IMPROVE- MENTS IN DISSOLVING CAOUTCHOUC (INDIA RUBBER) AND GUTTA PERCHA
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAVE
EUGENE MICHEL GERARD, of Paris, in the Republic of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventh day of May,
in the thirteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Gustave Eugene Michel Gerard, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I; the said Gustave Eugene Michel Gerard, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Gustave Eugene Michel Gerard,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN DISSOLVING CAOUTCHOUC (INDIA RUBBER) AND GUTTA PERCHA;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Gustave Eugene
Michel Gerard, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gustave Eugene Michel Gerard, do hereby declare that the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is
to say :-
The Invention consists in certain means of dissolving india rubber. Heretofore
all solutions of india rubber, whether clear or thick, have always preserved a
great coherence and elasticity, the solvent, whatever it may have been, has
always expanded very largely the gum, and it is not until after this has taken
place with the gum that the real act of dissolving the gum commences; for this
reason a large quantity of the solvent is required. To endeavour to remedy
these inconveniences, and to have the solution of a thick substance, the india
rubber has been heretofore expanded in the solvent, and pressed afterwards by
means of cylinders; the solution obtained by this process preserves a very great
cohesion and elasticity. By the process to be afterwards described I obtain
coutchouc or gutta percha, or the two combined, in a state of solution as thick
and concentrated as may be required, and further, however thick it may be
yet it loses its tenacity and elasticity, and will assume the form of paste after
the evaporation of the solvent, and retake all its former properties. My
process consists in mixing with the solvent, of whatever nature it may be,
a certain quantity of alcohol, and afterwards to macerate the caoutchouc or
gutta percha; they will expand a very little, and at the end of twenty-four
hours it will become in the state of paste, and may be moulded into any
required form. I prefer to employ as a solvent sulphuret of carbon and
chloroform, sulphuric ether, naptha, essential oils of coal of turpentine, and
to which I add from five to fifty per cent. of alcohol; I then mix the caoutchouc
in all proportions, from equal parts up to thirty parts of the alcoholized solvents
to one part part of the caoutchouc, according to the thickness of the solution
required. After one or two days I submit the paste to the process of masti-
cating according to the ordinary plan if I would have an equal solution, and
in case when it is made with small quantities of the solvents; in the contrary
case the beating becomes altogether useless. I adopt the same system when
heating gutta percha, and by these means completely purify it. I then dissolve
it in the alcoholized sulphuret of carbon, and dilute it until it arrives at the
state of thick syrup of sugar, and leave it to remain in that state for three or
four days. The impurities will deposit themselves or swin on the surface. I
draw off the centre part, which gives the gutta percha in a state of complete
purity. Thus it will be seen that the character of the Invention is the mixture
of alcohol with the solvent used for dissolving caoutchouc; alcohol, as is well
known, being the liquid which precipitates most quickly india rubber from its
solutions, it is the property of it which I have applied to this purpose.
In

page_text: causing the alcohol, by means of a solvent, to enter into the interior of the
caoutchouc, or, to better express it, I detach all the adherent atoms which form
the mass of the caoutchouc, at the same form that take place, and as will be
easily seen in a clean solution, to which is added the alcohol; these particles
becomes less adherent among themselves, and are easily separated by pressure,
which can be given, preferring always the form resulting from this pressure,
and not returning, as with the caoutchouc, to their ordinary form. The solvent
and the alcohol being evaporated the rubber will return to its original state.
The alcohol I prefer to employ to mix with the solvent such as spirit of wood, oil
of potato, and all liquids which possess the properties of alcohol, but it would
be difficult to define all the liquids which would act according to my Invention
for the purpose of precipitating the caoutchouc. For its solutions I should com-
prise all liquids which have not the property of dissolving the india rubber, and
which can be introduced into the gum by means of a solvent. I have there-
fore only indicated those which experience has proved to be successful. But
I wish it to be understood that the principle of my Invention is the causing
matters which are not of a solvent nature to be introduced into the
body of the rubber by means of a solvent, and having the property to
disunite the parts constituting the mass of rubber, and destroy the adhe-
rence of the particles, whether these matters are combined with the solvents
or introduced by themselves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustave Eugene Michel Gerard, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
GUSTAVE EUGENE (L.s.) MICHEL GERARD.
Taken and acknowledged by Gustave
Eugene Michel Gerard (party
hereto), at Paris, in the Republic
of France, this 4th day of No-
vember, 1850, before me,

page_text: Samuel Carpmael, of Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex, Gen-
tleman, maketh oath and saith that he is acquainted with the manner and
character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Britannic Majesty's
Consul at Paris, in the Republic of France. And this Deponent further saith
that the signature "Thomas Pickford," set, subscribed, or written in the
margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A, and dated the
Fourth day of November instant, and purporting to be executed by Gustave
Eugene Michel Gerard, of Paris aforesaid, whereby it is stated that the said
Specification was acknowledged by him, the said Gustave Eugene Michel
Gerard, before the said Thomas Pickford, on the said Fourth day of November,
at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas
Dielefond