IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS IN WHICH COMPOUNDS CONTAINING INDIA-RUBBER ARE USED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Clark, of Newton Heath, near Manchester,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS IN
WHICH COMPOUNDS CONTAINING INDIA-RUBBER ARE USED."
Sealed the 8th September 1859, and dated the 16th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th March, 1859.
I, JAMES CLARK, of Newton Heath, near Manchester, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FABRICS IN WHICH COMPOUNDS CONTAINING INDIA-RUBBER ARE USED." to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its objects improvements in the manufacture of
fabrics in which compounds containing india-rubber are used. For these
purposes. in spreading or coating fabrics with compounds containing india-
rubber, in place of applying, as heretofore, only one coating at a time
to a piece of fabric, I apply a succession of coatings one on the other,
by means of a spreading machine, arranged so that as a fabric is passed
through the machine it receives a succession of coatings one on the other, the
succeeding guages or instruments being set at a greater and a greaterdistance
from the bed or surface on which the fabric is supported. When the fabric
thus coated is to be vulcanized, then sulphur is used in the compound of
india-rubber. In making endless fabrics for calico printers and other pur-

page_text: poses by a succession of layers of the same fabric, cemented by india-rubber
cement (which is sometimes combined with sulphur, to admit of the same
being vulcanized by heat), the fabric used is so wound that the end of the
outer layer comes opposite the end of the inner layer, and the outer or inner
surface (or both) of the endless printer's blanket or fabric is coated with
india-rubber compound, to render the thickness of the fabric equal at all parts,
and also clastic.
For some purposes I combine india-rubber with finely ground or powdered
cork and sulphur (adding, when necessary, india-rubber solvent), and cause
this material to be spread in sheets, with a layer or layers of fabric, when
necessary; or I mould this composition into various shapes, and then submit
the same to the action of heat or other process to render it vulcanized.
In spreading india-rubber compounds on fabrics, I use an endless elastic cloth
or fabric on the roller or bed used in spreading machines. This endless
elastic cloth is placed between the guage and the under revolving roller or bed
of a spreading machine, or between rollers used for spreading. The endless
cloth is moved at the same surface speed as the rollers, and it presents a soft
clastic bed for the fabric in place of the hard metal heretofore used. In
making some fabrics, I employ the slivers of fibrous materials from a series
of carding engines or other machines, and incorporate therewith (by means
of pressure) dissolved india-rubber, and I immediately unite thereto, and in
the same machine in a continuous manner, a layer or layers of woven,
felted, or other fabric, so that the fibres, india-rubber, and woven, felted, or
other fabric will, by one machine, be united and form one fabric; sulphur
may be added to the dissolved india-rubber, and heat applied to the fabric
to effect. the vulcanizing process; and in the manufacture of the fabric
known as "Clark's patent felt," I combine sulphur with the india-rubber
cement used, and I submit such patent felt to the action of heat to produce
the vulcanizing process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 3
by the said James Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CLARK, of Newton Heath, near Manchester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Clark, Her special licence that I, the said James Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Clark, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS IN WHICH COMPOUNDS CONTAINING INDIA-RUBBER
ARE USED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Clark, 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
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say:—
My Invention consists, in the first place, in an expeditious mode of coating
or covering the surfaces of fabrics with compounds containing india-rubber,
by laying on a series of coatings one on the other, in immediate succession;
and in the same machine, in place of one coating at a time, as has been in use*
hitherto; and, when desired, employing sulphur and heat to vulcanize the
surfaces thus conted.
In order that this part of my Invention may be fully understood, I
will describe the modes of working which I have found convenient. For
strong fabrics I use the machine Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing, and I
pass the fabric A to be coated between the metal cylinder B' and the guages
c¹, c², c³, c¹, c³, in front of each of which and on the fabric I place the
composition D. The machine being set in motion by any suitable and
convenient means, the fabric A is carried onward under the successive
c,c,c,c,c, each of which coats or covers the fabric with a portion of the
composition 1); and although I have shown five separate guages denoting five
separate coatings, more or less guages may be employed. The guages are
capable of being adjusted to the cylinder B', so that each succeeding guage
be set wider from the cylinder than the preceding one, thus allowing the
may
guages

page_text: fabric A to receive a corresponding amount of the composition on its surface
when passing through the machine. In place of the cylindrical bed B',
a fixed flat or curved bed or under guage may be employed, in which case
the fabric alone will be in motion. In coating light fabrics, and in using
more.plastic compounds, I prefer not to use the metal cylinder B', but to use
an arrangement where-no; bed is necessary, as shown in Figure 2, the fabric
A passing under the guages c1, c2, c³, c4, c, where it receives the successive
coatings of the composition 1. In using composition of a less plastic nature,
I prefer to employ a machine similar to that shown in Fig. 3, where, in
place of guages, I place a series of rollers or cylinders c, c¹, c, c³, c, c³, c, c¹, c, c³,
which are moved at the same surface speed as the cylinder B. The move-
ments and adjustments of this machine are similar to the machine shown in
Figure 1. In this machine, and also in that shown in Figure 1, I sometimes
employ an additional cylinder B, shown in Figure 4, and the fabric A, after
receiving its coatings, is pressed between the cylinders B1 and B2, making the
fabric firm and solid. Sometimes this additional cylinder B is mounted with
guages cl, c², c³, c, ³, or rollers c, c¹, c, c², c, c³, c, c³, c, c³, samo as the
cylinders B', thus forming a kind of double machine, in which two separate
fabrics may be coated, or the two separate fabrics, after being coated, may be
pressed together between the cylinders B1 and B2, so as to form what
is termed double texture, the conted surfaces being inside and the fabrics
outside. For some fabrics I prefer to proceed in the mode shown in Figure 5.
This plan coats the cylinder B with the composition, and then presses
the combined coatings on to the fabric A, which may be previously slightly
coated,so as to cause the composition D from the cylinder B' to adhere to it.
The fabric A is placed between the cylinders Band B2; and when the machine
is put-in motion, the composition D coats the cylinder B by means of
the guages c, c², c³, c, c, and the successive coatings on the cylinder B' are
pressed on the fabric A, and united thereto by the pressure of the cylinders
B and B..
:
The second part of my Invention consists in producing an endless fabric
suitable for calico printers and other purposes. I take a piece of fabric A and
place it in a spreading machine, where it receives a coating of india-rubber
composition, as shown in Figure 6; when the fabric A has been coated the
required length, the end of the fabric is united to the body of the fabric, as
shown at Figure 7, and the machine being kept in motion, and the india-
rubber composition still being spread on the coated fabric now formed into an
endless web, is separated from the piece of fabric A, as shown in Figure 8,
and forms an endless web uniform and regular in thickness and of great

page_text: thickness of the endless web, the operation is continued in the spreading
machine as long as may be necessary. The india-rubber composition used
may be combined with sulphur, and the vulcanizing process being applied
to the endless web or blanket, it will be rendered permanently elastic and
pliable.
The third part of my Invention consists in combining india-rubber with
finely ground or powdered cork and sulphur, adding, when necessary, india-
rubber solvent, and in causing this material to be rolled or spread in sheets,
or into moulding it into various shapes, and then submitting such sheets or
moulded articles to the action of heat to vulcanize the same. I have found
the following proportions to produce a good useful compound:
Sulphur
India-rubber
Ground cork wood,
but these proportions may be varied.
one part, by weight;
four ditto ditto;
ten ditto
ditto;
1
The fourth part of my Invention consists in applying an endless elastic clothi
or fabric to spreading or coating machines, so as to form a soft elastic bed for
the fabric during its passage through the machine in place of the hard metal
in use hitherto. 'This soft elastic bed may be made of any suitable material,
but I prefer an endless elastic fabric or blanket, as described in the second
part of my Invention, and I apply it in the manner shown in Figure 9, where
the machine being set in motion the endless cloth or fabric carries onward
the fabric that is being coated. In place of the endless elastic fabric, the
cylinder B¹ itself may be coated with like elastic materials, and used without
an endless cloth; and in place of the guage c', as shown, a roller guage
may be employed.
The fifth part of my Invention consists in combining the fibres of silk,
cotton, wool, flax, or other fibrous materials with woven, felted, or other
fabrics, so as to produce in a continuous manuer combined fabrics of
use and ornament.
great
Figure 10 shows a machine for so combining these materials. M', M2, are
two metal cylinders driven at the same speed and at a surface speed, so as to
receive the exact length of fibres from the series of carding machines N,N, N;
the slivers O from which full down the full width of the doffer, and in a
continuous fleece on to the endless travelling table P; the accumulated slivers
or fleeces Q are then carried over the cylinder M', where they meet the fabric
A passing over the cylinder M. Between the cylinders M' and M india-
rubber composition D is placed, and the machine being set in motion, the

page_text: revolution of the cylinders M'and M² (adjusted more or less near to each other
by means of screws) presses the requisite amount of composition on to the
fabric and through the fibres to cause them all to unite and form one fubric.
The fabric A. before it comes in contact with the fibres Q, may be coated with
one or more coatings of the composition, either in the machine by means
of
guages on the cylinder M², or in a separate machine.
The india-rubber compound, when desired, may be inixed with sulphur,
and the combined fabrics subjected to heat.
The last part of my Invention consists in vulcanizing the fabric known as
"Clark's patent felt," by means of combining sulphur with the india-rubber
composition used in the manufacture of the "patent felt," and submitting the
"patent felt" to the action of heat to effect the vulcanizing process.
In witness whereof, 1, the said James Clark, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.