IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE TUBING OR HOSE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE TUBING OR HOSE."-A communication
from abroad by David Knight Hoxsie and Thomas. Lyons Reed, residing
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration on the 9th September 1865, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE TUBING OR HOSE," communicated to me from
abroad by David Knight Hoxsie and Thomas Lyons Reed, persons resident
at Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America, and in what.manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings making part of this Specification, in which Figure 1 représents a
section of the improved tubing or hose, and Figure 2 represents an improved
[Price 8d.]

page_text: improvements to tubing or hose.
Considerable difficulty has hitherto been experienced in making an article
of flexible tubing or hose that would be impervious, particularly to illuminating
gas for the reason that the naptha which is deposited by condensation from
such gas softens, dissolves, and penetrates india-rubber (caoutchouc) and such
other gums, glutinous materials, and compounds, as have been hitherto
employed in the manufacture of such tubing or hose to make it impervious
and at the same time flexible, and this difficulty is effectually overcome by the
improvement herein-after set forth.
The first feature of improvement in this Invention relates to the means
employed to render the tubing or hose impervious, and consists in the use of
animal intestines so prepared or cured as to render the same imperishable,
and applied as an impervious sheath or covering in the construction of the
tubing or hose.
The second feature of improvement relates to the means employed for
preventing the intestinal sheath from splitting and cracking, and thereby
becoming leaky by the use to which it is necessarily subjected, and consists in
keeping the intestine in its naturally moist condition after it has entered into
the composition of the tube or hose by the application thereto of a composition
of glycerine and glue or any other material or compound that will resist evapo-
ration and stiffening by extremes of heat and cold.
The third feature of improvement relates to the employment of certain
means for rendering the braided sheath of fibrous material that forms part of
the tubing or hose impervious, flexible, and smooth on its surface, and consists
in saturating and coating the said braided sheath with a composition of
glycerine and glue in proper proportions as herein-after specified.
The fourth feature of improvement relates to the construction and com-
bination of material of which the tubing or hose is made up, and consists in
combining upon a suitable spiral wire coil forming a skeleton tube, a number
of braided sheaths of cotton or other fibrous material, and a number (one or
more) intestinal sheaths in the order of arrangement, and treated and applied
and finished to form a flexible tube or hose, as herein-after described, that is
to say:-
In the said Drawing A represents a section of tubing which is formed of a
spiral wire coil, over which is a covering or sheath of braided cotton, which is
saturated or stuffed and coated with black enamel varnish (so called) to render
the cotton sheath impervious to a certain extent, and give it a smooth and
even surface for the reception of the intestine. Over this varnished surface

page_text: are drawn one or more intestines f one over the other, such being moist and
supple when it is drawn upon the tube, and each being allowed to dry to a
certain extent before drawing on another.
In drying, which may be done by rubbing the same with a cloth, the air is
excluded from beneath and between the intestines, which shrink and contract
snugly and smoothly to the surface of the tube, and furnish an impervious
sheath or covering to the same. The best intestines for this purpose are those
of lambs, which are about the right size and free from kernels and other
imperfections.
The intestines are prepared by removing the refuse matter by stripping and
scraping with a dull knife, and afterwards washing clean, and if not wanted for
immediate use they may be packed in fine dry salt. A solution composed of
one pound of alum, pound of salt dissolved in 2 quarts of water, in which the
intestines are to be soaked, will cleanse them and give them additional strength.
The intestines may, however, be more perfectly prepared or cured by means
of the following solution, viz.:--Peruvian bark, 1 oz., oak bark, 1 oz.;
wormwood, 1 oz.; gentian root 1 oz.; tobacco, 1 oz.; water, 2 pounds.
Steep the ingredients in the water and add one oz. of alum to. the solution.
After the intestines have been properly cleansed they may be placed in the
solution and there remain until required for use. As a convenience for
drawing the intestines upon the tubing the metal tube G, Figure 2, may be
used, the intestines being taken from the solution and drawn upon the outside
of the tube G, when by passing the tubing A through the said tube, and
seizing the end of the intestine and the protruding end of the tubing with the
hand, the tubing is drawn through the tube drawing the intestine from the
exterior of the tube upon the tubing. It is better to use two or three layers
or coverings of intestines one over the other, so that in case one of the intestines
is punctured from any cause it may be covered, and the part repaired and
protected by succeeding overlaying ones. The intestines may be prevented
from cracking and splitting by being kept in a permanently moist condition
by means of a solution of glycerine and glue in equal parts, the glue being
first soaked and dissolved in the usual way by boiling, and afterwards adding
the requisite quantity of glycerine. This compound is applied to the intestines
with a cloth, and rubbed lengthwise on the tubing vigorously with the hand.
When this compound is intended for use, to render the braided covering
impervious the relative proportions should be about % glycerine to ½ glue,
or the latter may be in still greater excess, according to the consistency
required by the nature of the fabric. The compound of this consistency may
be used in lieu of the enamel varnish with good results.

page_text: The enamel varnish above alluded to as forming a smooth coating or surface
for the reception of the intestines may be made as follows:-Linseed oil 20
gallons, Prussian blue 6 lbs., boil together until the compound is of such con-
sistency that it will "rope" about two inches before dropping, when withdraw
it immediately from the fire, and when it is nearly cool add and stir in
thoroughly about two-thirds the quantity of naptha, great care should be
taken in adding the naptha that the vessel is sufficiently removed from the
vicinity of the fire, and as well that the boiled compound has so far cooled as
not to ignite the naptha, frequent and terrible accidents resulting from both
these causes when care is not observed.
A superior article of impervious flexible tubing may be manufactured from
the foregoing material, combined and prepared as follows:-1st, a lengthened
coil of tinned iron wire; 2nd, a covering of cotton braided thereon; 3rd, a
stuffing and coating of enamel varnish allowed to dry thoroughly in the open
air, if possible, otherwise in an oven; 4th, a coating of glycerine and glue,
and allowed to set or dry, equal proportions of each, after which a second
coating of the same may be applied; 5th, three intestines drawn one over the
other; 6th, a coating of glycerine and glue, equal parts of each; 7th, three
intestines one over the other; 8th, one coating of glycerine and glue, equal
parts of each; 9th, a covering of cotton braiding; 10th, one coating of
glycerine and glue, % glycerine to ½ glue; 11th, one coating of glycerine and
glue, glycerine to % glue; 12th, one coating shellac varnish; 13th, a
covering of colored worsted, silk, or cotton braiding for outside finish, or
cotton stuffed with oil and varnished.
The intestinal sheath above described is designed to be used in combination
with any and all combinations of materials suitable for forming a flexible tube
or hose to render the same impervious; and the use of intestines of other
animals besides lambs in the manufacture of tubing or hose of different
calibre is contemplated and herewith claimed.
The use of the processes and materials herein described is also contemplated
for preserving and utilizing other animal tissues of a similar nature to the
intestines for kindred useful purposes, and the same is herewith also claimed.
Having described the Invention, what is claimed is,―
First, the use of animal intestines as an impervious sheath or covering for
tubing or hose, as described.
Second, preserving animal intestines and like animal tissues in their natural
moist condition, by means of a compound of glycerine and glue or other
material or compound that will remain unaffected by extremes of temperature,
as described for the purpose specified.

page_text: Third, the use of a compound of glycerine and glue in the requisite pro-
portions in combination with a covering of fibrous material, as and for the
purposes specified.
Fourth, the tubing constructed wholly or in part of the materials combined
in the manner for the several purposes herein set forth and described.
In witness, whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)