IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM, OR IN CONVERTING OLD TARRED ROPE INTO ASSEMBLAGES OF SOFT FIBRES FOR CAULKING PURPOSES OR OTHERWISE
Year: 1872

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon
and Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, South-
ampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM, OR IN
CONVERTING OLD TARRED ROPE INTO ASSEMBLAGES OF SOFT FIBRES FOR
CAULKING PURPOSES OR OTHERWISE."-A communication from abroad
by Thomas Harrison Dunham, of Boston,
Suffolk County,
Massachusetts, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th October 1872.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-
5 Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM, OR IN

page_text: CONVERTING OLD TARRED ROPE INTO ASSEMBLAGES OF SOFT FIBRES FOR CAULKING
PURPOSES OR OTHERWISE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improvements in the manufacture of
oakum, or converting old tarred rope into assemblages of soft fibres for
caulking purposes or otherwise.
In the ordinary process the rope is cut into.short lengths of about six
to twelve inches, and the full length of the staple which it is desirable to
retain is lost. In this process the rope is cut into long pieces of from
five to ten or more feet, and the subsequent treatment retains the
fibres in the length they have within such pieces. These long pieces.
are opened into strands or unstranded by hand, and the strands are
then immersed in a vat containing oil, which oil by preference is a
kerosene or hydrocarbon oil. The oil may be either hot or cold, and
magnesia or other suitable material may be added to purify the oil and
remove gummy matters. This treatment softens the fibres of the hemp,
separates the gum, and restores to the fibres the oil they had lost by
exposure, thereby rendering them soft and pliable as when the rope was
first made.
After the hemp is removed from the oil vat it is immersed in a
steam vat, by which treatment the oil is driven into all the fibres of
the strands. The pressure of the steam accomplishes this result almost
instantly, and the pressure need not be continued for more than a
minute.
After the action of the steam the strands or yarns may be passed
through a dressing machine running at very slow speed, in which
machine are heckle pins to draw out and separate the fibres without
impairing their length; they may afterwards be passed through a
carding engine to form them into slivers, which may be twisted and
spun for the use of the caulkers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM.
MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers.

page_text: and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13, Rue
Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Morgan-Brown, Her special license.
that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morgan-Brown, my
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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OAKUM, OR IN CONVERTING OLD TARRED ROPE INTO
ASSEMBLAGES OF SOFT FIBRES FOR CAULKING PURPOSES OR OTHERWISE,' a
communication to me from abroad by Thomas Harrison Dunham, of
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Morgan-Brown,
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 William Morgan-Brown, 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 in improvements in the manufacture of
oakum, or converting old tarred ropes into assemblages of soft fibres for
caulking purposes or otherwise.
In the ordinary process the rope is always cut up into short lengths
of from six to twelve inches, whereas it is a great desideratum to retain
in the fibres the full length of the staple. In this process the rope is
cut into long pieces, or pieces of a length of from five to ten or more
feet, and in the subsequent treatment the fibres retain whatever

page_text: into strands or are unstranded by hand, and the strands are then
immersed in a vat containing oil, which oil by preference is a kerosene
or hydrocarbon oil. The oil may be either hot or cold, and magnesia
or other suitable material may be added to purify the oil and remove
gummy matters. This treatment softens the fibres of hemp, separates
the gum, and restores to the fibres the oil they had lost by exposure,
thereby rendering the fibres as soft and pliable as when the rope was
first made.
After the hemp is removed from the oil vat it is immersed in a
steam vat, by which treatment the oil is driven into all the fibres of
the strands. The pressure of the steam accomplishes this result
almost instantly, and the pressure need not be continued for more than
a minute.
After the action of the steam the strands or yarns may be passed:
through a dressing machine running at very slow speed, in which
machine are hetchel pins that draw out, open, straighten, and separate
the fibres without impairing their length, and the fibres may then be
passed through a carding machine which will form the cards into
separate slivers or oakum slivers, which may be twisted and spun for the
use of the caulkers.
The most important of these steps, or those which more particularly
constitute this Invention, consist in first separating the rope into long
pieces, to retain the normal length of fibre, and in then applying the
oil as described and driving the oil into the strands; these steps
enabling the long sliver, soft, pliable, and filled with tar, to be produced
in the finest possible condition for caulking, in contradistinction to the
common bunches of short fibre, which at best are dry and hard, and have
not that adhesiveness which is of first importance in caulking the seams
of vessels. By this improved method all the tar present in the old rope
or junk is retained in the fibres, the treatment causing no loss of tar at
any step; whereas in the common method of making oakum much of
the tar (probably from twenty to thirty per cent.) is lost.
Before introducing the strands to the drawing machine they may pass
through breaker rolls to soften the fibres, but with such rope as as a
been treated by this process this is not necessary.

page_text: Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would
have it understood that what I claim is, the improvements in the
manufacture of oakum, consisting in the method of treating the rope,
strands, and fibres, of old tarred rope, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)