An Improved Protective Filling or Packing for Vessels, Mattresses, and other purposes.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Dec., 1894--Accepted, 2nd Mar., 1895
An Improved Protective Filling or Packing for Vessels, Mattresses,
and other purposes.
A communication from abroad by MARK WORSNOP MARSDEN, Engineer, of
432, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America.
1, PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, 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 protecting such structures as have spaces or receptacles
for the admission of filling or packing material for the purpose of preventing
access of water or moisture to said structures and for other purposes, and the
invention consists in providing the receptacles or chambers of such structures with
a peculiar filling material, as well as in the said material itself, which consists of
the pith of corn cane, as maize or broom corn, prepared, arranged and used as
fully set forth hereinafter.
In the accompanying drawing:
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a vessel illustrating the application of the
filling material thereto; and
Figure 2 is a section of an improved mattress provided with said filling
material.
Efforts have been made from time to time to secure a suitable packing and filling
material adapted for various and widely different uses, but having many
characteristics in common.
For filling and packing the chambers of vessels and other structures, to protect
them from water in case of damage or injury to the walls thereof, different
substances have been proposed, and some have been used that have proved more
or less serviceable, but none have fully secured all the results desired. After
many experiments and tests with different materials, and with different methods of
preparing different materials, I have discovered and prepared a material from corn-
stalks (either Indian corn or maize, or broom corn) which possesses in a high degree
all the qualities desired.
To this end, I take corn-stalks and separate the pith from the outside shell in
any suitable way, and disintegrate or break the pith into particles of proper sizes
for the purpose desired, by suitable machinery, or otherwise.
I have found by experiment that this material has a most extraordinary capacity
to absorb and retain water or moisture, its capacity being over twenty times its
own weight, which much exceeds the absorptive capacity of any known material
capable of like uses, and further the rapidity with which the water is absorbed by
this material is of great advantage. Thus a body of this material will absorb
water to fully one-half its capacity, or ten times its weight, almost instantly upon
the water being brought into contact therewith. I have also found that after the
material has been saturated and then dried, it recovers substantially its former
condition and will act as before on again being wet. Another great advantage of
this material is that it can be prepared in comparatively large grains or pieces,
thus avoiding the loss from dust from breaking the material into fine particles.
D

page_text: Other characteristics of this material are that it is inodorous, colorless, incapable
of making any stain, is absolutely inert, and capable of producing any injurious
effect upon the health from its presence. It is light in weight, its specific gravity
being very small, so little, that one-third of the weight of maize-pith is required
to the amount demanded in the use of the lightest of any of the known packing
materials. It is elastic and not liable to crumple in use.
The pith is used as a filler in different ways for different purposes. Thus, as a
protection for vessels, or other structures, the material may be placed or packed in
a space, between the inner and outer shells d, e of a vessel, or it may be placed
in compartments y at the sides and also transversely of the vessel and at other
points. Where greater density is required, the material may be compressed into
blocks of any desired size or density, and then be packed in suitable spaces or
compartments. The compressed blocks or loose material may be packed in the
compartments or spaces under hydraulic or other suitable pressure. When the
shell of the vessel or of a compartment or structure containing the said material is
ruptured and water reaches the material, the latter will absorb the water with
great rapidity and will rapidly swell and increase in bulk until it constitutes a
self-closing packing, offering an effectual barrier to the further entrance of water
into the space or compartment.
One of the great advantages of the above-described material is the wide extent
of territory and readiness with which it may be had, as well as its comparatively
insignificant cost, inasmuch as the stalk from which it is taken is practically a
waste material. It is not necessary in most cases to use extreme care to separate
the fibre and the pith, as the presence of a small percentage of fibre is sometimes
an advantage.
The characteristics above described render the material of especial value as a
filler or packing for mattresses, cushions, horse-collars, etc., as well as a protector
for vessels.
When used for a mattress or cushion, it is desirable that the material instead of
being placed directly in the casing of the mattress, shall be enclosed in a covering
of waterproof material, and that a series of bundles or bags of such material so
covered with waterproof material shall be arranged within the outer casing.
Thus, as shown in Figure 2, M, is the outer casing of the mattress, which is
supported upon the springs s in the frame f, as usual, and r, represents the smaller
receptacles or bags within which the material is contained, said feceptacles being
of waterproof material.
As a consequence of this construction, if in case of wreck or otherwise, it is
desirable to use the mattresses or cushions as life preservers, they will constitute
inost effective means of floating any person or articles that may be put thereon, in
consequence of the extremely slight specific gravity of the material. As before
described however, if through a leak or otherwise, the water obtains access to the
said material, it is absorbed with great rapidity, and the access of a small amount
of water to the said material would cause the material to swell or expand instantly
to a great extent, thereby so increasing its volume and exerting such a pressure at
the point where the leak occurred that it will effectually exclude any further
entrance of water. If however a large amount of water should gain access to the
material; it would instantly absorb it, which would-be-objectionable in the case of
a life preserver, and I therefore cover the material with the casing or bag r, of
waterproof fabric for the purpose of excluding to a greater extent the entrance
of moisture or water.
When the said material is used as a filling or packing for horse collars or other
like articles, it is preferable to pack it in small bags or receptacles, in the manner
- before described, and if these should be perforated or opened to a slight extent at
any point, the entrance of moisture at that point will cause such a swelling of the
material as to effectually close the opening. In ordinary use however, when the
water or moisture is excluded, it will be found that the cushions or mattresses or
other articles containing the same are extremely light in weight, so that they can

page_text: be readily moved from place to place, that they are extremely elastic and cleanly,
and that they do not attract insects.
It is evident that the new material may be used for many and various purposes,
as a protector for ships fortifications and the like, and as a filling and packing
material for various structures and articles, and it is not necessary to point out to
those skilled in the art the various ways it can be adapted to the various uses, all
of which are within the scope of the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me from.
abroad by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :—
As a protective filling or a packing for vessels or other structures, corn-stalk
pith, prepared arranged and adapted for use in its different applications.
substantially as set forth.
Dated the 7th day of December 1894.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE..