The Manufacture and Production of a New Material to be employed in Place of Wood, Iron, Leather, and the like in the Construction of Various Articles.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, on May, 1898
Complete Connifination I aft 3rd Nov 1898 Accented, 4th Feb., 1899
Date of Application, on May, 1898
Complete ification Loft 3rd Nov 1898 Accented, 4th Feb., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
The Manufacture and Production of a New Material to be employed
in Place of Wood, Iron, Leather, and the like in the Construction
of Various Articles.
I, ERNEST KINGSCOTE, of 31, Lower Seymour Street, Portman Square, in the
County of London, Physician, do hereby declare the nature of my invention to
be as follows;-
-
My invention has for its object to provide a material which is very strong,
durable, and resilient, and adapted for use in the manufacture of various articles
in place of wood, iron, leather, rubber, and the like with advantage.
According to my invention I manufacture the improved material by taking
wool fibre, and I subject it to a high degree of felting, accompanied, or not, by
compression. The wool fibre is also subjected to a process of tanning (which may
be done with oak bark, or by chrome tanning or other suitable way) and further
is treated with a matter which will render the material impervious to moisture
such as, for example, nitrated oil, or a solution of cellulose, or a mixture of nitrated
oil and cellulose. The said matter can be caused to penetrate to any desired
extent, either by immersion, or by coating or by causing it to penetrate under a
vacuum. A material is thus formed which can be used in the manufacture of
articles which have hitherto been made of wood, leather, or metal.
The wool fibres may be felted and compressed in moulds to give the requisite
shape, or a shape approximating to the article, or articles, to be produced, or the
material may be made in blank sheets, or the like, and afterwards the required
article, or articles, be cut, or fashioned, therefrom.
Doted this 6th day of May 1898
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
The Manufacture and Production of a New Material to be employed
in Place of Wood, Iron, Leather, and the like in the Construction
of Various Articles.
I, ERNEST KINGSCOTE, of 31, Lower Seymour Street, Portman Square, in the
County of London, Physician, 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:-
-
My invention has for its object to provide a material which is very strong
durable and resilient and adapted for use in the manufacture of various articles
in the place of wood, iron, leather, rubber, and the like with advantage.

page_text: According to my invention I manufacture the improved material by taking
wool fibre, such as the wool of sheep or lambs and subjecting it to a high degree
of felting (accompanied or not by compression) and also subjecting it to a process
of tanning (which may be done with oak bark or by chrome tanning or in other
suitable way) and further treating it with a matter which will render the material
impervious to moisture such as for example nitrated oil preferably castor oil or a
solution of nitrated cellulose or a mixture of nitrated oil and nitrated cellulose
dissolved in acetone. It is advisable to use a nitrated cellulose of a low degree
of nitration such as ordinary collodion used for surgical purposes. The said
matter can be caused to penetrate to any desired extent either by immersion or
by coating or it can be caused to penetrate under a vacuum by enclosing the
material in a chamber, withdrawing the air, and then introducing the fluid com-
pound. For example supposing boot soles are to be made the wool is made into
closely felted sheets which are subjected to a tanning process after the manner
in which leather is tanned and afterwards the material is cut to the shape of
the soles required and then repeated coatings are applied of the nitrated Huid
material. I may take an oil, such for example as linseed oil, or castor oil, and
nitrate it, after which I add to it say about half as much by weight of nitrated
cellulose dissolved in a solvent (such as is usually employed for dissolving nitro-
cellulose) to bring the mixture to the requisite state of fluidity to enable it to
penetrate the felted material. The nitration of the oil can be effected as that of
benzol or glycerine is effected, and it can be purified by treatment with powdered
chalk so that after heating to say 200° Fahrenheit the soluble lime salts will
separate by subsidence. Or I may use the material known as "Velvril" which
consists essentially of the above materials in approximately the following pro-
portions.
Low nitrated collodion cotton 7.2
Nitrated castor oil
Acetone
11.3
81.5
A material is thus formed which can be used in the manufacture of articles
which have hitherto been made of wood, leather or metal. The wool fibres may
be felted and compressed in moulds to give the requisite shape or a shape approxi-
mating to the article or articles to be produced or the material may be made in
blank sheets or the like and afterwards the required article or articles be cut or
fashioned therefrom, the tanning and the application of the fluid nitrated matter
aforesaid being effected, either before or after the material is made into the shape
of the finished article.
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:
-
1. A process for the production of a material suitable for use in place of wood,
iron, leather, or the like by first subjecting wool, preferably lambs wool, to a high
degree of felting with or without compression, secondly subjecting the felted
material, either in sheets or in the shape of the finished articles, to a tanning
process, and lastly saturating or impregnating the tanned material with the
nitrated compounds above mentioned, all substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The new material produced by the above described process.
Dated this 3rd day of November 1898.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.