IMPROVEMENTS: IN COMPOUNDS FOR WATERPROOFING AND INSULATING PURPOSES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Augustus Abel, of the Royal Arsenal,
Woolwich, in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS:
IN COMPOUNDS FOR WATERPROOFING AND INSULATING PURPOSES."
IN COMPOUNDS FOR WATERPROOFING AND INSULATING PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Augustus Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th July 1865.
I, FREDERICK AUGUSTUS ABEL, of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the
County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention. for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS FOR WATERPROOFING: AND INSULATING PURPOSES,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in combining by the aid of heat india-rubber,.
whether in its natural state or vulcanized, or gutta percha, with paraffin or
beeswax, or with a mixture of both. The compounds thus obtained may be
employed either separately. or combined for purposes of insulation or water-
proofing, or as waterproof cements. The proportions in which the above
substances may be made to combine may be variously modified; thus, in
forming the compounds of gutta percha and paraffin or beeswax, I have
employed with success proportions varying from four parts by weight of

page_text: gutta percha and one of paraffin or beeswax, to one part of gutta percha and
four parts of paraffin or beeswax. In preparing the compounds of natural india-
rubber and beeswax or paraffin I have employed proportions varying between
equal parts by weight of the materials, and one part of india-rubber to four
parts of beeswax or paraffin. In employing vulcanized india-rubber in the place
of the natural material I have used respectively four parts and six parts of
paraffin or beeswax to one part of the vulcanized india-rubber. To prepare
the compounds of gutta percha I melt the beeswax or paraffin and add the
gutta percha by preference in shreds or small pieces, maintaining the
As
temperature of the materials at about from 200° to 220° Fahrenheit.
the gutta percha softens it is incorporated with the paraffin or beeswax by any
suitable known mechanical means. In preparing the compounds of natural
or vulcanized india-rubber, I take this material in small pieces or in the
masticated form and heat it with the paraffin or bees wax to a temperature
of from 212° to 240° Fahrenheit, incorporating the materials as the india-
rubber becomes soft. The temperatures above stated are those which I have
heretofore employed, but I in no way limit myself thereto, nor to the
proportions given; I find it however advisable not to heat the materials much
above 260° Fahrenheit. Instead of forming the above compounds by heating
definite proportions and incorporating them as above described, I also simply
heat the india-rubber or gutta percha in a bath of paraffin or beeswax by
preference at a temperature of between 220° to 250° Fahrenheit until it has
become soft and adhesive, when it is removed from the bath. The above
compounds may be employed either as waterproofing materials, for which
purpose they may be spread either alone or mixed with pigments upon or
between textile fabrics, paper, leather, or felted or fibrous materials, or such
materials may be soaked in the compounds when in a melted state; or such
compounds may be employed as insulating or protective coatings to wires or
ropes, either by winding. on or by spreading or dipping. In applying such
coatings to wire I prefer to heat the latter to about the temperature of the
melting point of paraffin or beeswax; or such compounds may be used in the
melted or pasty form as waterproof cements.
Similar compounds may also
be formed by heating india-rubber or gutta percha with stearine or spermacetti,
or other solid fatty substances, in the above described manner, but I prefer to
employ paraffin.and beeswax, either alone or mixed, for this purpose..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Augustus Abel, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 27th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICE
AUGUSTUS ABEL, of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, in the County of Kent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Augustus Abel, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Augustus Abel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such, others as
I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel, 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 COMPOUNDS FOR WATERPROOFING AND INSULATING PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under iny, 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 Frederick Augustus Abel, do hereby declarę
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
One part of my Invention has reference to the waterproofing of textile or
felted fabrics, paper, or leather, and consists in employing for that purpose
compounds consisting of india-rubber, whether in its natural state or vulcanized,
or gutta percha, made to combine by the aid of beat with paraffin or beeswax,
or with a mixture of both. The proportions in which these substances may be
made to combine may be variously modified, thus in forming the compounds
of gutta percha and paraffin or beeswax, I have employed with success
proportions varying from four parts by weight of gutta percha and one of
paraffin or beeswax, to one part of gutta percha and four parts of paraffin of

page_text: .
beeswax. In preparing the compounds of natural india-rubber and beeswax
or paraffin I have employed proportions varying between equal parts by
weight of the materials, and one part of india-rubber to four parts of beeswax
or paraffin. In employing vulcanized, india-rubber in the place of the
natural material, I have used respectively four parts and six parts of paraffin
or beeswax to one part of the vulcanized india-rubber. To prepare the
compounds of gutta percha I melt the beeswax or paraffin and add the gutta
percha by preference in shreads or small pieces, maintaining the temperature
of the materials at about from 200° to 220° Fahrenheit. As the gutta percha
softens, it is incorporated with the paraffin or beeswax by any suitable known
mechanical means. In preparing the compounds of natural or vulcanized
india-rubber, I take this material in small pieces or in the masticated form,
and heat it with the paraffin or beeswax to a temperature of from 212° to 240°
Fahrenheit, incorporating the materials as the india-rubber becomes soft.
The temperatures above stated are those which I have heretofore employed,
but I in no way limit myself thereto nor to the proportions given. I find it
however advisable not to heat the materials much above 260° Fahrenheit.
In some cases mixtures of the before-described compounds of india-rubber
and gutta percha may be formed by incorporating them when in a soft and
plastic state. In employing the above compounds as waterproofing materials,
they may be spread by any of the well known methods, either alone or mixed
with pigments, upon or between textile or felted fabrics, paper, or leather; or
such materials may be soaked in the compounds when in a melted state.
Waterproofing compounds similar to those above described may also be
formed by treating india-rubber or gutta percha with stearine or permacetti
or other solid fatty substances in the above described manner, but I prefer to
employ paraffin and beeswax either alone or mixed for this purpose.
Another part of my Invention has reference to improvements in the mode of
preparing the before described compounds of india-rubber and gutta percha for
insulating and protecting electric telegraph and other wires, ropes, or cables. In
preparing such compounds for this purpose, instead of mixing, masticating, or
incorporating the india-rubber and gutta percha with the paraffin or beeswax
in definite proportions, 'I simply place the india-rubber or gutta percha in a
bath of paraffin or beeswax, heated by preference to a temperature of from 120°
to 150° Fahrenheit when gutta percha is employed, and from 220° to 250°
Fahrenheit when india-rubber is employed; and when, by the absorption of 'a
certain quantity of the paraffin or beeswax the india-rubber or gutta perclià
has become soft and adhesive, I remove the same from the bath. The wires
may advantageously be coated with such compounds by forming the latter

page_text: into bands or ribbons and winding it helically upon the wire while in an
adhesive state. In applying such coatings to the wire, I prefer to heat
the latter to about the temperature of the melting point of paraffin or bees-
wax.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim generally the employment of compounds of india-rubber or gutta percha
and.beeswax, paraffin, or stearine as insulating and protecting coatings to
electric telegraph wires or to the fibrous coverings thereof, as I find that this
has already been done, but what I claim is,-
First, the employment of compounds consisting of india-rubber combined
with either bees' wax, paraffin, stearine, spermacetti, or other solid fatty
substances, or mixtures thereof, or consisting of gutta percha combined with
either bees' wax, paraffin, stearine, spermacetti, or other solid fatty substances,
or mixtures thereof, or consisting of mixtures of such compounds for rendering
waterproof textile or felted fabrics, leather, or paper.
Second, preparing compounds of india-rubber and beeswax, paraffin,
stearine, spermacetti, and other solid fatty substances, or mixtures thereof,
and of gutta percha and such substances or mixtures thereof, by immersing
the india-rubber or gutta percha in a bath of such fatty substances in a heated
and melted condition as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Augustus Abel, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
F. A. ABEL. (L.S.)