An Improvement in Lubricants.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 30th July, 1890-Accepted, 30th Aug.,
1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Lubricants.
I WILHELM BRINCK of Linden vor Hannover in the Province of Hannover in
the Empire of Germany Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The lubricating agents at present in use have for their functions to establish a
separating film between surfaces which would otherwise be in frictional contact.
This film lasts but a short time and has to be frequently renewed. The object of
my invention is to render such lubricants more enduring and effective and this I
do by adding to the lubricant a small proportion of caoutchouc. This becomes
easily dissolved in the mineral or animal oils or agents or rather by the acids therein
contained and does not interfere in the smallest degree with their handling or
fluidity. The proportion of caoutchouc to be added is very small, generally speaking
not more than 7 grains of caoutchouc to 1 lb. of lubricant. Solid lubricants may
be melted and the proportion of caoutchouc added thereto. This addition renders
the oil or grease less easily melted in the bearings and therefore more enduring, a
corresponding economy in the material being thereby attained. An additional
advantage is that the bearings are not so subject to the "gumming" which takes
place when ordinary lubricant is used.
Dated this 29th day of October 1889
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Lubricants.
WILHELM BRINCK of Linden, vor Hannover in the Province of Hannover in
the Empire of Germany Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this 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 said invention relates to an improved lubricant which is intended to unite the
advantages of utility and cheapness..
The function of a lubricant as is well known is to separate the metallic surfaces of a
journal or of bodies sliding upon each other, the resistance to sliding or revolving
contact being practically the resistance to "shearing" the thin film of oil between the
two surfaces. The shearing resistance of an oil is simply another term for its
"viscosity" or "body." A very low viscosity leaves the lubricant so fluid that it runs
quickly out of the bearing so that the lubricant must be chosen to suit the pressure it
must carry and the temperature it may be called upon to endure, the viscosity of
course declining with the increase of temperature. The lack of viscosity has always
been a bar to the use of mineral oils as lubricants although this defect has been
attempted to be remedied by the addition of proportions of animal oils. The object
of my invention is to impart the requisite degree of viscosity to mineral oils by the
addition of a small proportion of caoutchouc. The caoutchouc becomes easily dissolved
in mineral oils by the contained acids and as 1 dissolve the caoutchouc in the oil at
the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere this addition does not interfere in the
smallest respect with the fluidity of the oil. I have found the following a useful mode
of effecting the solution of the caoutchouc in the mineral oils, while at the same time
desirable proportions are indicated.

page_text: To one kilo. of carefully cleared caoutchouc cut into small pieces I add three kilos. of
mineral oil and allow the whole to stand for a period varying from twenty four; to
forty eight hours at the end of which time the aforesaid materials will constitute a
viscous mass or sludge. I now add twenty kilos. of mineral oil and thoroughly agitate
and mix the whole for about half an hour.
The mixture or solution is now carefully strained through a filter or extractor. The
residue is then returned to the original vessel and twenty kilos. of mineral oil again
added, agitated, mixed and filtered as before. This may he repeated six times but it
will be found necessary on each successive occasion to more violently agitate and mix
the residue with the added twenty kilos. of mineral oil for a greater length of time say
during one hour as the caoutchouc becomes exhausted. The final viscous residne may
be added to the next supply of fresh caoutchouc so as to prevent waste. The whole
operation takes place at the ordinary atmospheric temperature. The mineral oil which
has passed through the strainer or filter holds in solution a slight proportion of caout-
chouc which is sufficient to impart the requisite "viscosity" to the oil when used as a
lubricant that is to say to impart the requisite shearing resistance to the film of oil
which exists for example between the shaft and the bearing of a journal. As the
addition of the caoutchouc to the mineral oil takes place under ordinary atmospheric
conditions of temperature the oil is homogeneous in its nature and is not subject to
thickening or change. Mineral oil thus charged with caoutchoue may be used as a
lubricant itself or may be added to ordinary mineral oil wherein a slighter infusion of
caoutchouc is necessary or desirable. In my provisional specification I have included
animal oils among those lubricants capable of being treated with caoutchouc but I
hereby disclaim the treatment of any oils other than mineral oils by my process.
Where the mineral oil or its chief constituents has or have been transformed into a
solid lubricant the caoutchouc may be added in the course of manufacture. This
addition renders the oil or grease less easily melted in the bearings and therefore more
enduring a corresponding economy in the material being thereby attained. An
additional advantage is that the bearings are not so subject to the "gumming" which
takes place when ordinary lubricant is used.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
The improved lubricant composed of mineral oil mixed with a proportion of
caoutchouc dissolved therein at ordinary atmospheric temperature substantially as
hereinbefore described.
T
1800
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester, Agents.