IMPROVEMENTS IN COM- BINING MATERIALS TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION OF WHALEBONE AND OTHER FLEXIBLE AND ELASTIC SUBSTANCES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clement Dresser, of Basinghall Street, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COM-
BINING MATERIALS TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION OF WHALEBONE AND
OTHER FLEXIBLE AND ELASTIC SUBSTANCES." _A communication.
Scaled the 9th February 1853, and dated the 15th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clement Dresser at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th December 1852.
I, CLEMENT DRESSER, of Basinghall Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN COMBINING MATERIALS TO BE USED IN SUBSTITUTION OF WHALEBONE AND
OTHER FLEXIBLE AND ELASTIC SUBSTANCES" to be as follows: -
This Invention consists of employing Indian cane, or similar sub-
stances, saturated with caoutchouc, gutta percha, sulphur, resins,
and other waterproof substances, in order to give the same bending
and elastic properties combined with impermeability. The canes or

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Clement Dresser in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CLEMENT DRESSER, of Basinghall Street, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Clement Dresser, Her
special licence that I, the said Clement Dresser, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Clement
Dresser, 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 COMBINING MATERIALS TO BE USED
IN SUBSTITUTION OF WHALEBONE AND OTHER FLEXIBLE AND ELASTIC SUB-
STANCES," communicated to me from abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Clement Dresser, by an instru-
ment 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 Clement Dresser, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of employing Indian cane, or similar sub-

page_text: stances, saturated with caoutchouc, gutta percha, sulphur, resins, and
other waterproof substances, in order to give the same binding and
elastic properties combined with impermeability. The canes or sub-
stances, being first squared or rendered of the proper form, are then
died and saturated in close vessels under pressure.
And in order that this Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means
pursued.
The ingredients used in this my Invention are the Indian cane,
which I saturate with the solutions of such resins as do not admit
water, such as gutta percha, shellac, caoutchouc, and similar resins,
to which is added a solution of sulphur to make it flexible, even in
a lower temperature, when totally free of the solvent fluids.
The cane may be said to serve as a vessel for the reception of the
said substances, and is to be impregnated by them in the usual
manner in which woods have been impregnated with fluids.
After having assorted the cane regarding its thickness, the next
business is to shell it and to form quadrangular rods, which is per-
formed by two machines hereafter described.
When this has been done, the rods are cut into the length required.
The rods obtained by this means are next taken into the die house,
where they receive the black color of whalebone, or any other color
required.
The inaterials which I use for dying black are the same which are
in use for dying cotton and other fibrous substances.
Afterwards the rods are boiled to remove out the superfluous
dying matters.
When the rods are dry they are placed into an iron vessel, which is
made to close air tight, and the vessel is to be heated by water steam;
meantime, some of the resins, as gutta percha, caoutchouc, shellac, or
others dissolved by solvents, are placed in another vessel, which is
likewise heated by steam. The vessel in which the rods of cane are
placed is to have the air removed, and a communication is to be
opened with the vessel containing the solutions, and the pressure of
air will force the solutions into the vessel and impregnate the canes

page_text: therewith, or the solutions may be forced in by a pump; and by
means of this pump, which should have the power of exercising a
pressure of six atmospheres, it is possible to force such a quantity
of the solutions into the cane sticks, as to fill up the little spaces in
the interior.
.
The rods of cane are next to be conveyed into a drying place or
stove well ventilated and heated. When this is done, I put the rods
of cane into another vessel, which is in connection with a steam
boiler, and after having closed the vessel I allow a stream to pass
through the apparatus for a short time, and then, in taking the rods
of cane from the vessel, and whilst hot, I cause them each to be
pressed on all four sides, which renders them hard and impenetrable
to fluid and atinosphere.
This pressure may be produced by grooved cylinders, or by some
other press, and finally the rods of cane thus impregnated are to be
varnished.
The two machines by which the shelling or shaping of the cane
and its transforming in quadrangular poles or staves, is executed,
are represented by the adjoined Sketches. Before the apertures a,b,
c, d, of the plate A, B, C, D, plate 1, are to be found the two knives
c, f, which are fastened on the plate by the screws g, g. The adjust-
ing of the knives according to the different thickness of the rods
that are to be produced, is easily made by removing the screws in
the oblong screw holes of the plate. For the purpose of holding the
cane in midst of the knives, the guiding cheeks h, h, are used,
which are fastened on the plate by the screws i, i. They form both
with the middle line E, F, the same angle, so that a round cane re-
posing upon them must ever be central to the knives. The pressing
of the cane against these two cheeks is acquired by the spring k, ad.
joining to the spring holder. A little slide m, with openings, accord-
ing to the thickness of the cane, is used to lead the canes constantly
in the same direction between the knives. When a cane is to be
shelled, it is put first through the opening of the slide m, and is after
moved through the two cheeks h, h, and the knives. On the back-
side of the plate, pincers take the cane and draw it through the

page_text: machine. The movement of the pincers may be caused by mechan-
ism or by hand. This first machine takes off two sides of the cane,
the two other sides are removed by the second machine. Upon a
similar plate like that of the first is fastened, before the aperture a,
b, c, d, the knife e, which is fastened at the plate by the screws f, f,
likewise moveable in oblong screw holes. Before this knife are ap-
plied the two cheeks g, g, in a right angle with the knife, and regu-
lated according to the thickness which the staves have received by
the first inachine. The four arms of the cross h, are of various
breadths. One of these arms is put between the cheeks g, g, and
upon this arm the canes repose when drawn through the machine.
A spring i, fastened at the spring holder k, presses the cane against
the upper side of the arm of the cross, so that the staff can not move
away at any side. The cane after having three sides, is now turned
and drawn through a machine of the same construction by which the
fourth side is removed. The adjustments or regulation of the
machines may also be effected by other mechanism.
I claim the construction of the two machines by which I effect
the shelling and forming of the Indian canes.
And I also claim the impregnation of Indian cane, or other similar
fibrous substances, with caoutchouc, gutta percha, sulphur, resins, and
other waterproof substances, to produce a substitute for whalebone
and other flexible and elastic substances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clement Dresser, have hereunto
set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
30
CLEMENT DRESSER. (L.s.)
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.