A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING INDIA-RUBBER ARTICLES BY THE SIMULTANEOUS COMBINATION OF PRESSURE AND VULCANIZA- TION
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugène de la Bastida, of 43, Hart Street, Blooms-
bury Square,. W.C., London, in the County of Middlesex, (England,)
for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING INDIA-RUBBER
ARTICLES BY THE SIMULTANEOUS COMBINATION OF PRESSURE AND VULCANIZA-
TION." A communication from abroad by Messrs. Albert Cohen &
Charles Vaillant, Manufacturers of India-rubber Goods at Harbourg-upon-
Elbe (Hanover).
-
Sealed the 16th December 1862, and dated the 2nd July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugène de la Bastida at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1862.
I, EUGÈNE DE LA BASTIDA, of 43, Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square,
W.C., London, in the County of Middlesex, (England,) do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
INDIA-RUBBER ARTICLES BY THE SIMULTANEOUS COMBINATION OF PRESSURE AND
VULCANIZATION," (which Invention is a communication from abroad to my
by Messrs. Albert Cohen & Charles Vaillant,. Manufacturers of India-
rubber Goods-at Harbourg-upon-Elbe (Hanover), to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in employing simultaneously pressure and vulcani-
zation in the manufacture of india-rubber articles, to which may be given

page_text: any length required in one single piece; it is particularly applicable in the
manufacture of ropes, tubes, pipes, and conduits, and for covering wires
and cables of every kind and shape, employed for the electric telegraph,
as well as for twisted tubes, driving bands, and all other similar objects of
whatever shape and size.
The method used up to the present time to obtain the above-mentioned
results, consisted, first, in giving them the required shape, then in covering
them with a tissue of hemp, linen, or cotton, tightly packed, and afterwards
to place or suspend them in steam boilers, arranged for this object, or to
roll them around a cylinder or drum, and heat them till vulcanization
took place. Of course by this method objects of a great length could not
be manufactured at the same time as more space was required than was
offered by the boilers employed, and thus it was. impossible to manufacture in
a single piece long vulcanized india-rubber pipes, so useful for conveying
acids and other corrosive matters, which in course of time attack or destroy
the wooden or metal joints of the common tubes.. These results have been
attained by the following means:-After having given it the required
shape and size, the first end of the india-rubber tube or pipe to be produced
is placed upon a rod, spit, or mandrel of a convenient length, and is then
passed under a press composed of two curved plates of metal, which when
closed one upon the other form a tube joined with the greatest precision and
of a perfect shape. These plates are arranged in such manner, that they may
be heated by steam to the necessary degree. When the end of the tube is
placed in the press, thus composed, the two plates are screwed tightly together,
and heated to the required temperature, the india-rubber remaining till
vulcanized. Then when the end of the tube thus prepared is ready, it is
thrust forward through all the length of the press, and a second piece of india-
rubber is operated upon in the same manner, and is joined to the first, and
makes part of it, so as to constantly join and successively unite all the pieces
of india-rubber, which are added one to the other, part of the end of the tube
in the press must be allowed to project, and this part not coming in contact
with the heating plates is not vulcanized, which renders easy its adherence to
the piece of india-rubber added to it."
It will be easily understood that in proceeding in this manner, it is very
easy to manufacture tubes, pipes, or ropes of vulcanized india-rubber of an
infinite length, and to cover wires, telegraphic cables, and all other similar
objects whatever may be their shape or size.
For wires and telegraphic cables, and all other objects of the same kind the
india-rubber, entering by the action of compression into the most imperceptible

page_text: and minute interstices of the metal, gives a covering which not only adheres
well to the body upon which it is applied, but does not wear out in the least.
If the india-rubber tubes are lined with some kind of material to resist too
strong a pressure, the end of the lining is cut obliquely, so as to make a more
solid joint, and a muff which may be made of any length or strength is used.
To faciliate still more the use of the muff, the shape of the press is enlarged at
each end, so that the ends of the tubes may be conveniently joined, and in this
manner tubes can be covered, and the driving bands and other articles made
from hemp, cotton, or any other textile materials in coating them with a
solution of india-rubber, upon which is laid the vulcanized india-rubber.
. The object then of this new improvement is the manufacture of conduits,
tubes, and pipes of vulcanized india-rubber of any required length, coverings
for wires and telegraphic cables of the most various shapes, as also tubes, con-
duits, and driving bands, made of some textile material, of any length, and
every
other operation of the same kind, by the use of pressure and vulcaniza-
tion, combined as above described.
Seeing that this Invention consists only in the simultaneous application of
pressure and vulcanization combined of india-rubber, by the aid of these pro
cesses, it has been thought useless to enter into the details of all the produc-
tions which can be submitted to this process, as well as to describe the various
shapes the presses and apparatus can be made to take to obtain the several'
results mentioned in the present Specification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugène de la Bastida in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
DE LA BASTIDA, of 43, Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square, W.C., London, in
the County of Middlesex, (England,) send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in 'the year of our Lord 'One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Eugene de la Bastida, Her special licence that I, the said Eugene de la
Bastida, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Eugene de la Bastida, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW METHOD
OF MANUFACTURING INDIA-RUBBER ARTICLES, BY THE SIMULTANEOUS COMBINATION
OP PRESSURE AND VULCANIZATION," which Invention is a communication from
abroad to me by Messrs. Albert Cohen and Charles Vaillant, Manufacturers
of India-rubber Goods at Harbourg-npon-Elbe, Hanover, úpon the condition
(amongst others), that I, the said Eugene de la Bastida, 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 immediately after the date of the said -Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene de la Bastida, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
. I construct press plates of cast or wrought-iron of considerable length, say,
from 10 to 30 feet long, and from 1 to 100 feet wide, and these plates are
heated by steam, having chambers attached or partly formed by them, into
which steam can be admitted. I so arrange these plates that the bottom is,
by preference, a fixture of immovable table, and the top is made to rise and
fall by means of screw, hydrostatic pressure, or any other convenient means.
Vhen I am about to make long pipes or tubes, I form them in the usual way
from solid sulphur compound of india-rubber, or of such compound of india-
rubber and strong woven fabric, and I prepare a mould to receive it, and then
place the mould with the tube in it upon the press table, and bring the top
down with pressure enough to perfectly close the mould, in this way such
length of the pipe or tube is subjected to heat, and vulcanized by means of
the steam-heated press plates; and so soon as this is accomplished (which
will be know by an experienced workman after a trial or two) I then raise the
top plate and open the mould, and introduce another part of the same tube or
pipe into the mould, and proceed as before to vulcanize it, and thus I go on
piece by piece of one length of pipe; and in order to make greater lengths
than has hitherto been made, I leave a piece of the ends of the tube or pipe
out of the mould, and unvulcanized, to one end of which I attach or join in a
firm and substantial manner the unvulcanized end of another piece, which has
been all but the ends vulcanized, and I then put the joined unvulcanized part

page_text: into a short mould suitable for the purpose, and submit the same to vul-
canization. It will thus be seen that by first vulcanizing all but a short piece
of the two ends, of say 100 pieces of pipe or tubing, each 100 feet long, and
then uniting the ends of each as before described and vulcanizing them, I shall
make one perfectly vulcanized and unbroken tube of 10,000 feet long, by the
combination of the large press and the small press together, with the process
of joining in the manufacture of pipes and tubes.
When I cover wires, telegraph cables, or articles of a similar kind, I proceed
in a similar manner. I cover the wire or cable by spiralls mapping around
the same india-rubber tape, or by any convenient means, I cover them with
india-rubber, and embed the wire or cable and covering in grooves formed in
plates, which plates or models are put under the press and heated and vul-
canized, as before described, and if great lengths are required in one unbroken
piece, it is evident that by leaving the ends of certain lengths unvulcanized,
they may be most readily formed together by means of a short mould and
suitable press, and many miles of unbroken wire or cable thus produced,
having a perfect and entire coating of vulcanized india-rubber. When driving
bands for machinery are to be made by my process, it is only necessary to
make up the canvas and india-rubber in the usual manner, and then place it
into suitable moulds, which must be placed between the press plates and
heated to vulcanization, as before described, and by "splicing" the ends left
unvulcanized and vulcanizing them great length may be obtained. In all
cases, whether of pipes, or tubes, or wire, or cables, or driving bands, or such
like articles, where it is important that there should be an extra thickness of
covering or material at the joining, I arrange in the small or joint moulds an
enlarged space, by which additionnal strength may be given at that part.
By my process pipes, tubes, covered wires, cables, bands, and such like
articles, can be made more solid, compact, & perfect than it has hitherto been
possible to make them.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene de la Bastida, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 2d day of January, in the year of our
(L.S.) EUG. DE LA BASTIDA.