Non-conducting Coverings.
Year: 1893

page_text: VODIE LEIE SPECIFICATION.
Non-conducting Coverings.
I, ROBERT HARGRAVE MARTIN, of No. 87 Maiden Lane, New York City,
New York, United States of America, Merchant and Manufacturer, 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:
The invention relates to non-conducting coverings to prevent conduction of
heat or cold and it consists in a novel method of constructing such product and in
the product so produced.
My improved non-conducting material is made in the form of a sheet of asbestos
fiber in loose or flocky state, which is soft, flexible, elastic and porous, being in the
nature of a soft bat or wad and the fibers are united by an adhesive material
scattered here and there throughout the entire thickness of the bat, so that it is
held together, not only by the intermeshing of the fibers but also by adhesive
material at innumerable points throughout the bat and yet there is not present so
much adhesive material as to interfere with the softness, flexibility, elasticity
and porosity of the sheet or bat, and owing to the method employed by me for
introducing the adhesive or cementitious material, I am enabled to get a lighter
product, possessing the qualities before referred to, than any heretofore known to
I also avoid an objectionable feature in other similar products, which are
made up of layers, that is to say, they are liable to split, whereas my sheet or bat
is made in one thickness and the fibers extend without seams or layers, from one
side to the other side of the bat.
me.
My product may be made, as follows, i.e., feed the fiberized and cleansed asbestos
fiber to a picker by which it is thoroughly disintegrated and thrown on a travelling
apron in such quantities as may be desired to make the sheet or bat of the required
thickness, (the fiber is deposited upon the apron in an even manner,) then apply
the cementitious material as follows: When using a dry cementitious material or
size, such as starch, glue, dextrine, lime, cement or the like, grind it fine, in some
instances so fine as to be practically a powder, in other instances, I leave it in
larger particles, and this powder or granulated material, I feed through the picker
together with the asbestos fiber, so that in the bat which is deposited upon the
apron, the cementitious material is scattered here and there throughout the mass
of fibers in innumerable small particles, which are caught and held by the fibers.
As soon as the bat is made and preferably before any considerable handling of
the same, it is subjected to moisture, preferably a blast of low temperature steam,
or water or other liquid ejected from an atomizer may be blown or otherwise forced
through the bat. In this way the cementitious material is acted upon by the
moisture and becoming adhesive, attaches the fibers to each other at innumerable
points. Each point of adhesion, however, being small does not materially, if at
all, interfere with the lightness, porosity, flexibility and softness of the product.
Instead of using cementitious material which is to be acted upon by moisture, 1
may use material which will be rendered adhesive by heat, such as ground shellac
and various gums, and when such materials are used, they may be fed with the
fibrous material to the pickers, the same as before stated, and then after the bat is
made, it may be subjected in any suitable manner to the action of heat, which will
act upon the adhesive material in such manner as to cause the fibers to be attached
together as before stated.
Although for many purposes, I prefer to employ asbestos fiber alone as the
fibrous material, for other uses I mix other fiber, animal or vegetable with the
asbestos fiber, and a characteristic difference between my fabric and those which
го

page_text: are made of fibrous material other than asbestos, is this; that whereas, a bat can
be made of cow hair, wool, cotton, hemp, and other fibrous material, without
requiring any cementitious material to aid in binding or holding it together, because
such fibrous material has the quality of tenaciously holding together when the
fibers are brought into intimate contact with each other. Asbestos fiber, however,
is peculiar in the respect that it has no tenacity of itself, on the contrary it is of
the class of natural lubricants, and a bat made of asbestos fiber, or of material in
which asbestos fiber constitutes a large part, will lack the necessary strength to
hold it together, for most purposes, if made as soft and loose as I make my bats,
unless an adhesive material be used, and never before, so far as I am aware, has a
bat been made in which the fibers throughout the bat have been attached to each
other as mine are, and never before has my method been employed so far as I am
aware. Asbestos felts have been treated upon the outside with adhesive material
but they are liable to split as before suggested.
My bats or sheets may be coiled or rolled into coverings for pipes, or a
single thickness may be used for that purpose. It may also be used in numberless
cases where non-conduction of heat or cold, also the prevention of noise is
desired.
Where absolute incombustibility is desired, I prefer to use a cementitious
material which will not be acted upon by heat, such as lime, plaster of paris,
certain of the silicates and other like cements. Other material of a non-conducting
character may be used as an adulterant or filler and may be included with the
asbestos if desired.
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 :-
First The method herein described of making bats or sheets, consisting in
feeding to a suitable machine, the fibrous material in soft flockulent condition and
simultaneously therewith distributing throughout the fibrous material, adhesive
material, substantially as set forth.
Second-The method herein described, consisting in feeding to a suitable
machine asbestos fiber, and simultaneously therewith feeding cementitious material
in dry and finely divided condition and subjecting the resulting bat or sheet to the
action of an agency which will make the adhesive material, adhesive, substantially
as set forth.
:-
Third As a new article of manufacture, a soft, flexible, elastic and porous bat
or sheet, embodying asbestos fibers, which are attached together throughout the
sheet or bat at separate points of adhesion, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 16th day of May 1893.
FELL & WILDING,
Agents for the Applicant.