IMPROVED ANTIFRICTION MACHINERY BEARINGS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED ANTIFRICTION MACHINERY BEARINGS."-A communication
from abroad by the Lathrop Antifrictionate Company, of the
City County and State of New York. United States of America.
Scaled the 6th December 1875, and dated the 7th September 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander "Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 7th September 1875.
.; 1
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED ANTIFRICTION MACHINERY BEARINGS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of machinery bearings of graphite made
suitably hard and solid for practicable bearings of all kinds by welding
and uniting the particles with gum copal and sulphur, or gum copal
alone, or with sugar, or any material that will effect adhesion without

page_text: detriment to the antifrictional properties of the graphite, the welding
substance being suitably mixed and compounded with the graphite, and
the cohesion being effected by heat and pressure.
The-proportions-are-twenty-five.(25) parts gum copal, thirty-five (35)
parts sulphur, and forty (40) parts graphite, or thereabout. When these
substances are employed for effecting the cohesion of sugar about
one pound will be used to a quarter pound of graphite. The above
proportions may however be varied within certain limits without
detriment.
In the first case the gum copal, sulphur, and graphite are thoroughly
mixed in a dry condition, and the mixture is then placed in a mould
which has been previously heated to a high temperature, say, from
250° to 300° Fah., said mould being capable of great compression by
means of a screw or other means, and being heated by steam or other
heat. In such mould the material is pressed into the shape required,
whatever it may be, as a lining for a journal box, or as any other
bearing for machinery.
When I use sugar for the welding medium I take carbonated sugar
and gradually heat it up to about 400° while being rapidly stirred to
cause the hydrogen and oxygen to escape, or the greater portion thereof;
then add the graphite, and press into the shape desired.
These linings and machinery bearings make solid antifrictional dry
lubricating surfaces, not affected by oil or moisture, and capable of
sustaining very great weight without fracture, and of great endurance
under the highest velocities.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville-Clark in the Great Seal-Patent-30
Office on the 8th December 1875.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special licence
that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVED ANTIFRICTION MACHINERY BEARINGS," a communication
to me from abroad by the Lathrop Antifrictionate Company, of the
City, County, and State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing.
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :—
This Invention consists of machinery bearings of graphite made
suitably hard and solid for practicable bearings of all kinds by welding
and uniting the particles with gum copal and sulphur, or gum copal
alone, or with sugar, or any material that will effect adhesion without
detriment to the antifrictional properties of the graphite, the welding
substance being suitably mixed and compounded with the graphite, and
the cohesion being effected by heat and pressure.
The proportions are twenty-five (25) parts gum copal, thirty-five (35)
parts sulphur, and forty (40) parts graphite, or thereabout. When these
substances are employed for effecting the cohesion of sugar about one
pound will be used to a quarter pound of graphite.
:

page_text: In the first case the gum copal, sulphur, and graphite are thoroughly
mixed in a dry condition, and the mixture is then placed in a mould
which has been previously heated to a high temperature, say, from 250°
to 300° Fahrenheit, said mould being capable of great compression by
means of a screw or other means, and being heated by steam or other 5
-heat. In-such-mould-the-material_is_pressed into the shape required,
whatever it may be, as a lining for a journal box, or as any other bearing
formachinery:
When I use sugar for the welding medium I take carbonated sugar
and gradually heat it up to about 400° while being rapidly stirred to 1
cause the hydrogen and oxygen to escape, or the greater portion thereof;
then add the graphite, and press into the shape desired.
These linings and machinery bearings make solid antifrictional dry
lubricating surfaces, not affected by oil or moisture, and capable of sus-
taining very great weight without fracture, and of great endurance under 18
the highest velocities.
The bearings may be made in any of the usual forms given to journal,
shaft, or spindle bearings, the moulds being the counterpart of such
bearings.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of per- 20
forming the same; I would observe that I do not limit myself to the
proportions above stated, as they may be varied within certain limits
without detriment, but what I claim as the Invention to be protected by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, antifriction machinery
bearings composed of graphite and a welding substance or substances, 25
as gum copal, sulphur, or sugar, or their equivalents, united by heat and
pressure, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seāl, this Eighth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 30