IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PYROXYLINE TO BE EMPLOYED AS AN EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLLODION, ALSO IN THE TREATMENT THEREOF WHEN IT IS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE SOLID STATE FOR DENTAL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: -O
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Dana Bickford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
March 1873.. Partly a communication from abroad by Doctor
Spooner, of the City, County, and State of New York, in the United
States of America, and by the Pyroxyline Manufacturing Com-
pany, of Boston, Massachusetts, also in the United States of
America.
I, DANA BICKFORD, of the City, County, and State of New York,
in the United States of America, but at present of 35, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PYROXYLINE
TO BE EMPLOYED AS AN EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
COLLODION, ALSO IN THE TREATMENT THEREOF WHEN IT IS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THE
SOLID STATE FOR DENTAL AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES," (partly my own Invention
and partly the result of a communication to me from abroad by Doctor
Spooner, of the City, County, and State of New York, in the United
States of America, and partly the result of a communication to me
rom abroad by the Pyroxyline Manufacturing Company, of Boston,

page_text: Massachusetts, also in the United States of America), to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in an improvement in the manufacture
of pyroxyline by employing the fibres obtained from the esculapius weed
or from flax in lieu of or in combination with cotton or other fibres.
For this purpose I treat these fibres in a similar manner to that
ordinarily adopted in the manufacture of gun cotton, and I prepare
collodion in the usual way from such fibres so treated, and I treat the
pyroxyline obtained from such fibres or from cotton or other fibres, or
from mixtures thereof, as follows when it is desired to use it in the
manufacture of solid articles. I dissolve the prepared fibre into a pasty
mass by any of the known solvents, during which process it is thoroughly
beaten up by any suitable mixing apparatus. I then tint it if required
to any desired color by preference by means of fluid colors such as
those prepared from aniline. It is then formed into sheets or blocks in
any suitable manner, and partly dried, after which it is rolled or pressed
into solid or horny sheets, and then thoroughly dried, by preference
between sheets or slabs of wood, paper, cardboard, pasteboard, or other
suitable material. By pressing or rolling the sheets or slabs of material
as above described the material becomes thoroughly consolidated, and
may be formed into any desired thickness for subsequent use or mani-
pulation. These sheets or slabs of material may then be softened by
immersion in a solvent or by the application of a solvent or softening
material thereto in any other suitable manner, in which condition the
material may be moulded in dies or otherwise formed into any desired
shape or article.
In the manufacture of dental plates from the sheets or slabs of dis-
solved pyroxyline treated as above, I proceed as usual to take a cast
from the mouth, and to prepare moulds therefrom. By preference I
employ two plates of the rolled material, and cut the air chamber in the
one which is to be next the roof of the mouth. The second plate is
made a little larger than the other, and the edge is partly turned up.
The two are united by the application of solvent thereto and by being
pressed together for about 5 or 10 minutes in the mould or otherwise.
When this is done they are firmly united together, and by placing the
two plates with the grain across each other any liability to warpage is
corrected. The teeth are then adjusted to the plate, and a strip of the

page_text: hard material is after fitting it close to the main plate rivetted to the
teeth pins, or a softened piece of the material is employed and pressed
around the teeth pins. Another piece of softened material is then placed
over that fixed to the teeth, and pressed thereto and to the main plate,
and by the use of solvent they become all firmly united together as one
piece.
In some cases I propose to form the teeth and gums of their natural
color from my prepared material by carving or otherwise forming them,
in which case by the application of solvent the teeth and gums and the
plate may be firmly united together; or the gums may be formed of
the prepared material, and either natural or artificial teeth may be
embedded therein, and by the use of solvent or softening material the
gums may be firmly pressed around the teeth.
I also make a light
plate, and fit to it what is called the continuous gum, or the teeth and
gums all made in a solid piece.
A dental plate formed of my prepared material may be employed in
lieu of a metal or other plate, and the teeth and gums may be rivetted
thereto.
If desired vegetable or animal fibres may be worked into the material
so that the fibres cross each other, by which extra security against
warpage is obtained, or a loosely woven fabric may be placed between
two thicknesses of the material united together by solvent so as to
form a single solid piece with the fabric or the fibres embedded
therein.
By the employment of the fibres of the esculapius or cotton milk
weed or of flax in the manufacture of pyroxyline greater facility of
manipulation is obtained than when employing other descriptions of
fibre, these fibres being more easily dissolved, and there being less
shrinkage with them than when employing other materials.