AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS OF INDIARUBBER, OR OF INDIARUBBER COMPOUNDS, TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COVERING FLOORS AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Gaussen, of Broughton Hall, Lechlade, in the
County of Gloucester, Esquire, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS OF INDIARUBBER, OR OF INDIARUBBER COMPOUNDS,
TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COVERING FLOORS AND OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Gaussen at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th August 1880.
DAVID GAUSSEN, of Broughton Hall, Lechlade, in the County of Gloucester,
Esquire. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS OF INDIARUBBER,
OR OF INDIARUBBER COMPOUNDS, TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COVERING FLOORS AND
OTHER PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to the manufacture of sheets of what is known as vulcanised
indiarubber, or other indiarubber compounds, and is designed for floor coverings, mats,
coverings for seats, and various other purposes, and my said Invention consists in
corrugating, fluting, or arching the material on both sides, and also in uniting the
corrugated sheets to produce cylinders or tubes. By my Invention I am enabled
to produce an article combining lightness and economy of material with stability,
resisting power, and elasticity, at same time securing thorough ventilation and
dryness of surface, as the air can circulate freely through the material, and moisture
will run off the same.
The corrugations may be variously arranged, that is to say, part of the corru-
gations may run in one direction and part in another, and where great thickness
is required and increased elasticity a number of the corrugated sheets are superposed
and cemented together as aforesaid.
In carrying out the Invention the sheets are moulded in dies having the form
of the corrugations or flutes to be produced, and the sheets may be wholly or
partially perforated, or altogether unperforated, according to the object to which
the material is to be put.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said David Gaussen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd December
1880.
DAVID GAUSSEN, of Broughton Hall, Lechlade, in the County of Gloucester,
Esquire. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS OF INDIARUBBER,
OR OF INDIARUBBER COMPOUNDS, TO BE EMPLOYED FOR COVERING FLOORS AND
OTHER PURPOSES."
My Invention relates to the manufacture of sheets of vulcanised indiarubber, and
of indiarubber with the various materials used in combination therewith, in the
manufacture of door mats and such like things, the particulars of which are set out
in the Specification of a Patent granted to Thomas Hancock, and dated 18th March
1846, No. 11135, these compounds being now well known in the rubber trade,
and which, for greater brevity, are hereinafter termed "rubber."
My Invention consists in corrugating such sheets on both sides so as to produce
a series of hollow arches or hollow semi-cylindrical formations, such as those
usually formed by the corrugation of sheets of galvanised iron, the grooves on the
one side being alternate with those on the opposite side of the same sheet, that
which is a convexity on one side being itself a concavity on the other side; and on
one and the same side a convexity or ridge being followed by a concavity, and a
concavity by a convexity. Such corrugations or arches may be of various forms
in profile, according to the purpose for which the sheets are intended. Besides
being corrugated the sheets may or may not be perforated over all or any portion
of the corrugated surface, according to the nature of their application.
The object of my Invention is, from a comparatively light and thin uncorrugated
and unvulcanised sheet of rubber, by means of such corrugations (which are
rendered permanent by subsequent vulcanization) to produce a mat, mattrass, or
such like article of any desired depth of pattern, affording to a distributed surface-
pressure as much or nearly as much resisting power as a solid sheet of rubber of
equal thickness would give, at the same time affording greatly increased surface
elasticity, with thorough ventilation, dryness, and drainage. My object is also, by
a simpler and consequently more economical process of manufacture, to produce
seat covers, mattrasses, beds, or such like articles, which articles it has heretofore
been usual to inflate or distend by means of air and water, both of which my
Invention supersedes with the manifest advantages, in addition to those of economy
and simplicity of manufacture (already referred to), that such mattrasses, beds, seats,
and such like things are not exposed to the risks of becoming damaged and useless
from puncture or such like injury; and also that such mattrasses, &c., afford
thorough and proper healthful ventilation of surface to the part of the body resting
upon them; whilst in the case of air mattrasses, cushions, &c., or of water beds, on
the contrary, the parts of the body in contact with and resting thereon impart
their impress to such air mattrasses, cushions, or water beds, thereby excluding the
action of the atmosphere from communicating with such parts of the body so in
contact with and resting upon such air mattrass or water bed.
In order that my Invention may be more readily understood, I have illustrated
it in the accompanying Drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 are a plan and cross
section respectively of a portion of a sheet of rubber corrugated with one form of
corrugation. Figures 3 and 4 are similar views representing respectively other
forms of corrugation. These views are given merely as examples by way of
illustration of my designation of the corrugation of rubber, because the word
corrugated" has been heretofore current in the rubber trade, but with an
application to other and entirely dissimilar things, which might with correctness
have been termed "serration or "roughening of surface," but it is obvious that
"
"

page_text: the form or pattern of my corrugations may be varied at pleasure, as in Figures 5
and 6, which are cross sections representing in profile other forms of such
corrugation.
Figure 7 is a cross section showing the kind of dies in which the rubber is
corrugated.
The material is adapted for various useful purposes such as the following:-
Mats for wells at doors of houses, and for ships at cabin doors.
Do. for footboards of carriages, railway carriages, especially smoking compartments,
and for floors of boats, &c.
Carpets for the floors of post office railway vans, relieving the clerks and letter
sorters of much jar and vibration, which is now most injurious to them in long
journeys, during which they are occupied in a standing position; also for smoking
cabins, companion houses, stairs, deck houses, &c., of steamers, for tents, bath
rooms, billiard rooms (giving an elastic and luxurious tread), corridors of public
offices, law courts, aisles of churches, libraries, concert rooms, and all other places
where absence of noise is desired, &c.
Mattrasses for horses, cows, cattle upon transatlantic steamers in lieu of straw.
Mattrasses for passengers of emigrant and pilgrim ships, forecastle bunks of all
ships, for soldiers and police in barracks and camps, workhouses, hospitals, prisons,
ambulances, operating beds, invalid beds, &c.
Seat covers for tram cars, boats, omnibusses, coachmens' seats on carriages, gun
carriages, dog carts, and for all seats exposed to wet.
Linings for horse boxes of railways or steamers, fever carts, padded cells of
lunatic asylums, guards' vans on railways, furniture vans, sides of companion
stairs of steamers.
Fenders for ships' boats in davits, to bang over gunwales of yachts, yachts'
boats, leg guards for cricket, knee caps for horses, and housemaids' knee pads, and
for all other such like varied and various purposes.
The following is the method I pursue in carrying out my Invention:-The
pattern of the corrugation for the sheet required having been arrived at by
a calculation of the height and number of corrugations to a given area of surface,
with the amount of angle and slope to each of such corrugations required to be
produced, having regard to the application of the object to be manufactured, and
the relative degrees of resistance or elasticity which is required from it, metal
dies or moulds are made acccordingly in such form, as already illustrated by
Figure 7.
The sheet of unvulcanised and uncorrugated rubber is then placed between
the two counterpart dies (Figure 7), subjected to suitable pressure, and then
vulcanised according to the methods well known in the rubber trade.
From one
and the same pair of such moulds objects of the same number of corrugations, but
of different thicknesses of material, may be made, by regulating the degrees of
proximity to which the counterpart moulds shall be allowed to approach to each
other under pressure. Thus, for the production of a door mat (for instance) when
it is desirable to make allowance at top and bottom of the mat for wear from
friction, and consequently to have greater thickness at those parts, this is
accomplished by maintaining a greater distance between the same pair of dies
under pressure, the result of which is illustrated in profile by Figure 8. Whilst on
the other hand, in the case of seat covers and of mattrasses (for instance), where
wear from friction is not to be provided against, and greater elasticity and lightness
of material is desired, it is gained by diminishing the regulated intervening space
between the same pair of counterpart dies when under pressure.
In the construction of mattrasses, beds, seats, and such like things, where a plain
upper surface is desired, this is attained by the superaddition to the top of the corru-
gated sheet of an uncorrugated sheet of perforated rubber, as shown in cross section
and plan, Figures 9 and 10, and where such mattrass, or bed, or seat is to be used
upon the ground, the under sheet of corrugation should not be perforated, in order that
it may resist dampness from the ground, the requisite ventilation being ensured by

page_text: the perforation of the upper flat sheet resting upon its several open arches or
convexities (see Figure 10, illustrative of one of such mattresses). This mattrass
can be rolled up and easily disposed of and carried.
When such mattrasses are used in hospitals for operations, and in ambulances,
they possess the advantage of being unaffected by blood or other fluids, the use of
water at all times restoring their original cleanliness; and as to some parts of such
beds actual friction cannot be readily applied, congealed blood or matter can
notwithstanding be at once removed from such parts by the application of a little of
Condy's fluid" mixed with water, brushing or sponging over with which will also
disinfect such mattresses from infection when they may have been used by fever
patients.
*
Where it may be desirable to prevent undue lateral extension of the corrugated
sheet of rubber when used for objects exposed to friction and heavy weight, an
uncorrugated sheet, perforated or unperforated, or strips of rubber crossing the
corrugations transversely at certain intervals, may be cemented to the underside of
the corrugated sheet (as seen in plan, Figure 11), and in certain cases of application,
such as door mats, this object may better be effected by enclosing the corrugated
sheet with a margin of solid rubber of some plain or ornamental pattern.
My corrugated material may also be used for fenders for ships' boats to diminish
the risk of their being staved in against the ships' sides on being lowered for use
at sea or otherwise. This I do by cementing a plain unperforated sheet of what is
known in the trade as "insertion" rubber over that side of the corrugated sheet
which is to be united to the gunwale of the boat, such plain sheet being cut a little
longer than the corrugated sheet, over the ends of which it projects as a flange at
either end. These flanges I turn over the open ends of the corrugated sheet and
with the aid of solution fix them there, and thus (or by means of laying over the
open ends separate strips of "insertion" rubber or otherwise) I cause each several
corrugation to become an air-tight cell, and then the puncturing of any one of such
air-tight corrugations does not affect the air-tightness of any other of such
corrugations. The corrugations, as will be seen by Figure 12, are arranged
horizontally, and the sheets of material are attached to the boat by metal washers
(which are placed between the corrugations) and copper nails or screws, as
indicated. As will be seen, the material is attached from stem to stern round the
gunwale of the boat, forming a kind of continuous moulding on both sides, but such
moulding is composed of separate and distinct longitudinal sections of, say, 3 feet
long by 4 to 12 inches in breadth, so that the puncturing of any one of such
air-tight corrugations will only affect the air-tightness and consequent buoyancy
of that one particular corrugation for its own length, whilst it would notwith-
standing still retain its full efficacy as a fender, equally and in common with all
the other corrugations embraced in such moulding, as they each and all depend for
their power of resistance upon their original formation only, my rendering them
also air tight being for purposes of buoyancy only, and for the extra buoyancy with
extra seaworthiness which they also thus give to the boat in addition to the
protection from being staved in, to effect which is my primary object.
In uniting a flat sheet to a corrugated sheet I withdraw one of the twin moulds
from the corrugated sheet before the process of vulcanization has been completed,
keeping it still in the form by the other half mould, and having smeared over with
solution the upper or uncovered corrugated surface of such partly vulcanised sheet,
I then lay the flat rubber sheet over it (or the strips transversely, as the case may
be), followed by a flat sheet of iron in lieu of the half mould which I had removed,
and then submit the whole to the final process of vulcanization; but these methods
are well known in the rubber trade, as is also the method of joining vulcanised
rubber by the interposition of linen, cotton, or such like textures, and of the aid of
solution, by the application of which several methods I am also enabled to join
different corrugated sheets together, so as when desirable from several such sheets,
made from a single pair of moulds of, say, 3 feet by 3 feet, to make (for instance),
an undivided floor covering of any required dimensions. The closeness of the

page_text: corrugations together, their height, and the number of them to a given area,
together with the thickness of the sheet of rubber used in their construction, will
vary according to the object desired to be attained. Thus, where much rigidity
and resistance is desired the corrugations will be closer together, more numerous to
a given area and depth of pattern, and the thickness and weight of the sheet itself
will be greater than where a weaker or more sensitive spring or more elastic
surface are desired. In the latter case the corrugations would be higher, less
numerous to a given area and depth of pattern, and consequently of a wider span,
and the sheet itself would be thinner and lighter.
Where my corrugated material is to be used in stables as a substitute for straw
litter, I cover so much of the flooring of the stall or box as may be required to
form a bed for the animal, composed of several mats united together by inter-
locking or any other convenient method, the corrugations forming channels for
conveying the urine towards the stable drains; the several mats composing the bed
being respectively arranged so that their corrugations shall run in the proper
direction to accomplish such object, having regard to the slope of each particular
stall or box, illustrated by Figures 13 and 14, the former showing my dis-
position of the laying down of the corrugated mats in the case of a stall drained
from the centre of such stall, and with a fall to such central drain from the floor at
all other parts of such stall, and the latter showing my disposition of the corrugated
mats in the case of another stall drained at the posterior of a horse's standing
position in it, and with a fall from the floor at all other parts of such stall to such
posterior drain.
These corrugated mats may be taken up daily and washed, and the floor of the
stall or box swept and cleaned, and the mats replaced on the floor as and when
required as bedding in lieu of the ordinary straw or litter, which I thus supersede
with many obvious advantages such as, for instance, sanitation, economy of labor
and of room occupied in the .owage of straw (especially in the centre of large
towns and on board of ocean steamers), the saving of risks from fire, &c., &c.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
The manufacture of corrugated sheets of indiarubber (or of indiarubber combined
with other materials commonly used therewith), substantially as hereinbefore
described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Gaussen, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of December, A.D. 1880.