An Improved Composition, applicable as a Substitute for Natural Cork, and for other purposes, such as an Electrical Insulating Material.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 28th Aug., 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct.. 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Composition, applicable as a Substitute for Natural
Cork, and for other purposes, such as an Electrical Insulating
Material.
I, EUGENE HERMET of 228 Boulevard Péreire, Paris, in the French Republic,
Manufacturer's Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a new composition to which has been given the name of
Liegine" and which is intended to replace natural cork wherever it has hitherto
been employed for manufacturing or other purposes, and more especially in the
manufacture of cycle handle bars, cork stoppers, linoleum etc., the usual methods
of manufacture of these various articles being as readily applicable with the new
substance as with natural cork.
All specialists are well aware of the many defects which natural cork presents
unless its quality be absolutely faultless, in which case its price is exceedingly high.
These defects render natural cork unsuitable for many purposes, more especially for
the manufacture of articles which are required to possess considerable inherent
strength and power of resistance combined with suppleness, such for example as
cycle handle bars, bassinettes for infants, and similar devices; and stoppers
generally.
The improved composition, the object of the present invention, is as supple, as
strong, and nearly as light as natural cork, while in addition to these qualities it is
distinguishable by a fineness or delicacy of texture which can hardly ever be
encountered in natural cork, unless it be of a rare almost ideal-perfection,
i.e. without the least fissure or interstice. Briefly stated it possesses all the
advantages of cork without any of its defects or drawbacks, and is applicable for
many articles to which cork is unsuitable.
According to one method of carrying out my invention I take powdered natural
cork and collodion, and I mix or mash the same in a wood tub or tank fitted with a
mixing device, to the action of which the mixture is subjected for a suitable time.
The product obtained is then dried in a suitable drying chamber or kiln, and at the
same time pressed in some suitable way. This will give a supple and yet strong
composition capable of being worked in a lathe like natural cork, and of being
cut or shaped into cycle handle bars, stoppers, electrical insulating fittings or
the like.
Instead of the collodion a novel chemical agent named acetic cellulose may be
used. This 1 obtain by beating cotton fulminate or gun cotton, or if preferred
filtering or straining paper, or tissue paper, or indeed any similar material capable
of producing the same results, together with an excess of anhydrous acétic acid at
about 190°. The reaction is completed within an hour, when a yellow liquid,
soluble in acetic acid, is obtained. To obtain the new product by means of this
chemical I take say three parts of powdered natural cork and one part of "acetic
cellulose and then proceed further in the same manner as if collodion were
employed. I may add that the degree of hardness or suppleness of the composition
may be varied by correspondingly varying the percentage of natural cork and
collodion or acetic cellulose.
"

page_text: Another method of producing the composition is to take powdered cork, moisten
it with a little alcohol at from 30 to 40°, and a mixture made up of boiled linseed
oil (say 5 grammes) and of a few cubic centimetres of crystallisable acetic acid.
The whole is mixed together so as to form a paste of uniform consistency and of
brownish colour. This is kneaded for some time, whereupon say 20 grammes of
collodion are added, the collodion being preferably obtained according to the
following formula :-Gun cotton 5 grammes, common ether 75 grammes, alcohol
at 90°, 20 grammes, boiled linseed oil 2 grammes. The paste and collodion are
then briskly and thoroughly mixed, triturated and kneaded, and when the whole of.
the mass has again assumed the form of paste of such consistency as to be
kneadable with difficulty, it is introduced into suitable moulds according to the
nature or shape of the articles to be manufactured, and slightly coated with a fatty
substance such as vaseline. The goods are then allowed to dry by being exposed
to a current of air for a number of hours, when (and not before) the press is set in
operation, the moulded and dried articles being so compressed in the moulds that
no part of their substance exceeds the capacity of the moulds, or "overflows,
were. Or the composition may be obtained by substituting for the collodion
celluloid dissolved in acetone. In that case the following formula may be
adopted Powdered cork say 100 grammes, celluloid in solution in acetone say
20 grammes, boiled linseed oil say 5 grammes.
Dated the 26th day of March 1895.
as it
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, 55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London,
For the Applicant.
An Improved Composition, applicable as a Substitute for Natural
Cork, and for other purposes, such as an Electrical Insulating
Material.
I, EUGENE HERMET of 228 Boulevard Péreire, Paris, in the French Republic,
Manufacturer's Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
"
This invention relates to a new composition to which has been given the name of
Liegine" and which is intended to replace natural cork wherever it has hitherto
been employed for manufacturing or other purposes, and more especially in the
manufacture of cycle handle bars, cork stoppers, linoleum etc., the usual methods of
manufacture of these various articles being as readily applicable with the new
aubstance as with natural cork.
All specialists are well aware of the many defects which natural cork presents
unless its quality be absolutely faultless, in which case its price is exceedingly high.
These defects render natural cork unsuitable for many purposes, more especially for
the manufacture of articles which are required to possess considerable inherent
strength and power of resistance combined with suppleness, such for example as
cycle handle bars, the handles of bassinettes for infants, and similar devices; and
stoppers generally.
The improved composition, the object of the present invention, is as supple, as
strong, and nearly as light as natural cork, while in addition to these qualities it is
distinguishable by a fineness or delicacy of texture which can hardly ever be
encountered in natural cork, unless it be of a rare almost ideal-perfection,

page_text: i.e. without the least fissure or interstice. Briefly stated it possesses all the advantages
of cork without any of its defects or drawbacks, and is applicable for many articles
to which cork is unsuitable.
According to one method of carrying out my invention I take three parts of
powdered natural cork and one part of collodion (preferably consisting of five parts
of gun cotton, twenty parts of 95 % alcohol and seventy-five parts of sulphuric
ether) and I mix or mash the same in a wood tub or tank fitted with a mixing device,
to the action of which the mixture is subjected for about two hours. The product
obtained is then dried in a suitable drying chamber or kiln at a temperature of
about 40° C., and at the same time pressed in some suitable way, as in a hydraulic press
or compressed air apparatus. This will give a supple and yet strong composition
capable of being worked in a lathe like natural cork, and of being cut or shaped
into cycle handle bars, stoppers, electrical insulating fittings or the like.
Instead of the collodion a novel chemical agent named acetic cellulose may be used.
This I obtain by heating cotton fulminate or gun cotton, or if preferred filtering or
straining paper, or tissue paper, or indeed any similar material capable of producing
the same results, together with an excess of anhydrous acetic acid at about 1903.
The reaction is completed within an hour, when a yellow liquid, soluble in acetic
acid, is obtained. To obtain the new product by means of this chemical I take say
three parts of powdered natural cork and one part of "acetic cellulose" and then
proceed further in the same manner as if collodion were employed. I may add that
the degree of hardness or suppleness of the composition may be varied by corre-
spondingly varying the percentage of natural cork and collodion or acetic
cellulose.
Another method of producing the composition is to take say 100 grammes of
powdered cork, moisten it with a little alcohol at from 30 to 40°, and a mixture
made up of boiled linseed oil (say 5 grammes) and of a few cubic centimetres of
crystallisable acetic acid. In place of the linseed oils other suitable oils or vaseline
may be employed. The whole is mixed together so as to form a paste of uniform
consistency and of brownish colour. This is kneaded for some time, whereupon.
say 20 grammes of collodion are added, the collodion being preferably obtained
according to the following formula:-Gun cotton 5 grammes, common ether
75 grammes, alcohol at 90° 20 grammes, boiled linseed oil grammes. The paste
and collodion are then briskly and thoroughly mixed, triturated and kneaded, and
when the whole of the mass has again assumed the form of paste of such consistency
as to be kneadable with difficulty, it is introduced into suitable moulds according to
the nature or shape of the articles to be manufactured, and slightly coated with a
fatty substance such as vaseline. The goods are then allowed to dry by being
exposed to a current of air for a number of hours, when (and not before) the press
is set in operation, the moulded and dried articles being so compressed in the moulds
that no part of their substance exceeds the capacity of the moulds, or "overflows'
as it were. Or the composition may be obtained by substituting for the collodion
celluloid dissolved in acetone. In that case the following formula may be adopted:
Powdered cork say 100 grammes, celluloid in solution in acetone say 20 grammes,
boiled linseed oil say 5 grammes.
"
It will be evident that finely divided wood, leather, cardboard, and other
substances may be treated in a like manner, or that mixtures of some or all of these
substances may be made with the powdered cork and also that various colouring
matters may be incorporated therewith depending upon the substance and colouring
it is desired to produce.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. The improved manufacture consisting in mixing together the powdered material

page_text: with or without the addition of linseed or other oil and acetic acid, such mixture
being subsequently moulded, dried and compressed substantially as described.
2. The improved substance produced substantially as herein before described.
Dated the 28th day of August 1895.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicant.