IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNAMENTATION OR COLORING OF THE SURFACE OF HARD RUBBER AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC MATERIALS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson, of the Firm of W. P.
Thompson and Co., Patent Agents, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and
Berridge Street, Leicester, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE ORNAMENTATION OR COLORING OF THE SURFACE OF HARD RUBBER
AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC MATERIALS." A communication from abroad
from The Dickinson Hard Rubber Company, of Springfield, Massachusetts
(Nelson C. Newell, Esquire, Treasurer).
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION ɓiled by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th December 1880.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Firm of W.. P. Thompson and Co.,
Patent Agents, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, 323,
High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, and Berridge Street, Leicester,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNAMENTATION OR COLORING OF
THE SURFACE OF HARD RUBBER AND OTHER SIMILAR PLASTIC MATERIALS."
A communication from abroad from The Dickinson Hard Rubber Company, of
Springfield, Massachusetts (Nelson C. Newell, Esquire, Treasurer).
This Invention relates to the ornamentation of the surface of hard rubber by
means of colors applied thereupon; and the object of the Invention is to provide a
suitable color-mixture and colour protector which is adapted to be applied upon
the surface of hard rubber, which is by certain subsequent manipulation of the
rubber upon which said color-mixture has been applied caused to be so
amalgamated with the rubber surface as to form substantially a part of the same,
in contra-distinction to color-ornamentation, which is simply laid upon and left to
project when dry above the surface.
Such ornamentation of hard rubber surfaces by colors, as has heretofore been
practised, has been operated by laying on such colors mixed with oil and well
known dryers by aid of a brush or equivalent device; but as hard-rubber is of
such a nature as to prevent it from absorbing such colors, or an ordinary mixture
thereof similar to that above described, ornamental colors so applied to hard

page_text: rubber give to the article so ornamented a cheap and unartistic appearance, and
the colors so applied cannot have that degree of adhesion to the rubber surface
which is essential to durability. And, furthermore, by such a method of
ornamenting it cannot be made to appear that the colors and the rubber are
inseparable, and the very desirable appearance of integrality of colors and rubber
is entirely lacking.
A mixture of pigment-colors with an ordinarily thick solution of shellac dissolved
in alcohol, forming a species of paint, which can be easily spread by using a brush
applied to the surface of hard-rubber, produces new and beautiful effects after such
rubber, so ornamented, has been pressed between warm or hot metallic blocks.
In carrying out the Invention I take pieces of hard rubber having an ordinarily
smooth surface, and using color mixtures such as I have described above, and as
hereafter described, I form in any convenient manner ornamental figures thereon,
of regular or irregular forms, and after such figures have become dried I subject
the rubber piece so ornamented to quite a strong pressure for a moment between
smooth heated metallic plates or blocks.
The effect of such heat and pressure upon the rubber and the colors, together
with the shellac with which they are mixed, is to cause the said color elements to
become so amalgamated with the surface of the rubber as to form with it a highly
finished surface causing the colors to assume a mosaic appearance thereon, and to
look as though they were part and portion of the rubber body itself.
Colors so applied are so firmly affixed to the rubber as to be removable only
with great difficulty, and hence the ornamentation is very desirable.
An ornamentation much resembling that above described may be produced by
forming the said figures on the rubber with oil-colors, over which, after they have
become dry, a coat of shellac varnish is laid, and afterwards pressing the rubber as
above described.
Other plastic materials of a similar nature to hard rubber may be ornamented in
like manner.
Having fully described the Invention, exactly as communicated to me by my
American correspondents, with orders to file, what I desire to claim and secure by
Letters Patent is,―
First. The process of ornamenting the surface of hard-rubber and other similar
plastic materials with colors, which consists in forming thereupon with colors
mixed with a solution of gum-shellac and alcohol ornamental figures, and
subsequently in subjecting hard-rubber or said materials so ornamented to
pressure between heated plates or blocks, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
Second. The process of ornamenting the surface of hard rubber and other similar
plastic materials with colors, which consists in forming thereupon with oil-colors
ornamental figures, covered when dry with shellac varnish, and subsequently in
subjecting hard-rubber or said materials so ornamented to pressure between heated
plates or blocks, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Phillips Thompson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.