaller pro:
portion of the chloride of sulphur or other changing substance and I also
combine caoutchouc and gutta percha in any required proportions by the
kneading machine or any other convenient means and treat the combinations
as described in respect to caoutchouc and gutta percha separately. A mixture
as above described (consisting of a changing agent and a solvent making a
weak solution) may be incorporated with the ordinary solutions of caoutchouc
and spread on leather silk or other textures in the manner commonly prac-
"will have been
tised with ordinary caoutchouc and when dry "the change

page_text: .
effected. I also make solutions of caoutchouc and gutta percha of the mixtures
just mentioned or of the new solvent hereafter named and spread them on
cloth and obtain the same result. Successive coatings may also be applied to
sized cloths and stripped off in the manner well known when operating with
ordinary caoutchouc for obtaining sheets of any required length or thickness.
Another part of my invention consists in applying the product obtained by
passing sulphurous acid gas over finely granulated camphor until the camphor
becomes liquid (by the absorption of sulphurous acid gas) as a solvent of
caoutchouc and gutter percha alone or in combination with the substances for
producing "the change." By this means I prepare a new solvent for such
purposes applicable also in dissolving resin and resinous gums and such
solvent is to be used as other solvents of these matters.
I will now describe the means I pursue when carrying out another part of
my Invention by subjecting caoutchouc to matters in a gaseous or æriform
state and the gases employed by me for such purposes are sulphurous acid
gas chlorine gas nitrous acid gas and fluorine gas or the vapours of bromine.
or iodine and the following I believe to be the best means for carrying out
this part of my Invention. I place the caoutchouc in sheets or other forms in
a closed chamber of iron or lead which should be coated with shellac varnish
to protect it from the action of chlorine or other gases used therein the
caoutchouc being so suspended or placed therein as to admit the gas employed
to come freely in contact with all parts and in order that the gas may not act
too strongly on the caoutchouc I employ therewith the vapours of a solvent
of caoutchouc which vapours may be produced by the application of heat to
such solvent in any suitable vessel of copper or iron separated from the
chamber wherein the caoutchouc is placed. By preference I use the bisulphuret
of carbon. I allow one or other of the above-mentioned gases to flow into the
closed chamber which at the same time keep pervaded with the vapour of
a solvent of caoutchouc and I have found that when only one of the above
gases is employed that chlorine gas is most effective and I allow the caout-
chouc to remain subject to these matters for an hour and upwards depending
on the thickness of the caoutchouc but a little practice will enable the work-
man to judge under the varying circumstances. Two of the gases above
mentioned may be used in combination thus chlorine gas and sulphurous acid
gas act well together and I use therewith a vapour of a solvent as above
mentioned in order to soften the caoutchouc and allow the gas to act. For
this purpose I admit the gases into the chamber or vessel above mentioned at
the rate of ten volumes of sulphurous acid gas to one volume of chlorine gas.
And I have found that caoutchouc may be first combined with sulphur in the

page_text: proportion of one part sulphur to forty caontchouc by kneading or other well-
known means and be then acted on by gases as before stated. In the use of
gases I have not found the results so complete nor so conveniently performed
as the processes when the changing agents in solution are employed for which
reason I prefer the use of solutions as above described. And I would observe
that articles previously manufactured partly of ordinary caoutchouc and partly
of leather or silk such for example as elastic web or other articles I submit
either to the changing process by solutions or by gases as may be most con-
venient. I also combine with caoutchouc or guita percha or compounds of
these substances either in the dry state or in a state of solution and previously
to the process for producing "the change" wool flax cotton or other fibrous
substances cut up into short lengths and also wood and cork dust earths and
oxides of metals and metallic bronzes and I make these combinations by
means of rollers and kneading machinery in the way commonly practised with
the like manufactures. I also mix and combine with caoutchouc and guita
percha and the compounds thereof in a similar manner resins and resinous
gums and particularly that recently imported into this country from Van
Diemen's Land called "cowree gum" or "cow free gum" and another sub-
stance also recently imported from the same country called "wood tree gum"
and I treat all these substances and combinations with solutions or gases to
effect the change as may be most expedient. Articles manufactured from
caoutchouc and gutta percha or combinations of these substances ornament
by painting or printing by means of engraved plates rollers or otherwise any
pattern or device having first given them a coloured ground by any of the
means herein-after described or I mix several colors with the substances
or compounds either in the dry state or in a state of solution and intermingle
them so as to exhibit a kind of marbling effect and afterwards produce
"the change" by either of the modes before described. I also emboss or raise
figures or patterns on these substances or compounds by pressing them into
suitable moulds or forms immediately after they have been immersed in the
mixture for producing the change" or I make articles in the same manner
from these substances or compounds in the dry state immediately after "the
change" has been effected and before the material has lost the heat acquired
in the kneading machine. I also produce the same or similar effects by
employing solutions of these substances or compounds in their ordinary state
and when the article so formed are become dry I produce "the change" by
solutions or gases as before described or I make articles by the same or
similar means of solutions of these substances or compounds in the mixture
employed for producing "the change" or of the new solvent herein-before
"

page_text: mentioned. Caoutchouc and gutta percha or compounds of these substances
which have undergone "the change" herein described can in that state be only
very partially acted on by solvents and with difficulty wrought by any of the
usual means when operating upon the natural substance and consequently
the waste in the manufacture of these substances has hitherto been for most
purposes unfit for use. In order to bring such waste into a state to be re-
manufactured I treat it in the following manner. I take twenty pounds of
the muriate of lime and boil in it eight or ten pounds of the waste for a
longer or shorter time, according to the size or bulk of the substance until
by testing a few of the pieces it is found to be in a state to be readily
united by pressure; I then remove it from the muriate of lime and wash it
first in an alkaline water hot and afterwards in clean hot water when it may
be re-manufactured and submitted to either of the processes for producing
"the change." The waste of these substances that have undergone the
process called "vulcanizing" I treat in the same manner with a similar result.
Another part of my Invention consists in purifying gutta percha and this I
do in the following manner remove by any of the well-known means of
cleansing similar substances of the grosser impurities and I then dissolve the
gutta, percha in a sufficient quantity of spirits of turpentine naptha or other
solvent so as to produce a thin solution. I then submit the dissolved guita
3.1.
to a temperature of from 100° to 150° of Fahrenheit during one or more hours
according as it is found that the coloring matter and other impurities commence
to subside freely. I then allow the solution to cool and to stand for some
days when the coloring matter and impurities will be found to have subsided
to the bottom of the vessel. I then decant off the gutta percha which may
be deprived of any remaining solvent by evaporation and the purified gutta-percha
may when desired have the change" produced thereto as above explained.
I will now proceed to describe another part of my Invention which consists
in dyeing caoutchouc and gutta percha alone or in combination and after-
wards when desired treating those matters by changing agents according to
either of the methods herein described. To dye caoutchouc or gutta percha
or their compounds black I boil the same from a quarter of an hour to half
an hour. In the following preparation I take one pound of sulphate of copper
dissolved in one gallon of water one pound of caustic ammonia or muriate of
ammonia or I take and boil one pound of sulphate or bisulphate of potash
and half a pound of sulphate of copper with one gallon of water. To dye
caoutchouc or gutta percha or their compounds green I take one pound of
muriate of ammonia half a pound of sulphate of copper two pounds of caustic
lime and one gallon of water and boil as before for one quarter to half an

page_text: hour. Another dye producing a purple tinge I obtain by using one pound of.
sulphate or bisulphate of potash a quarter of a pound of sulphate of copper
and a quarter of a pound of sulphate of indigo and boil the caoutchouc or
gutta percha or compounds from one quarter to half an hour the depth of
color may be varied by varying the proportions of the ingredients used.
When
it is wished to color caoutchouc or gutta percha or their compounds I employ
the following colors but do not confine myself thereto nor do I make any
claim to the same. For blue those known in commerce as Victoria blue and
ultramarine for red vermillion carmine or rose lake for green Brunswick
green or acetate of copper for yellow chrome yellow or oxide of uranium
for white the color known as satin white and I prefer generally to use this
white color as a ground for the colors above named and I would here observe
that the coloring processes precede those for the change."
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed I would wish it to be understood that
although have been particular in giving the exact details of the means
which I have found to answer yet I do not confine myself thereto so long as
the peculiar character of either part of my Invention be retained.
What I claim is the mode of obtaining the change" herein described to
caoutchouc gutta percha and their compounds by employing agents in a state
of solution capable of producing such change.
And I also claim the mode of obtaining "the change" herein described to
caoutchouc gutta percha and their compounds, by kneading in or incorpo-
rating therewith agents capable of producing such change in the manner
herein described.
And also claim the so manufacturing solutions of caoutchouc gutta percha
and their compounds with changing agents that on evaporating the solvents
those matters will be obtained in the changed state.
And I also claim the application of the solvent herein described for dissolving
caoutchouc gutta percha and resins and resinous gums.
And I also claim the mode of obtaining "the change" herein described to
caoutchouc gutta percha and their compounds by employing agents in an
acriform or gaseous state combined with a solvent also in vapour capable of
producing such change.
"
And I also claim the means herein described for bringing caoutchouc, gutta
percha or their compounds that have previously undergone the change" pro-
duced by either of the processes herein described or by the process called
vulcanizing" into a state fit for manufacture.
And I also claim the mode of purifying gutta percha as above described.

page_text: And lastly claim the means of dyeing caoutchouc and gutta percha
alone or combined as herein described.
In witness whereof I the said Alexander Parkes have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
ALEXANDER (..s.) PARKES.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of September
in the year of our Lord 1846 the aforesaid Alexander Parkes came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid and all and every thing therein contained and specified in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

page_text: ham Artist for his Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION
OF CERTAIN VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL SUBSTANCES AND IN CERTAIN
COMBINATIONS OF THE SAME SUBSTANCES ALONE OR WITH OTHER SUB-
STANCES bearing date at Westminster the Twenty-fifth day of
March One thousand eight hundred and forty-six and in the ninth
year of the reign of Her present Majesty.
"
DISCLAIMER proposed to be made by the said Alexander Parkes with the
Clerk of the Patents of England pursuant to an Act passed in the Fifth
and Sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty King William the
Fourth entitled "An Act to amend the Law touching Letters Patent
for Inventions."
I the said Alexander Parkes do declare that since I obtained the said
Letters Patent. I have not had time to mature that part of the Invention
which was intended to have been described under that part of the title which
is contained in the following words and animal" for which reason I am
desirous to and do hereby disclaim all that part of the title which is contained
in the following words "and animal."
In witness whereof the said Alexander Parkes have hereunio set
my hand and seal this Twenty-fifth day of September in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
ALEXANDER PARKES. (L.S.)
This is to certify that the above-named Alexander Parkes has applied to
me for leave to enter the above-written Disclaimer of part of the title of a
certain Invention for which Letters Patent were duly granted to him under
the Great Seal of Great Britain dated at Westminster the Twenty-fifth day
of March in the ninth year of Her Majesty's reign and having considered of
the said application and no objection having been made to the same I have
accordingly granted leave to the said Alexander Parkes to file his said
Disclaimer nursuant to the Statute passed in the Fifth and Sixth year of

page_text: the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth entitled "An Act
to amend the Law touching Letters Patent for Inventions."
25 Sept. 1846.
JOHN JERVIS.
Entered with and filed by the Clerk of the Patents of England this 25th
AND BE IT REMEMBERED that on the 25th day of September in the
year of our Lord 1846 the aforesaid Alexander Parkes came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery and acknowledged the Disclaimer aforesaid
and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above written.
And also the Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our. Lord One
thousand aiahi hundred and forte six