IMPROVEMENTS IN 'KERITE' COMPOUNDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE WITH OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIA-RUBBER
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN 'KERITE' COMPOUNDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE
WITH OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIA-RUBBER." A communication from
abroad by Austin Goodyear Day, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America.
Sealed the 25th June 1878, and dated the 2nd January 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd January 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KERITE' COM-
POUNDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE WITH OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIA-
RUBBER." [A communication from abroad by Austin Goodyear Day, of the City
and State of New York, United States of America.]
Various Inventions have heretofore been devised by the said Austin Goodyear
Day relative to the manufacture of artificial compounds capable of being used to
some extent as substitutes for natural india-rubber, or of being advantageously
mixed with natural india-rubber.
"
These compounds have become known under the terms "kerite" or artificial
caoutchouc," and the present improvements have for their object to secure in the
manufacture of these compounds better and more certain practical results than have
hitherto been obtained.
"
The first part of these improvements consist in combining with the united cotton-
seed oil, linseed oil, and coal tar, of which the "kerite is composed, a proper
quantity of wax, in the manner and for the purpose herein-after fully described.
may also sometimes mix with the wax for the same purpose in the proportions
herein-after set forth, either paraffine or the substance called " ozokerit," which is a
kind of mineral wax.

page_text: To enable others to understand the mode and the relations to my general process
of manufacture in which this improvement is employed, I will here repeat the
substance of the method ordinarily adopted for making the said "kerite com-
pounds.
"
I generally take about twenty-seven pounds of cotton-seed oil and about
thirty pounds of coal tar, and mix them together in a suitable kettle or boiler under
sufficient heat and for a sufficient length of time to cause them to unite together
freely and thoroughly. The temperature ordinarily required for this purpose will
be about three hundred to three hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and the
time generally from three to five hours. The mixture is then cooled down to, say,
from two hundred to two hundred and twenty, or sometimes to two hundred and
forty degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts, and then the linseed oil may if desired be
added, the amount of it required being about twenty-seven pounds. But I prefer
to let the cotton-seed oil and the coal tar (after they have been mixed under heat,
as above described) stand over night to cool, and to then heat them up to the above
specified temperature of from two hundred to two hundred and twenty or forty
degrees Fahrenheit, and then add the linseed oil; when the latter has become
thoroughly incorporated with the other ingredients, which usually takes about from
one to two hours, I add from twelve to sixteen pounds or thereabouts of sulphur,
preferably in the form of the ordinary brimstone of commerce. I prefer to commence
to add the sulphur when the mixture is at a temperature of about two hundred and
thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and to introduce it gradually, and then as it combines
with the other ingredients I usually raise the temperature to about two hundred
and seventy-five to three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or in that vicinity, the degree
of temperature depending largely upon the length of heating time employed. The
heating of the compound may be continued until vulcanization of the mass takes
place, say, in the case of a usual working batch of about one hundred pounds, for
from three to five hours, or sometimes longer. When the vulcanization is complete
the compound is finished, and it may then be poured into moulds or pans of any
desired dimensions and allowed to cool for use or for the market.
It is at the stage of the above-described process at which the sulphur is intro-
duced that the first part of my present improvements is designed to be employed.
It frequently happens that unless great watchfulness and care are used that the
action of the sulphur when or after it begins to combine with the oils is so rapid as
to produce a sudden and very great increase in the temperature, which is caused by
the generation of chemical heat, and which results in "cooking" or overheating the
compound to such an extent as to seriously impair its properties, and this is par-
ticularly noticeable when the compound coines to be mixed with natural india-
rubber. To obviate this difficulty I add to the compouud vegetable wax or purified
beeswax in the proportion of seven ounces of wax or thereabouts to every pound of
sulphur employed. I prefer to add the wax after the sulphur is put in, and while
the compound is at a temperature of about two hundred and fifty to two hundred
and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, or in other words, before the compound has acquired
too great consistency, but it may be added at the same time or just before the
sulphur is put in. The effect of the wax is to prevent the too rapid action of
the sulphur and consequent generation of chemical heat, and hence to insure a
perfect and reliable product in every or almost every instance.
If desired paraffine may be advantageously mixed with the wax to prevent this
too rapid action of the sulphur. When this is done I recommend that about eight
ounces of the wax and paraffine mixed together in about equal proportions be used
to every pound of sulphur. When vegetable wax alone is employed I generally use
a slightly smaller quantity, say, about seven ounces to the pound of sulphur, as
above specified.
If "ozokerite" be used mixed with the vegetable wax, I find that good results
will be obtained when the mixture is in the proportion of about five ounces of the
mixed wax and " ozokerit to every pound of sulphur.
"
For the same purpose the "ozokerit" may also be made to take the place both

page_text: of wax and paraffine mixed, and of wax alone. In this case I recommend the
employment of eight ounces or thereabouts of it to the pound of sulphur.
I have also obtained very desirable results by adding to the mixture a little oxide
of iron. This should be introduced in a powder, and the form in which I prefer to
employ it is the sesquioxide. It may be put in when the compound is at a tem-
perature of two hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts, and the pro-
portion which will answer well for the examples above given will be about one
pound.
The second part of the said improvements relates to preparing cotton seed,
and linseed oil, and other vegetable oils for use in making the said "kerite "
compounds.
The object of this portion of the said Invention is to secure greater cohesiveness
and a better and tougher elasticity in the oils, thereby enabling a more perfect
result to be obtained in the "korite," and when the latter is to be combined with
natural india-rubber diminishing the proportion of india-rubber required to make a
good product.
It is in effect a new combination of the agents and methods which I employ in
the above herein-described process of making the "kerite" compounds, and it
consists in preparing the vegetable oils for use in the subsequent stages of the
complete process by subjecting them to the action of sulphur at a high tempe-
rature before they are combined with the resinous body or bodies or other in-
gredients of the "kerite."
I usually take for a convenient working batch of materials, say, thirty pounds of
cotton-seed oil of a good quality, and heat it gradually in any suitable vessel to
about six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, preferring to cause it to be about two hours
in reaching this temperature, though it may be run up to it more quickly if desired.
I keep it at this point during about six hours, and then cool it, preferably letting it
stand over night for that purpose. I next heat it to about two hundred to two hundred
and twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and at this temperature add to it about from two
to four pounds of sulphur, and run up the heat of the mixture during about two
hours to, say, five hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and keep it there for about
five hours. I then let it cool, preferably over night, as before, and when cooled it
will be ready to be mixed with the tar, in the manner herein-before described.
I also take about thirty pounds of linseed oil of a good quality, heat it gradually
in any convenient vessel during about two hours to five hundred and twenty degrees
Fahrenheit, or thereabouts, keep it at that temperature for about six hours, and
then cool it, as in the case of the cotton-seed oil. I next heat it to from two
hundred to two hundred and twenty or thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and add to it to
from one to three pounds of sulphur, and run the mixture during about two hours
up to, say, four hundred and fifty to four hundred and seventy-five degrees
I then cool
Fahrenheit, and keep it at that temperature for about five hours.
it as before. When cooled it will be in proper coudition to be mixed with the
combination of the tar and cotton-seed oil treated as above, the tar and cotton-
seed oil being first combined, and then the linseed oil mixed with the compound.
If the oil taken be made from seed of inferior quality the times for continuing the
heat may require to be somewhat longer than those given above.
If desired the linseed oil and sulphur instead of being thus treated may be added
to the mixture of cotton-seed oil and sulphur after the latter has been cooled as
desired, and then the whole mass may be heated up to about five hundred and
fifty degrees Fahrenheit for from three to six hours, until a thorough union of the
ingredients takes place.
Or the two oils may be mixed together, the sulphur, say, from four to five pounds
added, and the ingredients.incorporated at a heat which should be gradually carried
to about five hundred and fifty to six hundred degrees Fahrenheit during five to ten
hours.
Either of these two last specified methods of treatment will answer the purpose,

page_text: but neither will make a product of so excellent a quality as the method first above
set forth.
It will be noticed that in each of these examples the proportion of sulphur is
small. A somewhat larger amount may however be employed, in which event
more time may be allowed for the union of the ingredients.
By treating the oils in either of the above-mentioned modes they will when
cooled be found in a state of preparation adapted to produce in the finished "kerite"
the improved qualities which have been referred to."
Other vegetable oils, such as castor oil or olive oil, may be employed in this
process, the heat at which they are to be combined with the sulphur being adapted.
to the nature of the particular oil selected. Thus castor oil requires a somewhat
higher heat for this purpose than cotton-seed or linseed oil, but in each case the
proper temperature can be readily determined in practice.
"
The proportion of the vegetable oils here specified is made slightly larger than that
previously stated in the description of my ordinary method of making the "kerite
compounds, for the reason that in the preliminary treatment of the oils here directed
some waste will necessarily occur, but the proportionate quantity remaining after
the preliminary treatment is completed will be about the same as first above
stated.
After the oils have been thus treated the remainder of the process for completing
the "kerite" should be in all respects as in the ordinary method of working above
described, except that the proportion of sulphur employed for vulcanization after
the oils have been combined with the resinous and other ingredients should bo
lessened by as much as was used for the preparatory sulphurization of the oils.
It will be seen that the distinctive feature of this part of the said improvements
is the partial vulcanization of the oils with a small proportion of sulphur at an
extremely high temperature as a preparation for combining them with the other
ingredients of the said "kerite" compounds. I have found that by this process the
"kerite" is greatly increased in tenacity and compactness, a more reliable elasticity
is obtained, and in general a closer approach is made to the qualities of natural
india-rubber. It has therefore provided means for overcoming the defects of the
said earlier "kerite" compounds, and it provides a product which can be combined
with natural india-rubber with very great economy and success. I am also able to
employ a much larger proportion of "kerite" with the natural india-rubber than
heretofore, a result which is of great importance in diminishing the cost of india-
rubber fabrics; and the time hitherto required for combining the ingredients
together to form "kerito" compounds is in consequence of the preliminary partial
sulphurization in this process shortened nearly one half.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st July 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent
Agents, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN 'KERITE' COM-
POUNDS CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE WITH OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR INDIA-
RUBBER." A communication from abroad by Austin Goodyear Day, of the City and
State of New York, United States of America.
Various Inventions have heretofore been made by me relative to the manufacture.
of artificial compounds capable of being used to some extent as substitutes for
natural india-rubber or of being advantageously mixed with natural rubber.
These compounds have become known under the terms "kerite" or "artificial
caoutchouc," and my present improvements have for their object, to secure in the
manufacture of these compounds, better and more certain practical results than I
have hitherto been able to obtain.
The first part of these improvements consists in combining with the united
cotton-seed oil, linseed oil, and coal tar, of which the "kerite" is composed, a proper.
quantity of wax in the manner and for the purpose herein-after fully described.
I may also sometimes mix with the wax for the same purpose in the pro-
portions herein-after set forth, either paraffine, or the substance called " "ozokerit,"
which is a kind of mineral wax.
To enable others to understand the mode and the relation to my general process
of manufacture in which this improvement is employed, I will here repeat the sub-
stance of the method ordinarily adopted for making my "kerite " compounds.
I generally take about twenty-seven pounds of cotton-seed oil, and about thirty
pounds of coal tar, and mix them together in a suitable kettle or boiler under
sufficient heat, and for a sufficient length of time, to cause them to unite freely.
and thoroughly. The temperature ordinarily required for this purpose will be
about three hundred to three hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and the time
generally from three to five hours. The mixture is then cooled down to, say, from
two hundred to two hundred and twenty, or sometimes to two hundred and forty.
degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts, and then the linseed oil may, if desired, be
added, the amount of it being about twenty-seven pounds. But I prefer to let.
the cotton-seed oil and the coal tar (after they have been mixed under heat as
above described), stand over night to cool, and to then heat them up to the above
specified temperature of from two hundred to two hundred and twenty, or forty
degrees Fahrenheit, and then add the linseed oil; when the latter has become
thoroughly incorporated with the other ingredients, which usually takes about one
to two hours, I add from twelve to sixteen pounds or thereabouts of sulphur,
preferably in the form of the ordinary brimstone of commerce. I prefer to com-
mence to add the sulphur when the mixture is at a temperature of about two
hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and to introduce it gradually, and then as-
it combines with the other ingredients, I usually raise the temperature to about
two hundred and seventy five to three hundred degrees Fahrenheit, or in that
vicinity, the degree of temperature depending largely upon the length of heating
time employed. The heating of the compound may be continued until vulcaniza-
tion of the mass takes place, say in the case of a usual working batch of about one
hundred pounds, for from three to five hours, or sometimes longer. When the
vulcanization is complete, the compound is finished, and it may then be poured
into moulds or pans of any desired dimensions, and allowed to cool for use or for
the market.
It is at the stage of the above-described process at which the sulphur is intro-
duced that the first part of my present improvements is designed to be employed.
.It frequently happens, unless great watchfulness and care are used, that the
action of the sulphur, when-or-after it begins to combine with the oils, is-so rapid

page_text: as to produce a sudden and very great increase in the temperature, which is caused
by the generation of chemical heat, and which results in "cooking" or overheating
the compound to such an extent as to seriously impair its properties, and this is
particularly noticeable when the compound comes to be mixed with natural rubber.
To obviate this difficulty, I add to the compound vegetable wax or purified bees-
wax, in the proportion of seven ounces of wax or thereabouts to every pound of
sulphur employed; I prefer to add the wax after the sulphur is put in, and while
the compound is at a temperature of about two hundred and fifty to two hundred
and eighty degrees Fahrenheit, or in other words, before the compound has acquired
too great consistency, but it may be added at the same time, or just before the
sulphur is put in. The effect of the wax is to prevent the too rapid action of the
sulphur, and consequent generation of chemical heat, and hence to ensure a perfect
and reliable product in every or almost every instance.
If desired, paraffine may be advantageously mixed with the wax, to prevent this
too rapid action of the sulphur. When this is done, I recommend that about eight
ounces of the wax and paraffine mixed together in about equal proportions be used
to every pound of sulphur. When vegetable wax alone is employed, I generally
use a slightly smaller quantity, say about seven ounces to the pound of sulphur as
above specified.
If ozokerit be used mixed with the vegetable wax, I find that good results
will be obtained when the mixture is in the proportion of about five ounces of the
mixed wax and ozokerit to every pound of sulphur.
For the same purpose, the "ozokerit " may also be made to take the place both
of wax and paraffine mixed, and of wax alone. In this case, I recommend the em-
ployment of eight ounces or thereabouts of it to the pound of sulphur.
I have also obtained very desirable results by adding to the mixture a little
oxide of iron. This should be introduced in a powder, and the form in which I
prefer to employ it is the sesquioxide. It may be put in when the compound is at
a temperature of two hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts, and
the proportion which will answer well for the examples above given will be about
one pound.
The second part of my improvements relates to preparing cotton seed and linseed
oils and other vegetable oils for use in making my above "kerite" compounds.
The object of this portion of my Invention is to secure greater cohesiveness,
and a better and tougher elasticity in the oils, thereby enabling a more perfect
result to be obtained in the "kerite;" and, when the latter is to be combined with
natural india-rubber, diminishing the proportion of rubber required to make a good
product.
It is in effect a new combination of the agents and methods which I employ in
the above herein-described process of making the " kerite" compounds, and it
consists in preparing the vegetable oils for use in the subsequent stages of the com-
plete process by subjecting them to the action of the sulphur at a high temperature
before they are combined with the resinous body or bodies, or other ingredients of
the "kerite."
I usually take for a convenient working batch of material, say, thirty pounds of
cotton-seed oil of a good quality, and heat it gradually in any suitable vessel to
about six hundred degrees Fahrenheit, preferring to cause it to be about two hours
in reaching this temperature, though it inay be run up to it more quickly, if desired.
I keep it at this point during about six hours, and then cool it, preferably letting it
stand overnight for that purpose; I next heat it to about two hundred to two hundred
and twenty degrees Fahrenheit, and at this temperature add to it about two to
four pounds of sulphur, and run up the heat of the mixture during about two
hours to, say, five hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, and keep it there for about
five hours; I then let it cool, preferably overnight, as before, and when cooled it will
be ready to be mixed with the tar in the manner herein-before described.
I also take about thirty pounds of linseed oil of a good quality, heat it gradually
in any convenient vessel during about two hours to five hundred and twenty

page_text: degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabouts, keep it at that temperature for about six hours,
and then cool it, as in the case of the cotton-seed oil. I next heat it to from two
hundred to two hundred and twenty or thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and add to it
from one to three pounds of sulphur, and run the mixture during about two hours
up to, say, four hundred and fifty to four hundred and seventy-five degrees
Fahrenheit, and keep it at that temperature for about five hours; I then cool it as
before. When cooled it will be in proper condition to be mixed with the com-
bination of the tar and cotton-seed oil, treated as above, the tar and cotton-seed
oil being first combined, and then the linseed oil mixed with the compound.
If the oil taken be made from seed of inferior quality, the times for continuing
the heats may require to be somewhat longer than those given above.
If desired the linseed oil and sulphur, instead of being thus treated, may be
added to the mixture of cotton-seed oil and sulphur after the latter has been cooled,
and then the whole mass inay be heated up to about five hundred and fifty degrees
Fahrenheit for from three to six hours until a thorough union of the ingredients
takes place.
Or, the two oils may be mixed together, the sulphur, say, four to five pounds,
added, and the ingredients incorporated at a heat which should be gradually carried
to about five hundred and fifty to six hundred degrees Fahrenheit during five to
ten hours.
Either of these two last specified methods of treatment will answer my purpose
but neither will make a product of so excellent a quality as the method first above
set forth.
It will be noticed that in each of these examples the proportion of sulphur is
small. A somewhat larger amount may, however, be employed, in which event
more time may be allowed for the union of the ingredients.
By treating the oils in either of the above-mentioned modes they will when
cooled be found in a state of preparation adapted to produce in the finished "kerite"
the improved qualities which have been referred to.
Other vegetable oils, such as castor oil or olive oil, may be employed in this
process, the heat at which they are to be combined with the sulphur being adapted
to the nature of the particular oil selected. This castor oil requires a somewhat
higher heat for this purpose than cotton-seed or linseed oil; but in each case the
proper temperature can be readily determined in practice.
"
The proportion of the vegetable oils here specified is made slightly larger than
that previously stated in the description of my ordinary method of making the
kerite" compounds, for the reason that in the preliminary treatment of the oils
here directed some waste will necessarily occur; but the proportionate quantity
remaining after the preliminary treatment is completed will be about the same as
first above stated.
After the oils have been thus treated the remainder of the process for completing
the "kerite" should be in all respects as in the ordinary method of working above
described, except that the proportion of sulphur employed for vulcanization after
the oils have been combined with the resinous and other ingredients should be
lessened by as much as was used for the preparatory sulphurization of the oils.
It will be seen that the distinctive feature of this part of my improvements is
the partial vulcanization of the oils with a small proportion of sulphur at an
extremely high temperature, as a preparation for combining them with the other
ingredients of my "kerite" compounds. I have found that by this process the
kerite is greatly increased in tenacity and compactness, a more reliable elasticity is
obtained, and in general a closer approach is made to the qualities of natural india-
rubber. It has, therefore, enabled me to overcome the defects of my earlier
"kerite" compounds, and it provides a product which can be combined with natural
rubber with very great economy and success. I am also able to employ a much
larger proportion of "kerite with the natural rubber than heretofore, a result
which is of great importance in diminishing the cost of rubber fabrics; and the time
hitherto required for combining the ingredients together to form "kerite" compounds
"

page_text: is in consequence of the preliminary partial sulphurization in this process shortened
nearly one-half.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be conveniently and advan-
tageously carried into practice I claim,-
First. The combination of wax in the manner and for the purpose described
with a mixture designed to form a "kerite" compound, composed and made as set
forth.
Second. The combination of "ozokerit," as described, with a mixture designed
to form a "kerite" compound, composed and made as set forth.
Third. The combination of oxide of iron with a mixture designed to form a
'kerite" compound, composed and made as set forth.
Fourth. The process of preparing vegetable oils for use in forming "kerite" com-
pounds by subjecting such oils to the action of sulphur at a high temperature,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.