IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fisher Williams, of 10, Queen Square, St.
George the Martyr, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA WITH
OTHER SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 10th December 1861, and dated the 19th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fisher Williams
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th June 1861.
I, JOHN FISHER WILLIAMS, of 10, Queen Square, St. George the Martyr,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA WITH
OTHER SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining with india-rubber or gutta percha the
black or dark residuum obtained when distilling palm and other vegetable oils
by superheated steam. The india-rubber or gutta percha and the black ordark
residuum are masticated or ground together in order to their being intimately
mixed,and when it is desired that the india-rubber or gutta percha compound
should be vulcanized or changed by heat, sulphur is combined with the other
materials. It is also preferred in most cases to introduce a quantity of chalk
into the india-rubber and gutta percha compounds.
Fibres and other matters are also occasionally employed in preparing such
compounds of india-rubber and gutta percha, depending on the nature of the
articles it is desired to produce.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fisher Williams in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FISHER WILLIAMS, of 10, Queen Square, St. George the Martyr, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Fisher Williams, Her special licence that I, the said John
Fisher Williams, my executors, administrators and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Fisher Williams, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COMPOUNDS OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA WITH OTHER
SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Fisher Williams, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the sai! 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 John Fisher Williams, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in combining with india-rubber or gutta percha
the black or dark residuum obtained when distilling palm and other vegetable
oils by superheated steam.
The india-rubber or gutta percha and the black or dark residuum are
masticated or ground together in order to their being intimately mixed, and
when it is desired that the india-rubber or gutta percha compound should be
vulcanized or changed by heat, sulphur is combined with the other materials;
it is also preferred in most cases to introduce a quantity of chalk into the
india-rubber and gutta percha compounds.

page_text: Fibres and other matters are also occasionally employed in preparing such
compounds of india-rubber and gutta percha, depending on the nature of the
articles it is desired to produce.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
The proportions of the dark or black residuum (obtained when distilling
palm oil or other vegetable oils, which is usually done by the aid of super-
heated steam) in respect to the proportions of india-rubber or of gutta percha
or of these two substances combined therewith may be greatly varied, and
these india-rubber and gutta percha compounds may be further combined with
chalk, sulphur, fibrous matters, ground cork, steel, and other metal filings, and
with other matters depending on the purposes to which such compounds are
to be applied, sulphur or compounds containing sulphur being used in all
cases where the india-rubber or gutta percha compounds are to be subjected
to heat to obtain that change known as vulcanization.
The following are the compounds which I prefer to produce according to
my Invention.
When making a compound suitable to be employed for various purposes in
substitution of leather as well as for other uses, I take at the rate of about
8 lbs. of india-rubber, 8 lbs. of gutta percha, 8 lbs. of the black or dark
residuum, 4 lbs. of fibrous materiais, 6 lbs. of sulphur, 20 lbs, of powdered
chalk.
In mixing these materials I prefer to employ an ordinary masticating
machine heated by steam or other means. The india-rubber and gutta percha
are first masticated together, adding part of the chalk by degrees, then part of
the sulphur; these should be well mixed at the time of introducing the dark or
black residuum. The fibres are introduced by degrees to prevent the same
matting together, and then the remainder of the chalk and sulphur are intro-
duced. When the whole is intimately blended the mass may be rolled out into
sheets or formed into various articles in moulds, depending on the purposes
to which the compound is to be applied, and these sheets or articles are then
subjected to heat in order to change or vulcanize the same. I prefer for this
purpose to employ steam at about 45 lbs. on the square inch, which I apply in
a suitable vessel so as to raise the temperature of the compound as quickly as
may be, and I maintain the heat for about five hours. If the compound be
desired to be more flexible and elastic, I employ a greater proportion of india-
rubber, and by otherwise varying the proportions of the different substances
or by leaving out some of them the nature of the compound may be otherwise
varied.

page_text: When making compounds to be used for packing high-pressure steam and
hot-water joints, I employ at the rate of about 16 lbs. of india-rubber, 6 lbs. of
dark or black residuum, 30 lbs. of steel or iron or other metal filings,
according to the nature of the articles, 6 lbs. of sulphur.
These being mixed and formed as above described are to be subjected to
heat as explained. If the packings are required only for low-pressure steam
or water at moderate temperatures not under pressure, more of the residuum
may be introduced, and chalk may be also added.
When making kamptulicon, I prefer to employ the following:-6 lbs. of
gutta percha, 12 lbs. of india-rubber, 6 lbs. of the black or dark residuum,
4 lbs. of ground cork, 2 lbs. of chalk, 1 lb. of hair, using sulphur or not,
according as the product is or is not to be vulcanized. I have also found it
advantageous to employ a small proportion of oxide of zinc, as a better surface
is thereby obtained.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that the peculiarity of my
Invention consists in combining the residuum above mentioned with india.
rubber or gutta percha, or with both those substances, with or without sulphur,
chalk, fibre, cork, or other materials, according to the purposes to which such
india-rubber and gutta percha compounds are to be applied.
of
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fisher Williams, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
J. F. WILLIAMS. (L.S.)