IMPROVEMENTS IN AND TREATING CAOUTCHOUC
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustave Eugene Michel Gèrard, of No. 12,
Ruc Hauteville, Paris, France, Manufacturer, and of 4; South
Street, Finsbury, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND TREATING CAOUTCHOUC
Sealed the 28th March 1853, and dated the 5th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustave Eugene
Michel Gérard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 5th January 1853.
I, GUSTAVE EUGENE MICHEL GERARD, of No. 12, Rue Hauteville,
Paris, France, Manufacturer, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURING AND TREATING CAOUTCHOUC" to be as follows:-
The Invention consists in giving to articles of caoutchouc the
property of preserving the greatest stretch or elongation which they may
be subjected to, and again stretching or elongating them to ten times
more than in their previous state; thus, for instance, a thread of
caoutchouc being drawn to ten times its natural length will be capable
of being again elongated ten times, and even more.
I effect this by heating the caoutchouc to a certain temperature, and
by the employment of carbonate of potash.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Gustave Eugene Michel Gèrard in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 5th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
Gustave Eugène Michel Gérard, of No. 12, Rue Hauteville, Paris,
France, Manufacturer, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, send
greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Gustave Eugène Michel Gérard, Her special
license that I, the said Gustave Eugène Michel Gérard, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gustave Eugène
Michel Gérard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING AND TREATING CAOUTCHOUC,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gustave Eugène
Michel Gérard, by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the saine 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 Gustave Eugène Michel
Gérard, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the sanie is to be perforined, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say: .
My Invention is based upon the discovery that caoutchouc in any
shape submitted to a temperature of about two hundred and twenty
degrees to two hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit, during a certain

page_text: time is susceptible of receiving and retaining a greater extension than
in its natural state; and my improvements consist,-
Firstly, in processes and machinery for applying this principle to the
manufacture of various articles of caoutchouc, and ornamenting the
same.
Secondly, in combining ornamented caoutchouc with non-elastic
or partially non-elastic tissues for the production of imitations of oil
cloths and leather.
For manufacturing caoutchouc into sheets of different degrees of
thickness and of any required length I first work the raw caoutchouc
by the ordinary method in a kneading machine, either alone or mixed
with dissolving and coloring matters; and when suitably worked up, I
place it at the top of two rollers of about one foot in diameter, heated
from two hundred and twenty degrees to two hundred and forty degrees
Fahrenheit, which I cause to revolve at a speed of about three feet in
circumference per minute, which press the caoutchouc into sheets. The
slow motion of the cylinder allows the caoutchouc to re-form itself in its
passage, and causes it to egress smooth and even. To increase the
evenness of the sheets they may be made to pass over a third cylinder,
heated to the same degree as the former. The cylinders are similar in
construction to those employed for rolling metal, and are heated by
known means. Upon egressing from the cylinders the sheet is received
on an endless cloth. To produce taoutchouc tubes I make use of a
hollow cylinder, similar to those used for manufacturing vermicelli or
macaroni, heated from two hundred and twelve degrees to two hundred
and forty degrees Fahrenheit; it is closed at the lower part by a per-
forated disk, similar to a plate for drawing wire. This disk is furnished
inside with a suitable mandril, and is also heated by a current of steam.
The caoutchouc in the cylinder being submitted to the pressure of a
piston is forced out through the hole of the plate, and forms a tube, the
external diameter of which is equal to that of the hole in the plate, and
the internal diameter to that of the mandril. The tubes are also
received by an endless cloth, as before stated. To render the caoutchouc
better fitted for the manufacture of sheets and tubes I add to it twenty-
five to forty per cent. of red. or yellow ochre, chalk, oxide of zinc, or

page_text: other similar materials reduced to powder, and ten per cent. of essential
oil or waste caoutchouc, melted by the direct action of fire. To produce
hollow or relievo designs on the sheets of caoutchouc, produced as before
stated or by known processes, I take a sheet of caoutchouc to be operated
upon, and a tissue containing the designs to be reproduced; I soak the
tissue (which may be cotton, hemp, metallic wire, or any other analogous
substance) in soapy water, and place it above the sheet of caoutchouc;
I either roll them round a cylinder or place them between two plates,
and introduce the whole into a boiler containing water or steam, lieated
to a temperature of two hundred and twenty degrees to two hundred
and forty degrees Fahrenheit. The caoutchouc softens under the action
of heat, and takes the impression produced on its surface by the orna-
mented tissue which it retains during the cooling operation. To pro-
duce an article fit to replace oil cloth, common or ornamented leather, I
first take a light cotton tissue, which I cause to adhere by the ordinary
process to the sheet of caoutchouc, and I afterwards produce the
required design by the mode above described, taking care to set the
ornamented part of the tissue in contact with the surface of the caout-
chouc to be printed. The adhesion of the cotton cloth deprives it of its
elastic property, which would be detrimental in this application. I
prepare printed sheets elastic in one direction only, by lining the caout-
chouc with a cloth non-elastic in one direction. To produce very strong
and non-elastic sheets I take a piece of canvas, and place a sheet of
caoutchouc on one of its surfaces, or on both. I pass the whole between
two hot cylinders, set at a distance from each other sufficient to allow
the passage of the canvas only. The caoutchouc is caused by the
pressure to penetrate into the pores of the canvas, so as to form a single
piece. This sheet being rolled up round a mandril forms pipes or tubes
of great solidity and waterproof.
To operate upon caoutchouc thread produced by known means, and
which it is required to lengthen or reduce in size, I first stretch the
thread to its greatest natural length, and while so maintained I submit
it to the action of hot water or steam at a temperature of two hundred
and twenty degrees to two hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit, by
which process it will acquire the property of stretching de novo, by

page_text: which means a thread of caoutchouc may be greatly extended beyond
its primitive length.
Instead of steam or hot water for heating the caoutchouc thread, a
hot solution of carbonate of potash may be employed at ten degrees to
thirty degrees by the saltometer, by which the strength of the thread
will be increased.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise mode of operating herein-before
described. But what I claim, and intend to be protected by the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
Firstly, the application of heat at a certain temperature for giving a
new clasticity to caoutchouc in any form or shape, as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the processes and machinery for the manufacture of
caoutchouc sheets, tubes, and threads, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the processes of printing and ornamenting caoutchouc, as
herein-before described.
Fourthly, the manufacture of imitations of oil cloths and leather, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustave Eugène Michel Gérard,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Second day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty
Witness,
W. A. GILBEE.
G. E. M. GÉRARD. (L.s.)