A NEW OR IMPROVED MATERIAL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTHS, TARPAULINS, RAILWAY SHEETS, AND OTHER WATERPROOF FABRICS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Thomas Smith, of Ordsall House, East
Retford, and Charles Challenger, of Retford, both in the County of
Nottingham, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MATERIAL
OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTHS,
TARPAULINS, RAILWAY SHEETS, AND OTHER WATERPROOF FABRICS."
Sealed the 22nd December 1869, and dated the 28th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Thomas
Smith and Charles Challenger at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 28th June 1869.
We, GEORGE THOMAS SMITH, of Ordsall House, East Retford, and
CHARLES CHALLENGER, of Retford, both in the County of Nottingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED MATERIAL OR COMPOSITION APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOOR-
CLOTHS, TARPAULINS, RAILWAY SHEETS, AND OTHER WATERPROOF FABRICS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new or improved material or composition,
suitable under subsequent treatment for use as floorcloth; such material

page_text: or composition being also applicable to the manufacture of tarpaulins and
railway sheets, or to the manufacture of waterproof fabrics generally.
The material or composition is prepared as follows:-We take 1 cwt.
of vulcanized india-rubber and grind it small, and then add to it 4 pounds
of sulphuric acid, mixed with 32 pounds of water, the mixture being
well stirred or agitated, after which it is closely covered over for 12
hours; it is then put into a copper with 8 lbs. of naptha, and 3 lbs. of
blue vitriol, and boiled down for a sufficient time to incorporate the mass,
which period is to be determined by the quality of the waste to be added.
The mixture is then to be removed from the copper and placed in a tub
or other receptacle, where it is to be washed in cold water; it is then to
be passed through rollers, and made into sheets, which are to be hung
up to dry for two or three weeks. We then take about one pound of the
mixture so dried and add thereto about one pound and a half of rags or
waste refuse of flax, and about one pound and a half of leather ground
up, passing it through rollers several times, adding half a pound of
coloring matter during the mixing. The compound or material is then
to be passed through a further series of rollers, in order to roll it into
small sheets, which are then to be placed in a jacket pan until sufficient
sheets are made to produce a length of cloth; the sheets are then to be
taken out and run through a heavy two-bowl calendar to the thickness
required. The material or composition thus made is applicable as a
floorcloth, and may be printed with colored patterns in the ordinary
manner. When used for tarpaulins the composition may be applied to
the internal surface of the fabric, leaving the tarred surface outside.
For railway sheets or other waterproof fabrics a double layer of canvas
or other fabric may be used, and the composition applied between the
two, pressure being applied to the whole by passing the compound fabric
through rollers, and if required one of the surfaces may afterwards be
coated with tar, but this is not necessary as the fabric will be rendered
waterproof by the application of the composition described. The com-
position is of a very yielding or elastic nature, and is not liable to crack
or break; it is therefore very suitable for floorcloths and other waterproof
fabrics, such as tarpaulins and railway sheets, rick covers or waggon
sheets which have heretofore been liable to leakage by the cracking or
breaking away of the coating applied to them, the result being, especially
in railway luggage trains, considerable loss and damage to the goods.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Thomas Smith and Charles Challenger
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, GEORGE
THOMAS SMITH, of Ordsall House, East Retford, and CHARLES
CHALLENGER, of Retford, both in the County of Nottingham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said George Thomas Smith and Charles
Challenger, Her special licence that we, the said George Thomas
Smith and Charles Challenger, our exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said George Thomas Smith and
Charles Challenger, our 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MATERIAL OR COMPOSITION
APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOORCLOTHS, TARPAULING, RAILWAY
SHEETS, AND OTHER WATERPROOF FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said George Thomas Smith and Charles Challenger,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Thomas Smith, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
Our Invention relates to a new or improved material or composition
suitable under subsequent treatment for use as floorcloth, such material

page_text: or composition being also applicable to the manufacture of tarpaulins,
stair cloths, roofing, and railway sheets, or to the manufacture of water-
proof fabrics generally.
The material or composition is prepared as follows:-We take 1 cwt.
of vulcanized india-rubber, and grind it small, and then add to it 4
pounds of sulphuric acid mixed with 32 pounds of water, the mixturo
being well stirred or agitated, after which it is closely covered over for
12 hours; it is then put into a copper with 8 lbs. of naptha, and 3 lbs.
of blue vitriol, and boiled down for a sufficient time to incorporate the
mass, such time being determined by the quality of the waste. The
mixture is then to be removed from the copper and placed in a tub or
other receptacle, where it is to be washed in cold water; it is then to be
passed through rollers and made into sheets, which are to be hung up
to dry for two or three weeks. We then take about one pound of the
mixture so dried and add thereto about one pound and a half of rags or
waste refuse of flax or hemp, and about one pound and a half of leather
ground up, passing it through rollers several times, adding half a pound
of coloring matter during the mixing. The compound or material is then
to be passed through a further series of rollers in order to roll it into
small sheets, which are theu to be placed in a jacket pan until sufficient
sheets are made to produce a length of cloth; the sheets are then to
be taken out and run through a heavy three-bowl calender to the
thickness required. The material or composition thus made is
applicable as a floor or stair cloth, and may be printed with colored
patterns in the ordinary manner before printing to be vulcanised in the
usual way. When used for tarpaulins, carriage roofing, or carriage
aprons the composition may be applied to the internal surface of the
fabric, leaving the blacked surface outside; for railway sheets or other
waterproof fabrics a double layer of canvass or other fabric may be
used, and the composition applied between the two, pressure being
applied to the whole by passing the compound fabric through rollers;
and if required one of the surfaces may afterwards be coated with oil
and vegetable black, but this is not necessary, as the fabric will be
rendered waterproof by the application of the composition described.
This composition is of a very yielding or elastic nature, and is not liable
to crack or break; it is therefore very suitable for floorcloths and other
waterproof fabrics, such as tarpaulins and railway sheets, carriage tops,
rick covers, or waggon sheets, which have heretofore been liable to
leakage by the cracking or breaking away of the coating applied to them,

page_text: the result being, especially in railway luggage trains, considerable loss
and damage to the goods in course of transit.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be carried into practical effect, we would
remark that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise quantitics or
proportions of materials we have defined, nor to the periods of time
necessary for their respective treatment, since, although we have found
in practice that the same are efficient for the purposes required, it is
obvious that they may be varied according to circumstances, and as
further experience may suggest, without in any degree departing from
the main details and modus operandi described.
We are aware that india-rubber and leather have before been used in
the manufacture of certain descriptions of cloths and fabrics, and that
waste or refuse has been combined therewith to perfect certain manu-
factures, and therefore we lay no claim to the use of these articles
separately or in combination; but what we claim and desire to be
secured to us by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the material
or composition produced from vulcanized india-rubber reduced by the
treatment described to a solution or mass, and by subsequent treatment
to sheets, and afterwards by the addition of refuse and ground leather
and the rolling action (with or without the addition of coloring matter),
in order to thoroughly embody the ingredients, together with the various
final processes described, such material or composition being applicable
to various useful purposes, substantially as herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Thomas Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
G. A. SMITH,
Sol'.,
East Retford,
Notts.
GEOF. THO⁹. SMITH. (L.S.)