AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR SHARPENING AND SETTING FINE EDGED CUTTING INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Etienne Deplanque, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier,
Paris, in the Empire of France, and of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR SHARPENING
AND SETTING FINE EDGED CUTTING INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 25th September 1857, and dated the 28th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Etienne Deplanque
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th March 1857.
I, LOUIS ETIENNE DEPLANQUE, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the
Empire of France, and of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR
SHARPENING AND SETTING FINE EDGED CUTTING INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the combination of certain vegetable or mineral
substances with vulcanized caoutchouc for the production of a material
applicable to the setting of fine edged cutlery.
The substances which I employ preferably with the caoutchouc are either
emery, Tripoli lime, plumbago, red lead, or vegetable charcoal.

page_text: The vegetable or mineral matter selected is mixed intimately with the
caoutchouc by the ordinary processes, and the resulting compound being rolled
out is mounted on wood in any suitable manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Etienne Deplanque in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
ETIENNE DEPLANQUE, of 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, in the Empire of
France, and of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Louis Etienne Deplanque, Her special license that I, the said Louis
Etienne Deplanque, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Louis Etienne Deplanque, 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 "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION FOR SHARPENING AND SETTING FINE EDGED
CUTTING INSTRUMENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Louis Etienne Deplanque, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same 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 Louis Etienne Deplanque, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
-
My Invention consists in the combination of certain vegetable and mineral
substances with vulcanized caoutchouc for the production of a material
applicable to the setting and polishing of razors, and other fine edged cutting
instruments.

page_text: The following are the agents and the proportions in which I incorporate
them with the vulcanized caoutchouc to form a material suitable for replacing
strops and razor paste:-
No. 1.
Caoutchouc
Emery.
Smoke black.
No. 2. Caoutchouc
Plumbago
Smoke black
No. 3. Caoutchouc
Vegetable charcoal.
Smoke black .
No. 4. Caoutchouc
Zinc white
Yellow ochre .
(avoir.)
وو
two pounds three ounces
eight pounds twelve ounces ( ) )
six and one-third drachms (apoth.)
two pounds three ounces (avoir.)
four pounds six ounces ( )
six and one-third drams (apoth.)
two pounds three ounces (avoir.)
three pounds thirteen ounces ( „ )
six and one-third drachms (apoth.)
two pounds three ounces
eight pounds twelve ounces (
seven ounces
(avoir.)
(
"
)
)
To the above compositions red ochre and pumicestone may be added with
advantage.
To prepare a material suitable for polishing,
I take of caoutchouc
Sulphur
Emery
two pounds three ounces (avoir.)
ten and a half ounces
)
eight pounds twelve ounces (
To prepare a material for setting and polishing, as a substitute for mill-
stones and polishing stones, I employ
Caoutchouc
Sulphur
Emery.
two pounds three ounces (avoir.)
one pound one ounce
ten pounds
'
(
"
)
(
)
Pumicestone, marble, silex, millstone, brick, and other mineral substances,
suitable for sharpening and polishing knives and other fine edged cutlery,
reduced to powder, and passed through a sieve, may be employed with the
caoutchouc in the proportions herein-before stated for the sulphur and emery.
I would observe that emery may be employed if necessary.
The above-named substances reduced to powder and sifted are mixed with
the vulcanized caoutchouc by the ordinary processes, and the composition is
then moulded and otherwise formed into the desired shapes.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish to observe that I do not confine
myself to the precise proportions herein-before stated; but what I claim is
the combination of vulcanized caoutchouc with vegetable and mineral sub-

page_text: stances for the production of a material or composition for sharpening and
setting fine edged cutting instruments, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Etienne Deplanque, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
L. E. DEPLANQUE. (L.S.)