AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MEANS OF DISSOLVING AND PREPARING CAOUTCHOUC OR INDIA-RUBBER, FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILLIAM SIEVIER, of Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the sixth year of
His reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert William Sievier, His especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert William Sievier, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert William
Sievier, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agreo
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times hereafter during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MEANS OF DISSOLVING AND PREPARING
CAOUTCHOUC OR INDIA-RUBBER, FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES," in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Robert William Sievier,
by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, particularly to describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of tho said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert William Sievier, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof. (that is
to say):―
My Invention of an improvement in the means of dissolving and preparing
caoutchouc or india-rubber for various purposes consists in dissolving or
separating and preparing the same in the following manner :-I take
caoutchouc or india-rubber cut into small pieces and put them into any con-
venient vessel that may be closed at the mouth; I then fill the vessel with
liquor ammonia so as to entirely cover the india-rubber, in a few months it
will bo dissolved or its particles separated. I then put the solution so made
into a still or large retort, and by the application of heat nearly the whole of
the ammonia will be distilled over in a gaseous form, and is to be taken up in
the usual way by cold water; in that state it again becomes liquor ammonia. In
this operation of distillation I prefer using a water bath, as the india-rubber by
that means cannot be subjected to a heat of more than 212° of Fahrenheit; the
ammonia assumes a gaseous form at 180°. On separating the ammonia by
listillation as above, the india-rubber is left held up in the water, and in that
state may be applied for waterproofing cloths; or in making solid masses of
any form, by subjecting the solution to evaporation, any degree of consistency
may be given to this solution by increasing or diminishing the quantity of
water mixed with the previous dissolved india-rubber
Having described my improvements in the means or process of dissolving
or separating the particles of caoutchouc or india-rubber from each other,
and preparing it for various purposes, I desire is to be understood that I
claim as my discovery or Invention the use or application of ammonia to effect
the solution or separation in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert William Sievier, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
ROBERT WILLIAM (L.s.) SIEVIER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of August, in
the seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
Robert William Sievier came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.