IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PENS, PENCILS, AND INSTRUMENTS USED PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONSED WHEN WRITING, MARKING AND DRAWING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Goodyear, of Avenue Road, St. John's
Wood, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PENS, PENCILS, AND INSTRUMENTS USED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Goodyear
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th July 1853.
I, CHARLES GOODYEAR, of Avenue Road, St. John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PENS, PENCILS, AND
INSTRUMENTS USED WHEN WRITING, MARKING, AND DRAWING," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of the employment of india-rubber (caout-
chouc) in constructing or making pens, pencils, and instruments used
when writing, marking, and drawing. I combine india-rubber with

page_text: sulphur, with or without other matters, and subject the same to heat to
obtain a hard substance. I also combine black lead or slate powder or
matters with india-rubber, and thus obtain sheets or surfaces, and I
form or make the articles or parts of the articles above mentioned by
employing such compounds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said, Charles Goodyear in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the '14th January 1854 ...
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES GOODYEAR, of Avenue Road, St. John's Wood, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
year
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant.unto me, the said Charles Goodyear, Her special license
that I, the said Charles Goodyear, my .executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Goodyear, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PENS, PENCILS, AND INSTRUMENTS USED WHEN
WRITING, MARKING, AND DRAWING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Goodyear, 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 per-
formed, 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. Charles Goodyear, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of the employment of india-rubber (caout-
chouc) in constructing or making pens, pencils, and instruments used
when, writing, marking, and drawing. I combine india-rubber with
sulphur, with or without other matters, and subject the same to heat to
obtain a hard substance. I also combine slate powder or matters
with india- rubber, and thus obtain sheets or surfaces, and I form or
make the articles or parts of the articles above mentioned by employing
such compounds.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same.
In manufacturing pens according to this Invention I. cause india-
rubber to be combined by kneading it with sulphur, or matters which
contain or will give off sulphur when subjected to heat, preferring,
however, to use sulphur, and as is now well understood. I combine
these matters in the proportions of two parts by weight of india-rubber
and one part by weight of sulphur. I roll out such compound into a
thin sheet, say of the thickness of a strong quill; this sheet I cut up
into narrow strips of a width suitable for making pens, and I subject
the same to heat for about six hours, in order to convert the compound
into a hard substance suitable for pens, preferring to do so between two
surfaces of glass, the one concave and the other convex, by which the
process of conversion will be performed whilst the matter is held in the
form it is desired to be for making of pens, and it will retain such form
afterwards. I have found that the best means of applying the heat is by
means of a bath of water in a strong vessel suitable to bear the pressure,
but I do not confine myself to such mode of applying heat, as other
means may, as heretofore, be resorted to when making the articles of like
compounds.
The strips of india-rubber and sulphur compound being held and
retained between glass surfaces, such as above described, are placed
in the bath, and the temperature is gradually raised, say to 230° of
Fahrenheit in about half an hour, and at this temperature the heat is
to remain for about one and a half hours; the heat is then again to

page_text: be raised gradually to about 295° to 305° of Fahrenheit during the
remainder of six hours, when the compound and the glass moulds
or surfaces are to be removed and allowed to cool. The composition
on being taken from the glass will be suitable for being cut into lengths
for making pens, and the material thus produced is capable of being
made into pens by cutting instruments, such as are used for making
pens out of parts of quills, as is well understood. I would remark in
respect to this part of my Invention that I make no claim to the
production of hard substances, such as I have above described, by
combining india-rubber and sulphur, and subjecting such compound to
heat, neither do I confine myself to the precise details herein given
when applying such substance to the manufacturing of pens; and
although I prefer the simple compound of india-rubber and sulphur, I
do not confine myself thereto, as other matters may be mixed therewith.
But what I claim is, the manufacture of pens from the hard substances
produced by combining india-rubber and sulphur with or without other
materials.
The second part of my Invention consists of combining the powder of
slate, or of porcelain for white slates, with india-rubber and sulphur, in
order to produce surfaces suitable to be written on with ordinary slate
pencil, and for making artificial slate pencil. For these purposes I com-
bine a quantity of the powder of slate, or of powdered porcelain for white
slate, with the above-mentioned compound of india-rubber and sulphur,
by kneading these matters together, and I apply as much of the slate
powder as the compound will take (different qualities of india-rubber
will take more or less than other qualities), and yet retain a plastic state
such as to admit of the same being rolled into a sheet, and sheets so
made I cause to be subjected to heat in the same manner as I have
above described, but using flat plates or sheets of iron (with tin foil
between) by preference for retaining the compound in form during the
process of heat. In this mamier may artificial slates be made which
are not liable to be broken by the ordinary use to which such writing
surfaces are usually subjected. When this compound is to be used as
an instrument for writing with on slates or on artificial slates the sanie
is to be cut into suitable forms for the purpose.

page_text: What I claim in respect to this part of my Invention is, the manu-
facture of artificial slates and slate pencils herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Goodyear, have hercunto
set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JNO. Cook,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
CHARLES GOODYEAR. (L..s.)