CERTAIN IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS TO BE EMPLOYED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR CAOUTCHOUC GUTTA PERCHA, AND CERTAIN FATTY BODIES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, of Paris, France,
and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, for the Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS TO BE EMPLOYED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR
CAOUTCHOUC GUTTA PERCHA, AND CERTAIN FATTY BODIES."
Sealed the 16th June 1854, and dated the 31st December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste
Sorel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 31st December 1853.
I, STANISLAS TRANQUILE MODESTE SOREL, of Paris, France, and of South
Street, Finsbury, London, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS TO BE EMPLOYED AS SUBSTITUTES
FOR CAOUTCHOUC, GUTTA PERCHA, AND CERTAIN FATTY BODIES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in producing compositions having the qualities of
caoutchouc, gutta percha, and certain fatty bodies, and which they can
usefully replace. These substances are employed in nearly the following
proportions:-
Colophony
Oil of rosin
Hydrated lime
Gutta percha
Water
-
8 parts.
16
"
12
"
16
"
1
"
The two first are put into a chaldron, set on a fire, and when the rosin is

page_text: I put in the gutta percha, taking care by stirring to obtain a complete
mixture. I finally pour in the water, continuing at the same time to stir the
whole well. I increase or lessen the quantities of the above-stated agents, or
I replace the same by other substances of a similar nature, according to the
intended application of the composition. When the compositions are to be
applied as substitutes for certain fatty bodies employed in the preparation of
leather or for lubricating machinery I employ the following ingredients, and
operate as follows:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STANISLAS
TRANQUILE MODESTE SOREL, of Paris, France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, Her special license that I, the
said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, 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 Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVED COMPOSITIONS TO BE EMPLOYED AS

page_text: SUBSTITUTES FOR CAOUTCHOUC, GUTTA PERCHA, AND CERTAIN FATTY BODIES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste
Sorel, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the 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 Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, 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 producing compositions having the qualities of
caoutchouc, gutta percha, and certain fatty bodies, and which they can usefully
replace.
The principal bases of the compositions are the following substances:-
Colophony or common resin, bitumen or natural pitch, or the pitch obtained
from gas works, fixed resin oils, gutta percha, hydrated lime, and water.
The above substances are employed (by weight) in about the following
proportions:-
Colophony
Pitch or bitumen
Resin oil
Hydrated lime
Gutta percha
Water
-
2
-
20
8
6
-
12
S
Pipe clay or other like argillaceous earths
- 10
Instead of adding water separately it may be employed to slacken the lime;
in this case, a little more water is employed and the excess evaporates. I prefer
(in all cases) using slacked lime to dry hydrated lime. The lime should be
weighed before adding the water to it.
I prepare the composition in a copper heated by any suitable means. I first
introduce into the vessel colophony, bitumen or pitch, and resin oil, and agitate
them with a stick or spatula until the two first substances are dissolved. I
then add slacked and broken hydrate of lime of the consistance of molasses,
continuing to agitate and heat the substances, and when the matter is liquified
1 add the gutta percha cut into small pieces. I continue to agitate the

page_text: mixture until the gutta percha is dissolved, when I add argil, either powdered
or mixed with water, and mix it well up with the composition. This being
done, I add an excess of water, and heat the whole to boiling point. The
matter is now separated and kneaded in water, then withdrawn from the
copper and again heated, & passed several times between the rollers of a
rolling machine to render it homogenous, when it is ready to be employed. I
can replace colophony by other resins, namely, by Burgundy pitch or gum
copal. The argillaceous earth may be suppressed in the composition. To
render the composition more tenacious I increase the quantity of gutta percha,
and to increase still more its tenacity, and render it a little elastic, I add to the
composition prepared as herein-before described, a small quantity of natural or
vulcanized caoutchouc cut up into small pieces. To render the composition
more completely waterproof I add about five per cent. of bee's wax or stearic
acid. The composition may be colored with smoke black or other coloring
matters.
Argil may be added to the above three compositions. They are applicable
to replacing caoutchouc and gutta percha in their principal applications, and

page_text: especially to waterproofing stuffs, and to the manufacture of tubing, driving
straps, waterproof boots and shoes, bobbins and cylinders for spinning ma-
chinery, capsules for stopping bottles, and other like articles. These com-
positions may be moulded for making vases and other ornamental articles.
For giving the composition greater tenacity, fibrous materials, such as cotton,
wool, hemp, cow hair, and leather waste, may be added. When properly rolled
into sheets, it may be lined or covered with thin sheets of natural or vulcanized
caoutchouc, by means of a rolling machine, or by sticking them together with
a solution of caoutchouc or gutta percha, or any other suitable adhesive agent.
These double sheets may be employed for the upper leathers of waterproof
boots and shoes. The soles may be either of leather (waterproofed by a
process herein-after described), of gutta percha, or wood; the upper leathers
may be made of thick cloth or stuff waterproofed by my processes.
I will now describe my process of waterproofing.
If the stuff's to be waterproofed have previously received a stiffening prepa-
ration by ordinary processes, it should first bo disengaged by washing the stuffs
in hot water, and afterwards treating them with a preparation insoluble in water,
composed of bees wax or stearic acid dissolved in essence of turpentine, or
other analogous solvent. The stuff to be treated is extended over a metal
table suitably heated, and the preparation being melted is applied by means
of a brush. Instead of this matter for preparing stuffs, insoluble soaps may
be employed; such soaps are formed double decomposition, videlicet, by
means of a soap soluble in water, in the solution of which I dissolve by the
agency of heat, a little stearic acid and wax. These soaps are rendered in-
soluble by the solution of a salt susceptible of decomposition, by substituting
for its base that of soluble soap; I employ by preference for this purpose the
salts of alumina, zinc, and lead. For applying soluble soaps on stuffs, I first
soap them with the said solution in heated alkaline soap water. I afterwards
wash the stuff in the liquid intended to render the soap insoluble, and to com-
plete the process, I dry and warm the stuffs sufficiently to melt the soap.
The following is the composition of soap which I employ by preference, viz. :
Water
60

page_text: To these substances may be added a small quantity of pitch and resin,
taking care not to put a larger quantity than the composition can dissolve. I
proceed by causing the solid matters to boil in twenty parts of water only, and
keep up the heat until all the matters are dissolved; I afterwards add the
remaining forty parts of water, and again heat the whole during several
minutes. The saline solutions for rendering the soap insoluble should have a
density of about five degrees of Beaume's areometer; they can be used either
hot or cold. The stuffs may be rendered impermeable by means of the said
insoluble soaps only, without the employment of the gummy agents herein-
before described, and which gummy agents are to be applied by the following
means: The process which I make use of by preference consists in stretching
the stuff on a table by means of two cylinders diametrically opposite, and
spreading the gummy agent (previously cut into the form of small sticks), by
means of a kind of hollow metal scraper heated by means of vapour or hot
water. This Scraper should be arranged so as to permit of varying its incli-
nation and elevation with respect to the stuff, in order to vary the thickness
of the layer of the gummy matter. Either the scraper may be moved over,
the stuff remaining fixed, or the stuff may be made to advance under the
scraper; the latter is preferable. In either case I employ the composition in
the form of small rectangular or triangular sticks, the length of which is equal
to the breadth of the stuff. The scraper serves to reheat, soften, and extend
When the stuff is covered with the gummy
matter, I steep it in water in order to remove the sticking property. Instead
of steeping the stuff in water, it can be sprinkled with a well pulverized
mixture, formed of two parts argil, and one part stearic acid. When the stuff'
thus prepared is well dried I varnish it (I prefer gum lac varnish for this
purpose), and when the varnish is dry, I cause the stuff to pass between the
cylinders of a calendering machine.
the composition on the stuff.
By my improved processes I can manufacture double waterproof stuff's, by
placing the gummy mixture between two similar or different stuffs.
The combination of matters herein-before described may be modified in
such manner as to replace fatty bodies in their application to preparing leather,
and to rendering them supple and impermeable; and also to replacing fatty
matters for greasing and lubricating machinery.
The following is a composition which may be employed in the said various
applications :-

page_text: The proportion of train oil may be varied, and all or a part of the tallow
may be replaced by lard or other greases.
I find the following composition to answer well for rendering leather water-
proof, especially strong leather employed for soles of boots and shoes, viz. :-
In this composition wax may be replaced by stearic acid, or white wax may
be substituted for yellow wax. To prepare the composition I put in the copper
placed on the fire all the substances which are to enter into the composition,
except the water. I keep up a moderate heat, and agitate the mixture with a
stick or spatula, until all the resin is melted. When the temperature has
lowered to about thirty degrees centigrade, I then withdraw the fire from
the grate, and leave the mixture to cool; I add the water (that is to say,
when the composition is to contain water), and strongly agitate it until the
liquid is perfectly mixed and combined with the other substances.
The first of these two compositions is applicable in either the hot or cold
state to dressing leather, by the usual processes employed by curriers and
tanners for applying fatty bodies on leather.
For lubricating machinery I employ the composition in the same manner
as ordinary fatty bodies.
To render this last composition applicable to rendering leather waterproof,
the agency of heat must be employed, either for warming both the composition
and leather, or for warming one of the two.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself rigorously to the proportions herein laid down, nor to the substances
enumerated, as they may be varied and replaced by other analogous substances
producing the same result; but what I claim is,-
First, the combination of substances for the production of compositions
applicable to superseding caoutchouc and gutta percha in various applications,
and especially for waterproofing stuff's, the manufacture of pipes, driving straps
for machinery, waterproof boots and shoes, and other articles, as herein-before
described.
Secondly, the combination of matters for obtaining compositions applicable
to superseding fatty bodies in the dressing and waterproofing leather; also
applicable to lubricating machinery, as herein-before described.
Thirdly, the mechanical arrangements for spreading the waterproofing
compositions upon stuffs, as herein-before described.
Fourthly, the mode of preparing and applying insoluble soap to waterproof
stuffs, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stanislas Tranquile Modeste Sorel, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
HY GILDEE:
S. T. M. SOREL. (L.s.)