A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE, WHICH MAY IN MANY INSTANCES BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER AND OTHERWISE
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HANCOCK, of Goswell Mews, in the Parish of Saint Luke, Old Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Cork Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of March now
last past, did give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Hancock, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
Hancock, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I,
the said Thomas Hancock, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE,
WHICH MAY IN MANY INSTANCES BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER AND
OTHERWISE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Thomas Hancock, 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 is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Thomas
Hancock, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained as
follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists in filling, saturating, and combining various
fibrous substances, in their manufactured and unmanufactured state, with a
composition which leaves to the fibres sufficient flexibility, and at the same
time unites and consolidates them into one mass, thereby increasing their
strength and durability, and producing by these means a manufacture which
may be, in many instances, substituted for leather, and be applied to other
useful purposes, such as soles for shoes and boots, hose pipes, pails, and other
articles which have heretofore been made of leather, and also to other useful
purposes, such as the roofs of virandas, corn and flour sacks, packing cloths,
and tarpaulings. The fibrous substances I employ in this manufacture are
wool, cotton, hair, silk, flax, hemp, carded, combed, or hackled, and combined
with the same substances woven and manufactured. As the same process is
applicable to all the combinations, it will be necessary to describe the method
I pursue in one case only, as any variation may be made in arranging the
different substances at the discretion of the operator. I take a piece of cotton
cloth of any convenient size, and strain it on a board, and spread over it with
a spatula or other convenient instrument a full coating of one of the com-
pounds to be herein-after described; I then spread on or over the compound
a layer of carded cotton somewhat similar to the article known by the name
of wadding, spreading over this again another piece of cotton cloth prepared as
the first; I then submit the whole to sufficient pressure between boards or
plates of metal, either passing them through or between rollers, or otherwise, to
force the composition quite through the layer of carded cotton; I then care-
fully remove it from the boards or plates, and leave it to dry either in the open
air or in a warm room, heated to eighty or ninety degrees of temperature, and
proceed to make others in the same manner. When I perceive that they are
nearly or quite dry, I again submit them to the press, or if one of these strata
is not sufficient to make up the thickness I require, I put two, three, four, or
more together, spreading the said compound on the surfaces again, if necessary,
and increasing the pressure. After they have been in the press some hours
they may again be exposed to the air, or returned to the warm room, to com-
plete the drying, and if necessary pressed again. When I wish to have the
carded cotton for either or both surfaces, I carefully separate, at the end of two
or more pressings, the last layer or layers of cloth from the cotton below it
soon after I take it out of the press, as it will then separate, and proceed as

page_text: before described. In this manner I introduce into this manufacture hair,
wool, silk, hemp, and the like, or any mixture of these fibrous substances, or
any or all of them mixed with chopped hemp or tow, and carded together; or
I hackle or comb hemp or flax, and lay the fibres parallel with each other, and
combine any intermixture of these different materials with the different kinds
of manufactured wool, silk, linen, cotton, and the like, according to the purpose
to which the article is to be applied, or as economy may dictate. For so!cs of
shoes and boots I prefer wove hair and cotton in about equal proportions;
for hose pipes, pails, and accoutrements, chopped hemp, tow, and cotton. I
prefer the woven materials to be made of wool or cotton, and these of an open,
loose, and coarse texture, excepting where it is intended for a finer surface; in
such cases I choose the fabric of a finer quality. If the article is required
to have a smooth surface, I produce it by using polished metal plates the last
time the article is pressed. I make the compound or compounds with which I
unite or combine the said substances as follows:-(No. 1), I take two pounds
of caoutchouc dissolved in one gallon of equal parts of oil of turpentine and
highly rectified coal tar oil, six ounces of black resin, two pounds of strong
glue size, and one pound of ochre, powdered pumice, or whiting, and mix the
whole together; or (No. 2) one pound and an half of caoutchouc dissolved as
before stated, one pound of strong glue size; I melt and mix the resin and
size in a water or steam bath, and then add the other ingredients, stirring the
whole until it is mixed throughout. The solution of the caoutchouc is ex-
pedited by a water or steam bath, and the undissolved portions may be
separated by straining it through a fine wire or other sieve; the mixture
(No. 1) is applicable to articles where stiffness and cheapness are required;
No. 2 is preferable where pliancy and strength are more required. But I
think it proper here to state that the proportions above mentioned may be
varied, according to the different applications of the article to be manufactured.
If varied qualities of stiffness or cheapness should be desired, the proportion of
size and whiting may be increased till they make up one third of the mass;
if flexibility be required, the quantity of dissolved caoutchouc in the compound
No. 2 may be increased, and especially where great strength and pliancy aro
required. This last is also preferable for articles that are to be much exposed
to the weather.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Hancock, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
THO HANCOCK. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Fourteenth day of
September, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Hancock came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Fourteenth day of September, in the year above