AN IMPROVED CATAPLASM OR COMPRESS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CATAPLASM OR COMPRESS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Auguste Amable Lelièvre, of Paris,
France.
Sealed the 11th December 1874, and dated the 20th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th June 1874.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CATAPLASM OR COMPRESS,"
a communication, to be as follows:―
My said Invention consists in placing between two sheets of wadding
any suitable mucilage, preferably that of the fucus crispus. The whole
mass is by desiccation transformed into a kind of pasteboard, which may
be cut into bands, squares, or otherwise, and may be easily softened by

page_text: the application of water while preserving its mucilage. This material
will form an excellent substitute for cataplasms, cloths employed for
compresses, and bands used for ligatures.
I term this new material, made according to my Invention,
"lichenized wadding" (ouate-lichenisée), and I prepare the same as
follows, that is to say, I take a double sheet of wadding, then the
mucilage being prepared by a warm infusion of the fucus crispus, I
spread the same upon one of the two sheets of wadding by means of a
large flat brush, when the layer of mucilage is sufficiently thick I cover
it with the second sheet of wadding; the whole mass is then slightly
compressed by a wooden roller, then carried to the drying stove and
dried at a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees.
I wish it understood that I do not confine myself to the use of the
materials above specified, but may employ sheets of any suitable
permeable fabric or material with mucilage placed between the same
for the purpose specified.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 for

page_text: 33
"AN IMPROVED CATAPLASM OR COMPRESS," a communication to me from
abroad by Auguste Amable Lelièvre, of Paris, France, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 :-
-
According to my Invention I arrange between two sheets of wadding
any suitable mucilage, preferably that of the fucus crispus, a variety of
seaweed. The whole mass is then by desiccation transformed into a
kind of pasteboard, which may be cut into bands, squares, or otherwise,
and may be easily softened by the application of water while preserving
its mucilage. This material will form an excellent substitute for ordinary
cataplasms, the cloths employed for compresses, and the bands used for
ligatures.
I term this new material, made according to my Invention,
" lichenized wadding" (ouate-lichéniseé), and I prepare the same as
follows, that is to say, I take two sheets of wadding and spread upon one
of them, after having stretched it on a frame, a layer of mucilage by
means of a spatula or flat brush, and when a layer of the required
thickness has been applied I cover it with the second sheet of wadding.
The whole is then felted by a slow and regular beating. In this con-
dition the lichenized wadding is taken to the drying room and dried at
a suitable temperature.
I may employ in my preparations all the known kinds of fucus, and
also all plants containing fucine or the mucilaginous principle
designated by Payen by the name of gelose. The cataplasm may be
successfully prepared with gums containing adraganthine (bassorine.).
The choice of these substances is only a question of cost. I can more-
over for the sake of economy employ with the wadding paper pulp made
of flax, hemp, wood, esparto, or the like. This lichenized wadding

page_text: has the property of retaining on its surface various medicated substances,
and I employ it in all cases where it can be used with this object.
Having thus fully described the said Invention, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, the new product consisting of
two sheets of wadding with mucilage between them, the whole being
pressed and then dried in such a manner as to form a sheet or card
which may be cut or divided into squares, ovals, bands, and other forms,
and which may be softened by the application of water, and will serve
for cataplasms, compresses, ligatures, and the like.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
WM. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)