IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRO- DUCTION OF SUBSTITUTES FOR HORN, JET, IVORY, VULCANITE, CELLULOID, AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Astley Paston Price, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRO-
DUCTION OF SUBSTITUTES FOR HORN, JET, IVORY, VULCANITE, CELLULOID,
AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS
USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES." A communication from abroad by
Carl Anton Wolff, of Munich, in the Empire of Germany.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Astley Paston Price at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th August 1878.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SUBSTITUTES FOR HORN, JET, IVORY,
VULCANITE, CELLULOID, AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES."
A commu-
nication from abroad by Carl Anton Wolff, of Munich, in the Empire of Germany.
This Invention relates to the production of a substance which is available as an
efficient substitute for horn, jet, ivory, vulcanite, celluloid, and other like materials,.
and it consists in the employment of a mixture of starch and water forming a
somewhat stiff dough (with or without the additions of other suitable materials as
herein-after mentioned, which may serve the purpose of rendering the resulting
substance either more or less stiff, soft or hard, or more or less elastic, or more or
less colored, or of otherwise varying its character or properties), the said mixture
being raised to an elevated temperature, and subsequently dried in any convenient
manner.
In carrying out this Invention, starch or other suitable starch-like bodies or
suitable substances containing starch are mixed with water, until a somewhat
stiff dough is formed, which latter is heated in an open or closed vessel of suit-
able shape, with or without pressure on the substance to a temperature of, say,
from between 100° to 130° Celsius, and for a sufficient length of time for it to

page_text: become completely converted into an elastic transparent substance, which is dried
either at an elevated or at the ordinary temperature.
The substance resulting from this treatment can be manufactured into combs,
buttons, and such other useful or ornamental articles as are now usually manu-
factured from jet, horn, ivory, celluloid, hard india-rubber, and the like. In some
cases there are added to the mixture of starch and water other suitable ingredients,
according to the character and properties of the article required, such as neutral and
alkaline salts and oxides, by preference in a state of solution, as for example, salt,
chloride of sodium, carbonate of soda or potash, and also caustic soda, caustic potash,
caustic lime, caustic baryta, and the like; also any one or more of the following
materials either in solution or in paste, or dry, or in any other suitable shape,
viz., suitable dyes, as aniline dyes, rosine, Bismark brown, aniline black,
aurine, violet, picric acid, green, cosine, fluorine, alizarine, indigo, or any other
suitable dye stuffs or colors; also pigments; for example, for white there is added
white lead, zinc white, and other white pigments; for black, soot, charcoal in fine
powder, and the like; for blue, ultramarine, Prussian blue, cobalt, and the like; for
green, chrome-green, verdigris, (basic acetate of copper,) arsenical green, and the like;
for red, vermillion, oxide of iron and the like; for yellow, chromo-yellow and the
like. When for ordinary bronze, either blue, green, red, or other shades of bronze,
there are added suitable bronze powders. For other colors, ochres, litharges, and
other suitable colored powders and color pigments may be used; other substances
may be added, such as animal, vegetable, and mineral fibres, such for example as
wool in the shape of dust, or in long fibres and the like; cotton and other vegetable
fibres in a finely divided condition, similar to paper pulp or in long fibres and the
like; and asbestos, silica in powder, or in jelly-fish scales, either rough or ground, or
treated with chemicals; also organic substances, such for example as glue, gelatine,
glycerine, sugar, honey, and india-rubber, and any other similar or suitable sub-
stances.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Astley Paston Price in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd February 1879.
ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF SUBSTITUTES FOR HORN, JET, IVORY,
VULCANITE, CELLULOID, AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS APPLICABLE TO THE MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS USEFUL AND ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES." A communication
from abroad by Carl Anton Wolff, of Munich, in the Empire of Germany.
The said Invention relates to the production of a substance which is available as
a substitute for horn, jet, ivory, vulcanite, celluloid, and other like materials, and it
consists in the employment of a mixture of starch and water, forming a more or
less stiff dough or paste which is raised to an elevated temperature, and subsequently
dried in any convenient manner.
In carrying out the said Invention, starch, or othor suitable starch-like bodies or
suitable substances containing starch, is or are mixed with water until a more or
less stiff dough or paste is formed, which latter is heated in an open or closed vessel
of suitable shape, with or without pressure on the substance to a temperature of,
say, from between 100 to 130° Celsius, for a sufficient length of time for it to
become completely converted into an elastic transparent substance which is dried
either at an elevated or at the ordinary temperature.
The substance resulting from this treatment can be manufactured into combs,
buttons, and such other useful or ornamental articles as are now usually manu-
factured from horn, jet, ivory, celluloid, hard india-rubber, and the like. The length
of time which is required to effect the conversion of the dough or paste into the
elastic transparent substance depends on the quantity of dough or paste to be
converted on the temperature between the approximate limits above given on the
thickness of the layer on the degree of pressure, if such is applied, and on the
admixture of other substances, if such are used, and may range from several minutes
to two or more hours, the completion of the operation being ascertained by drawing
samples as is well understood. The form of the vessel in which the dough or paste
is heated should be such that the resulting heated and dried substance may have
the most suitable shape for the manufacture of the respective articles required. If
the resulting substance is dry, it can be softened by heat, and then it may be
moulded (when soft) by a certain degree of pressure into suitable shapes if required.
In some cases there may be added to the mixture of starch and water suitable
neutral alkaline salts and metallic salts (such for example as salts of chromium),
alkalies, alkaline earths, oxides, animal, vegetable, and mineral fibres, organic sub-
stances (such for example as glycerine, glue, and gelatine), coloring matters,
pigments, and other suitable substances, either alone or in any required combination,
the object being to render the resulting substance either more or less stiff, soft or
hard, tough or brittle, or more or less elastic, or more or less colored, or of otherwise
varying its character and properties.
The additional substance or substances, when such are used in admixture with
the starch and water, are selected and employed in suitable proportions, according
to the effect which it is desired to obtain, as will be perfectly understood by
chemists.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I
would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
The production of substitutes for horn, jet, ivory, vulcanite, celluloid, and other
like materials, by the employment of a mixture of starch and water forming a

page_text: dough or paste which is raised to an elevated temperature, and subsequently dried,
all substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Astley Paston Price, have to this my
Specification set, my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.
T
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DATAR
ASTLEY FASTON PRICE. (L.S.)