IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF CAOUTCHOUC, GUTTA PERCHA, AND LIKE GUMS FOR WATERPROOFING AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Ford, of the Parish of Saint James', in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF CAOUTCHOUC, GUTTA PERCHA, AND LIKE GUMS FOR
WATERPROOFING AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 11th March 1856, and dated the 15th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Ford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th September
1855.
I, ALFRED FORD, of the Parish of Saint James', in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF CAOUTCHOUC, GUTTA PERCHA, AND LIKE GUMS FOR
WATERPROOFING AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
-
My said improvements consists in dissolving india-rubber, gutta percha, and
like gums in oil of turpentine peculiarly treated for that purpose, and in
applying such solutions as a cement, varnish, paint, or waterproofing agent, or
simply to soften such substances for general purposes.
I prepare my solvent by subjecting oil of turpentine to the action of
a caustic alkali or alkalies, or alkaline earth or earths, separately or com-
bined, in a suitable vessel, employing occasional agitation for three days, or
thereabouts, and allowing time for the subsidence of the deposit resulting
therefrom. The supernatant fluid is then to be drawn off and employed
for dissolving india-rubber, vulcanized india-rubber, gutta percha, or any
mixtures thereof, or of any like soluble gums, first reduced to shreds or
[Price 8d.]

page_text: small pieces.
may be facilitated by agitation.
pentine solvent may be mixed with oxides, ochres, and other colouring matters,
if desired, and applied cold or otherwise with a brush, like paint, or may
have a proportion of drying oil mixed therewith. My said solutions may
likewise be combined with oxides or salts of copper, singly or combined, to
be employed as a coating for iron ships' bottoms.
The solution will take place either with or without heat, and
Solutions thus made with my prepared tur-
Solutions of india-rubber or gutta percha according to my said process are
adapted for waterproofing woven fabrics generally, and may be applied to one
or both surfaces, or used as a cement to attach two pieces, as in the manu-
facture of mackintosh fabrics, employing hand labour of suitable machinery.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Ford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
FORD, of the Parish of Saint James', in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Ford, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Ford, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Ford, 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 PREPARING SOLUTIONS OF CAOUTCHOUC,
GUTTA PERCHA, AND LIKE GUMS FOR WATERPROOFING AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Ford, my executors,
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertained 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Ford, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My said improvements consist in dissolving india-rubber, vulcanized india-
rubber, gutia percha, and like gums, or combinations thereof, in oil of turpen-
tine or naptha peculiarly treated for that purpose, and in applying such
solutions as a cement, varnish, paint, or waterproofing agent, or simply to soften
such substances for general purposes.
I prepare my solvent by subjecting oil of turpentine or naptha to the action
of a caustic alkali or alkalies, or alkaline earth or earths, separately or com-
bined, in a cask, tank, or other suitable vessel, and which must be occasionally
agitated therein by means of oars or mechanical stirrers for the space of three
days, or thereabouts, and then allowed time for the subsidence of the resulting
deposit. The supernatant pale fluid is then to be drawn off from the dark-
coloured deposit, and may, if desired, be passed through charcoal powder, or
other filtering medium. Oil of turpentine thus de-resinized or purified has
the property of readily dissolving india-rubber, vulcanized india-rubber, gutta
percha, or any mixtures of the same, or of any like suitable gums, after being
first reduced to shreds or small pieces. The solution will take place either
with or without heat, and may be facilitated by agitation. When vulcanized
india-rubber has to be operated on, it may be thrown into the solvent and
allowed to remain until fully saturated; it should then be taken out, bruised,
cut, or torn up, and subjected to heat sufficient to dissolve it, and to drive off
the superabundant solvent, which being collected in a proper receiver can be
re-used. Solutions thus made with my prepared oil of turpentine or naptha
may be mixed with oxides, ochres, and other colouring matters, if desired, and
applied cold or otherwise, with a brush or spreading instrument, to any surfaces
to be covered with the same like paint; or such compositions may have a pro-
portion of drying oil mixed therewith. My said solutions may likewise be
combined with oxides or salts of copper, singly or otherwise, to be employed
as a coating for iron ships' bottoms.
Solutions of india-rubber, vulcanized india-rubber, or gutta percha, pre-
pared according to my said improved process, are adapted for waterproofing
woven fabrics, as generally practised, and may be applied to one or both
surfaces; or they may be used as cements to attach two or more pieces, as in
the manufacture of mackintosh fabrics.
Having thus fully described my said process for purifying oil of turpentine

page_text: and naptha and their applications, but particularly as solvents of vulcanized
india-rubber, I desire it to be understood that I do not limit myself to any
precise proportions of alkalics or alkaline earths, their quantity varying with
the degree of impurity to be removed; neither do I confine myself to any
particular mode of applying my solvents to vulcanized india-rubber, so long as
the resulting solution is one which may either be freed from its sulphur, or
re-used without necessarily being first re-vulcanized. And I do declare that
what I claim as my improvements are, namely,
First, the peculiar process for purifying oil of turpentine and naptha.
And, second, the applications of my prepared solutions and compounds, as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Ford, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
1856.
ALFRED FORD. (L.S.)