IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF COMPOUNDS CONTAINING XYLOIDINE, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Spill, of High Street, Homerton, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PRODUCTION OF COMPOUNDS CONTAINING XYLOIDINE, AND IN THE APPLICATION
OF THE SAME.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Spill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th May 1875.
I, DANIEL SPILL, of High Street, Homerton, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF COMPOUNDS CONTAINING XYLOIDINE, AND
IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the production and appli-
cation of xyloidine, and of those compounds which consist essentially of
what is known as soluble gun cotton.
In carrying out this Invention I take gun cotton (xyloidine) prepared
by any of the well-known processes (preferably in a damp state), and

page_text: water admixed therewith, and as a substitute for drying the same. I
then employ a mixture which shall be a solvent of the same, and which
is constituted in about the following proportions, viz³. :
About 250 parts alcohol.
دو
250 parts of hydrocarbons or of such volatile products as exist
in or are obtained from the distillation of petroleum,
or the volatile products obtained by the distillation of
the residual products resulting from the distillation
of coal, shale, or other bituminous substances, and
which volatile products have a boiling point or boiling
points from about 220° to about 400° Fahrenheit.
About 150 parts ether.
"
وو
10 parts nitro-benzole or oil of almonds.
53 parts camphor or of camphor oil.
When these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and the camphor or the
camphor oil is dissolved therein, I add thereto about 100 parts of soluble
gun cotton, after which the dissolved cotton compound or mixture is
placed in suitable apparatus, wherein the constituents are intimately
mixed, and the excess of the volatile solvent is evaporated therefrom,
which may be recovered for future use, and the resulting compound,
which will then contain only a small proportion of the before-named
solvents, will then be found to be a semi-transparent plastic mass,
and in the condition of a stiff clay or putty. The material thus obtained
is placed between press plates, by preference having one roughened
surface; or it may be passed between calendar rolls, having by preference
one roughened surface, for the purpose of reducing the material into a
laminated condition. The sheets, thus resulting may be received and
dried upon a fabric having a rough surface, for the purpose of giving
the composition or material a roughened surface on one side; or it may
be spread upon the surface of a fabric by means of what is known as
an india-rubber spreading machine, having a spreading knife or guage,
as is well understood. When quite or nearly dry the thin sheet may be
removed from the fabric for the purpose of further fabrication or
manipulation into laminated material, capable of being employed either
as fuzees or for other purposes.
L
When required for the purpose of producing fuzees' tubes I take the

page_text: solvent, and place it in an ordinary tube or pipe-making machine, and
by pressure force it out through a female and over a male mandril, or
upon rods so arranged as to form a tube or pipe; or the material or
composition may be delivered upon a cord or wire, similar to making
telegraphic insulating cores, which covered cord or wire thus produced
may afterwards be cut into suitable lengths, and the cord or wire be
withdrawn therefrom. This leaves the compound in the form of a tube,
such tube to be used for the purpose of making fuzees, or to be employed
for other purposes.
When required to produce an imitation of tortoiseshell or turtle shell,
or other semi-transparent ornamental material I print the required
design or ornamentation upon the surface of the laminated material by
means of an ordinary calico or paper printing machine, or the material
may be otherwise colored. Or instead of producing and obtaining the
coloration of the material when laminated, as herein-before described, I
build up a series of thin slabs, sheets, or plates of the material, such
slabs, sheets, or plates being of two or more colors, and I then cause the
same to be incorporated and finally passed through rolls or press plates,
as before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Spill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Daniel
SPILL, of High Street, Homerton, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Daniel Spill, Her special license
that I, the said Daniel Spill, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: "
or such others as I, the said Daniel Spill, my executors, administrators,
or 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 PRODUCTION
OF COMPOUNDS CONTAINING XYLOIDINE, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF THE SAME,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Daniel Spill, my
executors or administrators, 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 Daniel Spill, 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 :-
This Invention relates to an improved method in the production and
application of xyloidine, and of those compounds which consist essen-
tially of what is known as soluble gun cotton, and which is more
especially applicable to the manufacture of matches, ignition or other
fusees, fusee tubes, and in the production of an imitation of tortoise-
shell or of turtle shell.
In carrying out this Invention I take soluble gun cotton or xyloidine, a
prepared by any of the well-known processes, and preferably in a damp
or hydrated condition, and I well wash the same with alcohol in order to
effect the removal of the water admixed therewith, and as a substitute
for drying or other dessicating or moisture freeing processes. I then
employ a mixture which shall be a solvent of the resulting soluble gun 3

page_text: by weight of hydrocarbons or of such volatile
products as exist in or are obtained from the
distillation of the volatile products obtained by
the distillation of the residual products resulting
from the distillation of coal, shale, or other
bituminous substances, and which volatile
products have a boiling point or boiling points
from about 220 degrees Fahrenheit to about
400° Fahrenheit.

page_text: surface, for the purpose of giving to such composition or material a
roughened surface on one side.
In order to manufacture tubes to be employed either for military or
for other purposes, I take the plastic compound or material prepared as
lastly before mentioned, and place it in an ordinary tube or pipe-making
machine, and by pressure force it out through what is known as a
combined or as a male and female mandril, or upon rods so arranged as
to form a tube or pipe; or the material or composition may be delivered
upon a cord or wire, similar to those employed for the manufacture of
telegraphic insulating cores, which covered cord or wire thus produced
may afterwards be cut into suitable lengths, and the cord or wire be
withdrawn therefrom.
When it is desired to produce an imitation of tortoiseshell or of turtle
shell, or of other semi-transparent ornamental material, I print the
required design or ornamentation upon the inside, middle, or outside
surface of the material during the process of lamination by means of an
ordinary calico or paper printing machine, or by means of a roller or
rollers, or by means of brushes; or instead of producing and obtaining
the coloration of the material when laminated, I build up a series of thin
slabs, sheets, or plates of the material, such slabs, sheets, or plates being
of two or more colors, and I then cause the same to be together incor-
porated, and finally to be passed through rolls or press plates; or I take
sheets, slabs, or plates of about one-quarter inch thick, say, for example,
consisting of two transparent sheets, one colored light brown, and one
colored dark brown, and I then reduce them to small pieces, and after-
wards mix the same and place them in between heated press plates in
order to reunite the materials, which may afterwards be passed between
rolls in order to make the design less formal in arrangement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,
First. The production of sheets or films consisting of compounds
containing xyloidine or gun cotton, having upon one side thereof a
roughened, indented, or corrugated surface, capable of being employed
for and in the manufacture of what are known as ignition fusees.

page_text: Second. The manufacture of tubes or of tubular materials, consisting
of compounds capable of being employed for military or other purposes,
in the manner herein-before described.
Third. The production of colored mixtures or compounds containing
xyloidine or gun cotton, the same being colored or ornamented either
upon one or more surfaces or in the substance or body of the same, in
the manner and for the purposes herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Spill, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
DANIEL SPILL. (L.S.)