IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, GRADUATED SCALES, AND MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Goodyear, of Avenue Road, Saint
John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, GRADUATED SCALES, AND MEASURING
INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 3rd November 1853, and dated the 30th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Goodyear
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 80th August 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN RULES, GRADUATED SCALES, AND MEASURING
INSTRUMENTS" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of making rules, graduated scales, and mea-
suring instruments of a compound of india-rubber and sulphur, with
or without other matters, such compounded matters being subjected to
heat in order to convert the same into a hard substance. The com-
pound matters are to be made into the proper forms, and graduated as
]
Sp

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Goodyear in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES GOODYEAR, of Avenue Road,, Saint John's Wood, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of August, in the year 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
licence that I, the said Charles Goodyear, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Goodyear, my exe-
cutors, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN RULES, GRADUATED SCALES, AND MEASURING INSTRUMENTS," 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 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 Charles Goodyear, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same 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 making rules, graduated scales, and mea-
suring instruments of a compound of india-rubber and sulphur, with or;

page_text: without other matters, such compounded matters being subjected to
heat in order to convert the same into a hard substance. The com-
pound matters are to be made into the proper forms, and graduated as:
heretofore when other materials have been used, and in those cases
where hinges are required they may be of metal or of the compound.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same. In the Specifications.
of former Patents granted to me I have described the making and
applying a hard product by combining india-rubber and sulphur, with
or without coloring and other matters, and by subjecting such com-
pounds to licat for the purpose of changing the plastic substance into a
hard material, and I have found that such material is peculiarly suited:
for the manufacture of rules, graduated scales, and measuring instru-
ments by reason of the substance thus produced not being so liable as
other matters used in the making of such articles to expand or contract
when subjected to heat and cold, and to alternations of moisture and
dryness. This substance is also peculiarly applicable for the making of
rules, graduated scales, and measuring instruments, by reason of its
strength and toughness, and its not being liable to chip, indent, or
split when subjected to hard and rough usage; and when made thin it
is capable of being bent into curves, and when released will, by its
clasticity, return to its original formi.
.
In making rules, graduated scales, and measuring instruments of this
substance I prefer to make the-compound of india-rubber and sulphur
into sheets of the thickness desired, and to cut the same into form, and
put the parts together as if using ivory, box, or other hard wood or
other material, and to graduate them as such like articles have before
been graduated. And in making the compound I prefer to employ
two parts by weight of india-rubber, and one part by weight of sulphur,
with or without a small quantity of coloring matter, and I prefer to
add no other foreign matter. Having well mixed these matters, I roll
the compound into sheets of the thickness desired, and subject such
sheets to heat between surfaces of glass or of oiled metal, applying the
heat gradually, bringing up the temperature to about 300° of Fahren-
heit in about six hours, which may be done in any convenient manner;

page_text: but I believe it best to be done by means of immersing the sheets held
between surfaces, as above stated, in water in a suitably strong vessel,
and raising the heat in about half an hour to 230° of Fahrenheit, to
let them remain at that temperature for about one and a half hours,
and then to raise the temperature to about 300° of Fahrenheit in the
remaining four hours. The sheets having been allowed to cool are
then cut and worked into the desired forms for rules, graduated scales,
and measuring instruments desired. In order to give greater strength,
particularly those which are jointed, I insert strips of thin metal finely
perforated, or of wire cloth, in the middle of the india-rubber compound,
from which the instruments are formed. This is done before heating,
and serves not only to strengthen but also to assist in forming the joints
of such rules and measuring, instruments, the sheet of metal being left
without perforation at the parts which are to form the joint.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Goodyear, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
Witness,
WILLIAM CARPMAEL, jun.
CHAS GOODYEAR. (L.S.)