PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF TUBES
Year: 1867

page_text: 16
LETTERS PATENT to Gustave Luyckx, India-rubber Manufacturer, of the
City of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF TUBES."
Sealed-the 18th February 1868, and dated the 21st August 1867.
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustave Luyckx at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1867.
1. GUSTAVE LUYCKX, India-rubber Manufacturer, of the City of Brussels,
in the Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF TUBES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in making perfectly waterproof tubes possessing
advantages superior to those hitherto manufactured.
One method of manufacturing tubes in accordance with this Invention is as
follows: A tube of caoutchouc prepared but not fully vulcanized is introduced
into a seamless tube constructed of hemp, flax, or other substance, and of any
desired length. The vulcanization of the interior of the caoutchouc tube is
then completed by means of a jet of steam, air being freely admitted during
the onoration

page_text: the caoutchouc a covering of hemp, flax, or any other substance susceptible of
being woven. The vulcanization of the caoutchouc is afterwards performed as
before mentioned. The woven outer portions of the tubes thus.constructed
are rendered durable by tanning them in oak bark or by giving them a coating
of varnish composed of minium and india-rubber in equal parts or by coating
them with simple caoutchouc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Gustave Luyckx in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. 1, GUSTAVE
LUYCKX, India-rubber Manufacturer, of the City of Brussels, in the Kingdom
of Belgium, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Gustave Luyckx, Her special licence that I, the said Gustave Luyckx,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Gustave Luyckx, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF TUBES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Gustave Luyckx, 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 per-
formed, 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 Gustave Luyckx, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:
My said Invention consists in certain improvements in the manufacture of

page_text: waterproof tubes whereby many of the disadvantages and objections attendant
upon such tubes as previously constructed are avoided.
The waterproof tubes hitherto used for fire engines and various industrial
purposes have been made of leather or of canvas rolled into a tubular form, or
of canvas rolled with layers of caoutchoric or vulcanised india-rubber inter-
posed. There are many objections to the use of tubes formed of leather,
especially their high price, and the care and cost of keeping them in order, for
they must be frequently greased to keep them in a pliable state, and when so
treated are liable to be attacked by vermin and in a short time rendered
wholly useless. Tubes which are formed of simple canvas rolled into a tubular
form are objectionable because they are never perfectly water-tight. The dry
portions allow of filtration, and when completely saturated it is extremely
difficult to dry them thoroughly, and the canvas rapidly decays from the effects
of damp. In the case of tubes constructed of canvas with interposed layers of
vulcanized caoutchoric there are many objections, especially their great cost in
the first instance, and their limited duration on account of the threads of the
canvas becoming burnt up by the sulphurous acid produced in the vulcanization
being continually evolved.
By means of my said Invention all these objections and disadvantages
are obviated. One mode of manufacturing tubes in accordance with my said
Invention is as follows: A seamless tube is in the first instance constructed
of hemp, flax, or other substance adapted for the purpose, and of any desired
length. the same being rendered durable by being tanned with oak bark either
by a hot or cold process. A suflicient quantity of caoutchoric in solution is
then introduced into the interior of the tube to thoroughly impregnate the
substance of which it is made; this effect by passing the tube between a pair
of rollers. I then make a roll or cylinder of sheet india-rubber prepared but
not fully vulcanised, the same being of a less diameter than that of the tube
of hemp or other material, and into which it is introduced. Each end of the
tube is then drawn over or otherwise secured to the nozzle of a cock, provided
with a key for opening or closing it. One of these cocks is connected by a
union joint to a pipe leading from a steam generator or source of steam. On
the last-mentioned cock being opened a jet of steam is admitted into the india-
rubber tube which causes-it to expand, and by very gradually increasing the
pressure and the heat 1 obtain a degree of vulcanization sufficient to perfect
the adhesion of the two substances so as to render them inseparable. The
cock at the opposite end of the tube is kept closed when, the steam-is-first
admitted into the tube, but is opened occasionally-during-the-process-to-allow-
of the escape of any condensed vapour. The exposure of the tube to the air

page_text: during the process of vulcanizing the india-rubber portion of it is an important
feature in connection with my Invention, that process being almost always
performed in close vessels or recipients for vulcanization by dry steam or by
the sulphide of carbon mixed with chloride of sulphur.
Another method of constructing tubes in accordance with my said Invention
consists in placing a tube of caoutchoric on the mandril of a circular weaving
machine and weaving upon the caoutchoric a covering of hemp, flax, or any
other suitable substance susceptible of being woven; the vulcanization of the
caoutchoric is afterwards performed as before mentioned. The woven outer
portions of the tubes thus constructed are rendered durable by tanning them
as mentioned with respect to the tubes firstly described, or by giving them a
coating of varnish composed of minium and india-rubber in equal parts, or by
coating them with simple caoutchoric.
I should here observe that I do not claim the preservation of tubes by
means of tanning as before mentioned as being or forming part of my
Invention.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of my said Invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe in conclusion that
what I consider novel and original, and therefore claim as constituting the Inven-
tion secured to me by the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent are,
the methods of manufacturing and constructing waterproof tubes substantially
herein-before set forth and described or any mere modifications thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustave Luyckx, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
GUSTAVE LUYCKX. (L.S.)