AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION OR PREPARATION OF MATERIALS AND PROCESS FOR RENDERING LEATHER, BOOTS, SHOES, GAITERS, LEGGINGS, GLOVES, AND OTHER ARTICLES COMPOSED OF LEATHER, OR PARTLY OF LEATHER AND PARTLY OF OTHER SUBSTANCES OR FABRICS IMPERVIOUS TO WET AND MORE DURABLE THAN HERTOFORE
Year: 1876

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Robert Broughton Briggs at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th September 1876.
ROBERT BROUGHTON BRIGGS, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Boot and Shoe
Manufacturer. "AN IMPROVED COMPOSITION OR PREPARATION OF MATERIALS AND
PROCESS FOR RENDERING LEATHER, BOOTS, SHOES, GAITERS, LEGGINGS, GLOVES, AND
OTHER ARTICLES COMPOSED OF LEATHER, OR PARTLY OF LEATHER AND PARTLY OF
OTHER SUBSTANCES OR FABRICS IMPERVIOUS TO WET AND MORE DURABLE THAN
HERTOFORE."
This Invention has for its objects to render leather, boots, shoes, gaiters, leggings,
gloves, and other articles composed of leather, or partly of leather and partly of other
substances or fabrics, impervious to wet and more durable than heretofore. To this
end I prepare a composition of various waterproof substances, into which com-
position, when in a liquid state, the articles to be operated upon are plunged so as
to cause them to imbibe the liquid preparation.
The improved preparation is composed of paraffine and other wax and stearine, to
which is added gum damar dissolved in any of the usual solvents. Sod, cod, or
other oils are also added, and the whole melted and well mixed together.
For some purposes and for treating some materials of the coarser classes, I find it
desirable to add black pitch, black gum, soft or palm oil pitch, and I make the
ingredients into a compound substance, which will be solid or semi-solid when cold,
but ean be rendered quite liquid by the application of heat.
The composition with the black pitch or other analogous substance added thereto
may be applied with advantage to the insoles and other soles of shoes and boots,
but some of the foregoing ingredients may be omitted when the nature of the articles
to be treated therewith requires that such should be done.
All or any of the above ingredients may be dissolved in any of the usual solvents
before being mixed with the others to form the improved composition.
In the application of the compound to boots, shoes, gaiters, leggings, gloves, and
other manufactured articles, I dissolve the composition by means of heat, and when
sufficiently liquified I immerse the articles (which are to be treated) either entirely
in the substance, or if that is found to be inconvenient I apply the composition to
the article by means of a brush; I then place the article in a heated chamber until
the waterproofing composition has been thoroughly absorbed by the article. When
Prine 21

page_text: the composition appears to have been absorbed by the leathern fabric I repeat
the operations of steeping and drying until the article has become thoroughly
saturated and impregnated with the waterproofing composition. The number of
times that this may be repeated depends entirely on the nature of the article to be
treated.
A very little practice will enable the workman to see whether the leather or
fabric is capable of imbibing any more of the composition. When the article has
been thoroughly impregnated, it will not only have become waterproof, but its
durability and resistance to wear will be increased.
The composition and process is applicable to various articles, made wholly or
partly of leather besides those above mentioned, such for instance as travelling bags,
portmanteaus, cases, military bags, harness, pipes or hose for conveying water, and
various kinds of leather or flexible vessels.
In the application of the compound to leather, skins, or hides, after having dipped
it into the solution or covered it with a brush, I subject it to sufficient heat to cause
the composition to penetrate the skin, as in the other instances, but take care not to
injure the hair or fur when that is to be retained. Hides or skins without the hair
or fur thereon may after being so treated be rolled so as to give the substance an
extra solidity. I also sometimes employ the solution in the preparation of curried
or other leather.
I do not intend to confine myself rigidly to any precise proportions in which the
ingredients-shall-be-mixed, but I have found that about the following proportions
will answer satisfactorily for the general run of such goods as boots, shoes, leggings,
or gaiters, namely, paraffine wax, 4 ounces; other wax, 2 ounces; stearine, 2 ounces;
cod or sod oil, from 4 to 6 ounces, to which I add one ounce of gum damar dissolved
in any suitable solvent. When applied to sole leather the cod oil may be omitted,
and palm oil, palm oil pitch, and black pitch or gum may be employed.