RENDERING WASTE VULCANIZED,' 'HERMIZED,' AND CHANGED, OR CONVERTED INDIA-RUBBER, AND INDIA-RUBBER COMPOUNDS USEFUL AND CAPABLE OF BEING RE-WORKED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A GREAT VARIETY OF ARTICLES OF TRADE AND COMMERCE
Year: 1860

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Paienis,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex. Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "RENDERING WASTE VULCANIZED,' 'HERMIZED,' AND
CHANGED, OR CONVERTED INDIA-RUBBER, AND INDIA-RUBBER COMPOUNDS
USEFUL AND CAPABLE OF BEING RE-WORKED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A
GREAT VARIETY OF ARTICLES OF TRADE AND COMMERCE."-A communication
from abroad by John H. Cheever, of New York.
Sealed the 11th April 1860. and dated the 7th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th February 1860.
I. WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "RENDERING WASTE VULCANIZED,' 'HERMIZED, AND
CHANGED,' OR 'CONVERTED' INDIA RUBBER, AND INDIA-RUBBER COMPOUNDS USEFUL
AND CAPABLE OF BEING RE-WORKED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A GREAT VARIETY OF
ARTICLES OF TRADE AND COMMERCE," to be as follows:-
The treatment of india-rubber or of its compounds by any of the vulcanizing
or hermizing processes produces certain changes in the properties of rubber
or of its compounds, whereby while it's elasticity is made permanent at ordinary"
temperatures, it is divested of its peculiar adhesiveness and plasticity, which
are the principal properties that enable it to be worked into sheets, and

page_text: fashioned into the many useful articles to which india-rubber is or may be.
applied. To impart again to the india-rubber the properties of adhesiveness
and plasticity which it had lost by being vulcanized or hermized, or treated in
any other method whereby the change above referred to is produced, is the
object of the present Invention, which consists in a new method of rendering
waste vulcanized, hermized, or changed india-rubber, or its compounds
cohesive, plastic, and susceptible of being re-manufactured. The general
character of the Invention consists in reducing waste vulcanized, hermized,
or changed india-rubber, or its compounds into fine particles, and subjecting
them with or without heat by, incorporation, impregnation, or other method of
effecting the required admixture to the action of the products derived from
heating, melting, burning, or distilling native or vulcanized, or changed india-
rubber, either separately or combined with other substances. The native or
changed rubber, or rubber compounds are reduced by any suitable means to a
fine state or powder, the finer the better, and then subjected to the influence
of either or all of the products produced by the action of heat on native rubber,
which products consist of a series of oily and liquid substances. varying in
consistency, color, and transparency according to the degree of heat applied,
and the means employed for their refining and rectification. By mixing and
intimately incorporating these oily and liquid products with the powdered
rubber, or rubber compound obtained from the waste vulcanized, or hermized
rubber, a rubber mass or composition is produced, which is sufficiently adhesive
and plastic to admit of being worked into sheets, and fashioned into the various
articles of trade and commerce.
The simplest method of forming and applying these products is to melt the
rubber (whether it be native or not) and combine them with the powder of the
vulcanized rubber in proportions varying according to the nature of the goods
to be produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton. Her special license that 1. the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I. the said William Edward Newton. 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 "RENDERING WASTE VULCANIZED,' 'HERMIZED,' AND 'CHANGED
OR CONVERTED' INDIA-RUBBER, AND INDIA-RUBBER COMPOUNDS USEFUL AND
CAPABLE OF BEING RE-WORKED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A GREAT VARIETY OF
ARTIOLES OF TRADE AND COMMERCE," being a communication from abroad by
John H. Cheever. of New York, upon the condition (amongst others) that. I.
the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal. 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 William Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say):-
The treatment of india-rubber or of its compounds by any of the vulcanizing
or hemizing processes produces certain changes in the properties of rubber or
of its compounds, whereby while its elasticity is made permanent at ordinary
temperatures, it is divested of its peculiar adhesiveness and plasticity, which
are the principal properties that enable it to be worked into shecis, and
fashioned into the many useful articles to which india-rubber is or may be
applied. To impart again to the india-rubber the properties of adhesiveness
or plasticity which it had lost by being vulcanized or hermized, or treated in
any other way, whereby the change above referred to is produced, is the object
of the present Invention, which relates to a new method of rendering waste
vulcanized, hermized, or changed india-rubber, or its compounds cohesive,
plastic, and susceptible of being re-manufactured into a variety of useful
articles, by means of a simple and comparatively inexpensive process, the
practice of which is attended with no danger to operatives. and is easily
controlled, and may be practised by ordinary workmen at a saving of much
labor as compared with what is now required to carry out the processes that

page_text: have hitherto been practised for the same purposes. The general character
of the Invention consists in reducing waste vulcanized, hermized, or changed
india-rubber, or its compounds into fine particles, and subjecting them with or
without heat by incorporation, impregnation, or other method of effecting the
required admixture to the action of the producis derived from heating, melting.
burning, or distilling native or vulcanized, or changed india-rubber, and
applied either separately or combined with other subsiances, and whether the
rubber be vulcanized or hemized, or not, and. whether combined with other
substances or not.
Of the different modes that may be adopted for carrying the Invention into
effect I will describe those which, from experience, have been found to be
most practicable and expeditions.
Take wasic vulcanized, hermized, or changed india-rubber or rubber com-
pounds, which have been treated by the vulcanizing, hermizing, or changing
processes, and reduce either or all of these by any suitable means to a fine
state or powder, the finer the better, and then subject this powder to the
influence of either or all of the products produced by the action of heat on
native rubber, which products consist of a series of oily and liquid substances.
varying in consistency. color, and transparency according to the degree of
heat applied, and the means employed for their refining and rectification.
The products derived by heat from vulcanized, hermized, or changed rubber.
may be combined with, or substituted for the products of native rubber if
preferred. By first mixing, and then thoroughly grinding, or otherwise in-
timately incorporating these oily and liquid products with the powdered rubber
or rubber compound obtained from the waste vulcanized or hermized rubber,
a rubber mass or composition is produced which is sufficiently adhesive and
plastic to admit of being worked into sheets, and fashioned into the various
articles of trade and commerce to which india-rubber is usually applied. The
simplest method of forming and applying these products is to melt the rubber,
(whether it be native or not), and combine the products with the powder of
the vulcanized rubber in proportions varying according to the nature of the
goods to be produced. For ordinary purposes the proportion of four ounces
of melted rubber to one pound of vulcanized rubber, will answer. I would
here observe that the incorporation above mentioned is more perfectly effected
by pausing after mixing the powder with the products to allow time for the
proper action of the melted caoutchouc upon the grains of the powdered vul-
canized or hermized rubber, and by grinding the mass afterwards between
rollers, at which stage the mass may, if thought desirable, have resins, solid
hydrocarbons, oxides of lead, tin, zinc, or lampblack, added to it in proportion

page_text: varying with the objects or purposes for which the composition is intended to
be used. It is unnecessary here to describe the manner or processes of
working the composition thus obtained, it will be sufficient to mention that it
may be shaped into any desired forms by moulding it under pressure as is
well known and understood in the working of other rubber and plastic mate-
rials generally, or it may be made into sheets, or be spread on cloth by means
of the callenders now used for spreading crude rubber. The goods thus pro-
duced should then be dried by exposing them to the sun, or in a chamber to
artificial heat, varying in temperature according to the thickness and quality.
of the sheet. From the foregoing description of the Invention for rendering
waste vulcanized india-rubber useful and adapted to be re-worked, it will be
perceived that it is susceptible of many modifications. Thus another and more
perfect, but not quite so cheap a mode or method of proceeding is to mix
with the powdered vulcanized rubber the products of distillation of rubber which
are of a more oily and liquid character, and known to chemists as caoutchncia,
caoutchin, (which is the rectified product of caoutchucia) caoutchia and
heveen, instead of the melted rubber as previously described. Then morc
liquid and oily products may be derived from vulcanized, hermized, or changed.
rubber as well as from native rubber, excepting that the products derived
from the former contain in small quantities sulphur both in chemical and
mechanical combination, which sulphur is in no way objectionable. Under
this method of proceeding as in the previous one, the proportion of the
powdered rubber and products of distillation of the rubber ought to be varied
according to the ultimate purpose to which it is designed to apply the com-
pound, also according to the quality of the powdered rubber as effecied by
the admixture with it of foreign substances. It is found that one ounce of
the liquid to one pound of the powder will be a good average, and also that
if heat ranging from two hundred degrees Fahrenheit and upwards be applied
to this mixture for a few minutes only, it will greatly facilitate the softening
of the vulcanized rubber powder.
A third modification of the Invention or method of proceeding whereby the
same result may be produced in a more expeditious manner is, by passing
the vapors of either or all of these oily and liquid products through the pow-
dered vulcanized rubber. This is sometimes effected by leading a pipe directly
from the retort employed for distilling the rubber into a closed vessel containing
the powdered rubber to be acted upon, and the same result has also been
effected by volatilizing the liquid and oily products, and impregnating the
vulcanized rubber powder with the vapor. In the foregoing description of the
Invention, I have not particularly specified the several products obtained by

page_text: submitting caoutchouc either in its crude or changed state to the action of
heat. It will be sufficient for the perfect understanding of the Invention to
state that in the process of the destructive distillation or decomposition of
caoutchouc by the action of heat, several and distinct products are obtained,
either, or all of which, or any of them combined, may be advantageously used
according to the manner in which it or they are applied, and according to
the ultimate purposes for which the composition is designed. I therefore do
not limit myself to the use of any one or more of those products in particular,
but wish to be understood as claiming the. use for the purposes specified of all
the sticky, tarry, oily, and liquids products either separately or combined,
obtained by the action of heat on rubber or caoutchouc, whether the same be
native or crude, or whether it be vulcanized, hermized, or changed. It is
obvious too that native rubber may be combined with waste vulcanized rubber
at any stage of the process described without departing from the principle of
the Invention.
What claim to be new in the above described process or processes, and
desire to secure by Letters Patent as aforesaid is, the process or processes
herein described by rendering waste vulcanized," "hermized," or "changed"
india-rubber useful, and capable of being reworked for the manufacture of
articles of trade and commerce by reducing such substances to a fine or
powdered state, and then combining with the same the products obtained
by the destructive distillation of rubber, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)