A NEW MATERIAL ADAPTED FOR USE AS AN ELECTRIC INSULATOR FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND ALSO IN A HARDENED STATE ADAPTED FOR USE AS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls, of D'Urban, Port
Natal, South Africa, but now resident at 7, Clapton Place, Clapton,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "A
NEW MATERIAL ADAPTED FOR USE AS AN ELECTRIC INSULATOR FOR TELEGRAPHIC
AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND ALSO IN A HARDENED STATE ADAPTED FOR USE AS A
Scaled the 6th December 1872, and dated the 13th June 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jesse Gouldsmith
Rolls at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 13th June 1872.
I, JESSE GOULDSMITH ROLLS, of D'Urban, Port Natal, South Africa,
but now resident at 7, Clapton Place, Clapton, in the County of Middle-
sex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW MATERIAL ADAPTED FOR USE AS AN ELECTRIC INSULATOR FOR TELEGRAPHIC
AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND ALSO IN A HARDENED STATE ADAPTED FOR USE AS A
VULCANITE," to be as follows:-
:-
My Invention consists in the adaptation and application of the gum
or juice of the euphorbia tree to the purpose of an insulator of electricity

page_text: in substitution for gutta percha and india-rubber, and also to the various
purposes for which vulcanites are applicable.
In order to adapt the said gum or juice for insulating purposes it is
necessary to extract from it the water contained in it as water of com-
position in contradistinction to external moisture, and which is retained
in the gum or juice after the outer surface or covering has been dried and
hardened. For this purpose the gum or solidified juice is pounded in a
mortar, or ground in a drug mill, or otherwise reduced as required, and
then dried by heat at a low temperature, after which it is dissolved in
bi-sulphate of carbon, benzol, turpentine, or other hydrocarbon or suitable
solvent, and it may be hardened by mixture with paints or by the
addition of shellac or other dryers, and the gum or juice so treated and
prepared can be applied in the ordinary manner of applying gutta
percha or other insulating material or substance.
And in order to adapt the said gum or juice for use as a vulcanite it is
dried and reduced, and afterwards heated and mixed with sulphur in the
ordinary manner of forming a vulcanite, the temperature employed and
the amount of sulphur added depending upon the degree of hardness
required to be attained.
Vulcanite formed of the said gum or juice is found capable of
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th December 1872.
"
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JESSE 2
GOULDSMITH ROLLS, of D'Urban, Port Natal, South Africa, but now
residing at 7, Clapton Place, Clapton, in the County of Middlesex,
Engincer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year 3
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls, Her special

page_text: license that I, the said Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jesse Gouldsmith
Rolls, 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 "A
NEW MATERIAL ADAPTED FOR USE AS AN ELECTRIC INSULATOR FOR TELEGRAPHIC
AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND ALSO IN A HARDENED STATE ADAPTED FOR USE AS A
VULCANITE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jesse
Gouldsmith Rolls, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :—
My Invention of "A New Material Adapted for Use as an Electric
Insulator for Telegraphic and other Purposes, and also in a Hardened
State adapted for Use as a Vulcanite," consists in the adaptation and
application of the gum or juice of the euphorbia tree to the purpose of
an insulator of electricity in substitution for gutta percha and india-
rubber, and also to the various purposes for which vulcanites are
applicable.
In order to adapt the said gum or juice for insulating purposes it is
necessary to extract from it the water contained in it as water of com-
position in contradistinction to external moisture, and which is retained
in the gum or juice after the outer surface or covering has been dried
and hardened. For this purpose the gum or solidified juice is pounded
in a mortar or ground in a drug mill, or otherwise reduced as required,
and then dried by heat at a low temperature, after which it is dissolved
in bi-sulphate of carbon, benzol, turpentine, or other hydrocarbon or
suitable solvent, and it may be hardened by mixture with paints or by
the addition of shellac or other dryers, and the gum or juice so treated

page_text: and prepared can be applied in the ordinary manner of applying gutta
percha or other insulating material or substance. The gum or juice
may be brought into a plastic and elastic condition by subjecting it to
the heat of a water or steam bath, and in such condition it can be
moulded into any required form.
And in order to adapt the said gum or juice for use as a vulcanite it
is dried and reduced, and afterwards heated and mixed with sulphur in
the ordinary manner of forming a vulcanite, the temperature employed
and the amount of sulphur added depending upon the degree of hardness
required to be attained.
Vulcanite formed of the said gum or juice is found capable of
resisting the action of oils or fatty matters, also of acids and alcohol.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is,
Hy
First. The preparation of the gum or juice of the euphorbia trec so
as to adapt it for use as an insulator of electricity by pounding, grinding,
or reducing, then drying by heat at a low temperature, then dissolving
by a suitable solvent, and finally hardening it by mixture with paints,
or by adding shellac or other dryers, as herein-before described.
And, secondly. I claim the preparation of the said gum or juice in
order to adapt it for use as a vulcanite by drying, reducing, and after-
wards heating and mixing it with sulphur, as herein-before described.
In witness whercof, I, the said Jesse Gouldsmith Rolls, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
J. GOULDSMITH ROLLS. (L.S.)