IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOOTH BRUSHES AND OTHER BRUSHES
Year: 1868

page_text: I
LETTERS PATENT to Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill, of Cheapside,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF TOOTH BRUSHES AND OTHER BRUSHES."
Sealed the 5th March 1869, and dated the 28th October 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Brusey Cow and
John Hill at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 28th October 1868,
We, PETER BRUSEY Cow and JOHN HILL, of Cheapside, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im.
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TOOTH BRUSHES AND OTHER BRUSHES," to
be as follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
tooth brushes and other brushes.
There has lately been introduced into the market a porous form of
vulcanized india-rubber called india-rubber sponge. According to our
Invention we substitute this material for bristles in the manufacture of
tooth brushes. We cement or fix a piece of india-rubber sponge to a
Price 8d1

page_text: handle of bone or other rigid material like the handle of an ordinary
tooth brush, and we form ridges on the surface of the spongy material.
Other brushes we make in a similar manner by fixing spongy vulcanized
india-rubber to a rigid back and handle; or in some cases, as for horse
brushes and many other brushes, a rigid back only is required; and for
these purposes we groove the surface of the spongy vulcanized india-
rubber to obtain a more brush-like action. In some cases we checker or
cross groove the surface; in some cases also we form a brush by stretch-
ing a sheet of spongy india-rubber over a suitably formed block of wood
or other material, and attaching this block to a brush back (which may
be provided with a handle) by screws or fastenings, so that the spongy
sheet is nipped and held between the two.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PETER
то
BRUSEY Cow and JOHN HILL, of Cheapside, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill, Her
special licence that we, the said Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill, our
executors, administrators, and assigus, or such others as we, the said
Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and uo 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
TOOTH BRUSHES AND OTHER BRUSHES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill, our exccutors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should

page_text: 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 we, the said Peter Brusey Cow and John Hill,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, te be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
tooth brushes and other brushes.
There has lately been introduced into the market a porous form of
vulcanized india-rubber called india-rubber sponge. According to our
Invention we substitute this material for bristles in the manufacture of
brushes. We cement or fix a piece of india-rubber sponge to a back or
handle, and we form grooves on the surface of the spongy material to
obtain a more brush-like action.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed are shown various forms of brushes
and various modes of connecting the sponge to the backs or handles,
but we would have it understood, that we do not confine ourselves to
making brushes of the forms shown or to the method described of
attaching the sponge to the backs or handles, as other arrangements
may be adopted.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shows a tooth brush made
according to our Invention of spongy vulcanized india-rubber. In the
brush shown in the Drawing the handle is made of ebonite or hard
india-rubber. The handle is moulded into the desired form from the
india-rubber compound whilst it is in its plastic or uncured state; and
on the end to which the sponge is to be attached an undercut groove a
is formed, as shown in the separate views of the handle at Figures 2.
When the handles have been cured they are trimmed, finished, and
polished in the usual way and as is well nuderstood, and are then ready
to have the pieces of sponge cemented to thein. We take spongy india.
rubber made in a similar manner to that described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to Messrs. F. Forster and J. Heartfield on the 2ud
day of September 186. No. 2715, and cut it into pieces of the requisite
size. The groove in the ebonite back and such parts of the piece of
spouge as will come in contact therewith are then well coated with

page_text: cement, and while the cement is wet the sponge is compressed by the
finger and thumb and drawn into the groove a of the ebonite back.
When the cement has set we cut transverse grooves in the surface of the
sponge, as shewn at Figure 1. Nail brushes and brushes for other
purposes may similarly be very conveniently made with ebonite backs
formed with a similar undercut groove a to receive the sponge. Such a
brush is shown in plan view and end view at Figures 3 and 4. When
making brushes of this size we prefer to cut the serrations on the surface
of the, sponge before cementing it to its back, and for this purpose we
cause the blocks of sponge slightly to adhere to a piece of flat wood the
size of the intended back, and pass the spongy surfaces endways past
the cutting knives by which the grooves are cut. Brushes for cleaning
horses and for other purposes may also very advantageously be formed
of india-rubber sponge applied to a back of wood, as shown at Figures 5
and 6.
A thin sheet of india-rubber sponge is first neatly doubled over
and cemented down to a thin piece of board a, the piece of board so
covered over is then fixed by screws to the wooden back b, the doubled
over edges of the sheet sponge being between the board a and back b;
a block of india-rubber sponge is then cemented on to the surface of the
sheet of sponge, and the brush is finished. Figure 6x is a bath or -flesh
brush thus constructed. Blocks of sponge with corrugations cut in
their face may also be fixed to flexible backs of vulcanized india-rubber,
as shewn at Figures 7 and 8. The back is first moulded to form and
cured, and the sponge is then cemented to it with india-rubber cement.
Figures 9 and 10 show a. brush suitable for washing the spokes of
wheels. a is a wooden handle, the stem a of which is surrounded with
a thin sheet of sponge which is cemented to it; to this covering of
sponge strips of sheet sponge c are afterwards cemented, as shown by
the sectional view, Figure 10, the edges of the adjoining strips being
cemented one to the other, as shown, so as to form radial projections
standing out from the stem of the brush.
For cutting the serrations in the face of the blocks of india-rubber
sponge we prefer to employ circular cutters mounted on the mandril of
an ordinary lathe, as shewn at Figure 11. The mandril may either be
arranged to carry a sufficient number of cutters to form the requisite
number of cuts into the face of the block of sponge at one operation, as
shown in the Drawing, or one cutter only might be carried by it and
.the requisite number of cuts be made at successive operations.

page_text: In the Drawing shown at Figure 11 a represents the mandril of the
lathe carrying the circular cutter or cutters 6 formed of discs of thin
sheet steel. c is a bed through slots in which the knives or cutters b
pass; this bed is carried at its lower end by a hinge joint, and can be
set at any desired angle by the screw d. If the mandril carries several
cutters, as shown by the Drawing, the angle at which the bed is set
should be such that each of the cutters shall project an equal distance
above it, so that the cutters shall each cut to an equal depth into any
block of rubber which may be moved past them. e is a guide against
which the blocks of rubber are held carefully as they are by hand slid
forward past the cutters along the bed e. f is a screw by which the
position of the guide e can be adjusted. When a block of sponge has
been moved in one direction past the cutters the block is reversed and
again moved past the cutters. Strips or pieces of sponge triangular in
section are thus cut away from the face of the sponge, and these pieces
may be removed by hand, whilst the surface of the sponge will be left
with a serrated or grooved surface, as shewn by the Drawings. Care
should be taken to keep the knives wet during the operation of cutting.
If desired cross grooves may again be cut in the face of the sponge.
In witness whereof, we, the said Peter Brusey Cow and Jehn Hill,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-sixth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine.
P. B. COW.
(L.S.)
JOHN HILL. (L.S.)