IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF AND VERMIN-PROOF TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS, WHICH INVENTION COMPRISES A PROCESS AND SOLUTION FOR THE SAME AND SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th July 1880. A communication from
abroad by Daniel M. Lamb, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WATERPROOF AND VERMIN-PROOF TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS,
WHICH INVENTION COMPRISES A PROCESS AND SOLUTION FOR THE SAME AND
SIMILAR PURPOSES." [A communication from abroad by Daniel M. Lamb, of the
City and State of New York, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to waterproof and vermin proof materials, and its object
is to prepare a compound for and apply the same to the treatment of various kinds
and qualities of goods for the purpose of rendering them impervious to water or
moisture and indestructable by or repellant to moths or other similar vermin.
The compound prepared for this purpose is applicable to a large variety of goods,
among which are embraced every variety of textile fabrics, all kinds of feathers,
furs, and the like, all leather, paper, felted and other like materials, as well as wood,
stone, and metal, and in short every article the preservation of which from the
humidity of the atmosphere or more complete saturation with water is a desirable
object. The preparation or compound hereinafter described may also be used as a
prevention against the attack of moths or other similar insects, and it may be used
where such vermin-proofing is the only object sought, or it may be used where
water-proofing is the only object sought, or where the requirement is a combination
of the two qualities.
The materials used for this purpose are so entirely colorless and odorless that they
may be applied to any article, however delicate it may be either in texture or color,
without in the slightest degree injuring the color or appearance of the object to
which it is applied, and the effect will be the same, no matter what the object to
which the preparation or compound is applied, that is to say, it will become
immediately water-proof or water-repellant, and the color of the article to which
the compound is applied will become and remain more permanent and durable by
means of the waterproofing, as fermentation and consequent decomposition will
thereby be prevented.

page_text: The materials used for this purpose, the manner of compounding them, and the
method of applying the compound to the goods, are as follows:-
]
In the first place I form a solution of fatty or waxy matter dissolved in some
hydro carbon solvent. For this purpose I take any kind of animal fatty matter,
such for instance as ox-tallow, sheep's-tallow, lard, or other grease or spermaceti, or 5
any kind of wax, and dissolve this article, whatever it may be, in any light
hydro carbon oil or solvent, such for instance as naphtha, benzine, benzole, gasoline,
or the like, but I always use such as are of about 72° gravity, more or less, and then
into the hydro-carbon solvent so provided I put for each gallon of the oil or
solvent about one quarter of an ounce to two ounces, more or less, of the wax,
spermaceti,-tallow, or other grease (either one or more of these articles may be
incorporated into the same mixture), and into-this-mixture I may or may not put
hydro carbon gum, such for instance as india-rubber, gutta-percha, milk-weed, or
the like, the quantity of the hydro-carbon gum so taken being about one quarter
of an ounce to one ounce, more or less, to each gallon of tho solvent. The hydro-1
carbon gum and the fatty matter should be cut into small pieces before they are
put into the solvent, and after they shall have been thoroughly dissolved the solution
will be treated with a gas or gases in the following manner :-
I introduce for each gallon of the solution about a half a pound, more or less, of
chloride of sodium or common salt, and also immediately thereafter about a half a
pound, more or less, of sulphuric acid, in such a manner as to allow the acid to settle
down directly upon the salt and act thereon so as to set free a gas or gases,
which will rise up through the mass of the compound under treatment and act
upon it.
The aforesaid gas or gases will be introduced into the bottom part of the fabricating
vessel, and rise through the mass of the compound under treatment, and attack all
the sedimentary and mucillaginous portions of the compound and precipitate them
to the bottom of the fabricating vessel, whence they may be drawn off. This
gasoous treatment will be continued from about, say, three to ten days, more or
less, during which time the solution will be thoroughly bleached and rendered
colorless or nearly so, and a completo chemical change will be effected upon it.
After the sediment shall have been drawn off or removed from the purified solution,
the remaining gas will be eliminated from the compound by any suitable means,
This may be accomplished by allowing the mixture to stand a sufficient length of
time to discharge the gas, or the mixture or compound may be agitated by any
suitable mechanical appliance or by a powerful current of air driven through the
compound from the bottom to the top.
This agitation will be continued for from five to thirty minutes, or until the gas
is removed from the compound, along with all foreign substances or impurities that
may be carried with it. After the agitation of the compound or elimination of
the gas therefrom, as above described, shall have been completed, the sediment
should be again drawn off; the solution or compound is then thoroughly freed from
any residual acid or gas by treating it with a small quantity of caustic soda or
ammonia, or both, or with any suitablo alkaline solution, either with or without
the use of water to facilitate the washing or purifying process. During this process
of freeing the compound from any residual acid or gas, the compound will be
agitated by some suitable mechanical appliance to throw up the alkaline solution
into the mass of the compound, so as to enable the alkaline solution to act upon
all parts of the compound, and thereby completely remove all adhering gas or
acid.
As above described, the gas for the purification and bleaching of the solution
under treatment may be generated within the mass of the compound under
treatment, but it will be equally within the scope of this Invention to generate
the gas within a contiguous vessel, and conduct it into the fabricating vessel by
means of suitable piping.
The gas or gases may also be generated from other chlorides and other acids than
those above mentioned, such as the black oxide of manganeso mixed with the

page_text: chlorido of sodium, and acted upon by sulphuric acid or other suitable acid, but I prefer
the use of chloride of sodium and sulphuric acid, as first herein before described.
After the purification of the compound shall have been fully completed as above
described, the solution will be retained in a tightly closed vessel, if it is desired to
retain it in the form of a solution; but if it is desired to restore the solids contained
in the solution to a solidified form, the compound should be placed in shallow tanks
and the vaporization of the solvent accelerated by raising the temperature of the
apartment in which it is placed to, say, 150° Fahrenheit.
The application of the compound to the goods or articles to be treated may be by
means of a brush or sponge, but I prefer in ordinary cases, for all articles where it
is practicable, to immerse the goods to be treated in a bath, but in either case the
articles treated (if they be textile or other light and portable goods) will have all
adhering moisture drained off or pressed out, and then the treated articles will be
gently dried in a closed room, at a temperature preferably kept at about 60°
Fahrenheit. After the goods are so freed from moisture the coating or material
remaining thereon will be thoroughly fixed and vulcanized or cured (preferably in
the same room in which they have been dried) by raising the temperature thereof
to about 180° Fahrenheit, more or less.