AN IMPROVED COMPOUND TO BE USED. AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR IVORY
Year: 1884

page_text: I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,.
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND TO BE USED. AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR
IVORY "and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention pertains to the production of an article which closely resembles,
and is adapted for use as, a substitute for ivory, the grain of which is still distinct,
or at least has not been removed by artificial means and designated hereinafter in
this application as "grain ivory."
The present invention is designed to improve upon the invention described in the
specification of former Letters Patent dated August 14th A D 1883, N° 3930.
In the manufacture of factitious grain ivory from a pyroxyline base, such as
xylonite, under my invention, at least two lots of xylonite are prepared, differing
from each other in shade to such an extent that, when combined and subsequently
reduced to the ultimate and desired articles to be formed, the general shade or
color of the article and the individual characteristics of the integral parts forming
the grain shall be such as to best approach the appearance of the natural ivory as
found in articles of a similar form. It will be recognized that the procurement of
these degrees of shade is a matter of great nicety and judgment, furthermore the
least of a material of a pyroxyline or xylonite base is never white or even opaque,
but possesses a similar shade to horn, and this horn-shade varies to such an extent
in different "bleaches," from various causes, that it becomes necessary to take it
into account, and it becomes a factor in determining the proper amount of coloring
pigment required to be added to the several lots of xylonite out of which it is.
intended, by combining together, to form the grain ivory imitation.
To enable those skilled in the art to which this appertains to practice the same,
I will now proceed to describe the operation herein-before referred to, for the
manipulation and manufacture of xylonite and similar compounds for the production.
[Ravine 77

page_text: of factitious grain ivory therefrom. At least two lots of transparent horn-colored
pure pyroxyline or xylonite base are required. With one.lot is incorporated, either
prior to, or at, the rolling operation, sufficient pigment (say oxide of zinc about seven
and one-half per cent) and suitable coloring matter (say yellow, one half of one
per cent), or such pigment without a coloring matter to obtain the desired body,
depth, and tone of color, and to destroy the horn-like appearance of the pure
material. These ingredients having been thoroughly incorporated and the whole
sufficiently worked on the rolls to the consistency found best adapted for the
purpose, say for about thirty minutes; the rolls are set, say one sixteenth of an inch
apart, and the batch is run through while it is yet warm and emerges in a long
sheet. This sheet is either subdivided into small areas or not, depending upon
subsequent requirements.
With another lot of the transparent horn-colored pure pyroxyline or xylonite
base is incorporated, either prior to, or at, the rolling or grinding operation, sufficient
pigment (say oxide of zinc about fifteen per cent) and suitable coloring matter (say
yellow, one quarter of one per cent), or such pigment without coloring matter to
obtain the desired "body," "depth," or tone of color and to destroy the horn-like
appearance of the pure material. These ingredients having been thoroughly
incorporated and the whole sufficiently worked on the rolls to the consistency
found best adapted for the purpose, say for about thirty minutes, the rolls are set
say one-sixteenth of an inch apart, and the batch is run through while it is yet
warm and emerges in a long sheet. This sheet is either subdivided into small
areas or not, depending upon subsequent requirements.
Having thus obtained two or more layers, I now arrange them alternately and
build them up in a block, or mass them in any convenient manner, as by pressing
or rolling, aided by heat and pressure so as to consolidate them without destroying
the individuality of the several layers, thus giving them, when cut into cross
sections, a grained appearance.
The desired result may also be obtained by using equal amounts of the same
pigments in each of these layers, by shading with colors the different layers; nor
is it essential that the pigments, or coloring matters in their stead, used in the
several layers shall be of the same nature, for by using those which give greater or
less opacity in the one layer than in the other, similar results may also be obtained.
I am aware that various methods have been described for producing factitious
grain ivory, as for instance from films or sheets produced from dissolved pyroxyline
rendered white and opaque by the addition of a suitable pigment, with other films
These films are
or sheets produced from dissolved pyroxyline without pigment.
formed one on the other in geometric forms, so as to give a pleasing figure or grain
when the built up mass is cut.
The following is the manner prescribed: The Parkesine is prepared without
pigment or coloring matter and kept as clean and white as possible, and when in a
dough-like state it is rolled into sheets, say one-sixteenth of an inch thick, more or
less. Another similar Parkesine is prepared, but containing carbonate of strontia,
say in the proportion of one part, to two hundred parts of pyroxyline, and this
is also rolled out into thin sheets. From these sheets, placed alternately one above
the other, a block is built up according to the style or grain the artist desires to
produce, and as a method the following is described,
A transparent or opaque sheet is laid on another and rolled upon a mandrel, or
without, until a roll of some size is accumulated, then the roll is taken (the mandrel,
if any, having been drawn out), twisted and passed through hot rolls and rolled
down thereby into a slab suitable for cutting, say knife handles or any article it
is desired to produce, or the sheets may be accumulated on a larger roll and cut off
from it in strips, slightly twisted, and rolled down into slabs, or any other similar
methods may be resorted to. Other methods have been described for producing a
satisfactory substitute for ivory, but in none of these cases has a satisfactory
imitation been the result, entirely owing to the use of a pure pyroxyline base to
form one of the layers of the mass.

page_text: It will thus be seen that the distinguishing characteristic of my improvement is
that each of the sheets or laminæ composing the ultimate combined mass is treated
with pigment or coloring matter for the purpose of giving an ivory grain
characteristic and shade to the several individual layers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
The imitation grain ivory herein described made of two or more combined layers
of a pyroxyline base, each of said layers being pigmentized in the manner
substantially as herein set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.