AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID COLLODION AND MOULDING THE SAME INTO ARTICLES OF ANY DESIRED FORM
Year: 1870

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting Engi-
neer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING
SOLID COLLODION AND MOULDING THE SAME INTO ARTICLES OF ANY DESIRED
FORM." A communication from abroad by Isaiah S. Hyatt and
John W. Hyatt, junior, both of Albany, New York, United States
—
of America.
ealed the 15th September 1870, and dated the 26th July 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
$
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition.
and Declaration, on the 26th July 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section.
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM.
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
【ETHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID COLLODION AND MOULDING THE
SAME INTO

page_text: ARTICLES OF ANY DESIRED FORM," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has been
communicated to me from abroad by Isaiah S. Hyatt and John W.
Hyatt, junior, both of Albany, New York, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
Heretofore solid collodion has been produced by saturating pyroxiline
or gun cotton with some liquid solvent, such as ether or dissolved. gum.
camphor, and then allowing the liquid to evaporate until the dry solid
collodion only remains. This process requires the use of a large
quantity of the solvent liquid in order to fully saturate the pyroxiline
and insure its transformation, while the product has to undergo a process
of desiccation before it possesses the requisite solidity to enable it to be
moulded or otherwise formed into the various articles for which it is
adapted.
The object of this Invention is to produce solid collodion in a com-
paratively dry state, when first manufactured, by the use of the least
practicable quantity of the solvent material, and which shall amount
to but a fraction of the quantity required by the process above described.
The nature of my Invention consists,―
First. In subjecting a mixture of pyroxiline pulp and powdered gum
camphor, or other equivalent solvent material, to the combined action of
heat and pressure, which liquifies or vaporizes the solvent material, and
by compressing the pyroxiline pulp into a small bulk enables a com-
paratively small quantity of the solvent material to suffice to saturate
it, and thus effect its desired transformation, while the comminuted
state of the solvent enables a small quantity of it to be readily mixed
with the ground pyroxiline preparatory to the subsequent treatment
thereof.
Secondly. In subjecting the aforesaid mixture of pyroxiline pulp and a
powdered solvent to pressure in heated moulds of appropriate form, so as
to impart to the material compressed therein the desired shape and

page_text: configuration of the article to be produced at the same time and by the
same pressure which is employed in the conversion of the pyroxiline.
In working my process I first reduce the pyroxiline to a fine pulp by
grinding it in water in a machine similar to those employed in grinding
paper pulp, although any other suitable means for the purpose may be
employed; to the pulp. thus prepared may be added and thoroughly
mixed with it, by grinding together or otherwise, any suitable powdered
material, pigment; or other coloring matter as may be required to
increase the gravity or vary the color or nature of the ultimate product,
so as to more perfectly adapt it to the various uses for which it may be
designed. To the ground pulp while still wet, either with or without
the above modifying ingredients, I add and thoroughly mix in any
suitable manner finely pulverized gum camphor in about the proportions
of one part by weight of the camphor to two parts of the pyroxiline
when in a dry state. This proportion of the gum camphor has beeu
found to be sufficient, although a greater quantity may be employed, the
excess above the amount actually required to effect the conversion of
the pyroxiline being wasted. The gum camphor may be comminuted
in any suitable way by grinding in water, by triturating, or it may be
dissolved in alcohol or spirits of wine and then precipitated by adding
water. After the camphor or other suitable solvent is thoroughly mixed
with the wet pyroxiline pulp and other ingredients, the water is expelled,
so far as practicable, by straining and by pressure in a perforated vessel
or by other suitable means; this leaves the mixture in a comparatively
solid and dry state, but containing sufficient moisture to prevent the
pyroxiline from burning or exploding during the remaining process.
This consolidated mass is then placed in a cylinder or mould of any
suitable construction, heated by steam or other means to a temperature
sufficient to liquify or vaporize the camphor or other solvent material
therein, and is subjected to a heavy pressure in a hydraulic or other
press. The temperature of the mould or cylinder in which the material
is placed for conversion will in a measure depend on its diameter or the
size of the mass to be heated through. The temperature should not
exceed 300° (Fahrenheit) as a higher temperature would char the pulp
in contact with the surface of the mould, while a temperature of
150° may perhaps in some cases be sufficient. The heat according
to the degree used liquifies or vaporizes the camphor or other
solvent, while the pressure to which the mass is subjected by reducing

page_text: the bulk forces the solvent through the same în intimate contact with
each particle of the pyroxiline, thereby ensuring its perfect conversion
with the least practicable quantity of the solvent employed. From the
foregoing it is evident that no particular degree of pressure is essential,
although a high degree of pressure is desirable, as it enables à less pro-
portion of solvent to be used while it ensures a more perfect diffusion of
the same throughout the mass. Any solvent the activity of which
depends on a certain degree of heat may be employed to effect the
required transformation. The mixture should remain in the mould or
other vessel under heat and pressure until the complete conversion of
the pyroxiline takes place, which is effected in a few minutes after the
solvent throughout the mass has become active by liquifaction or other-
wise; it should then be left to cool under pressure in the mould. When
first taken out of the mould the product is a solid of about the con-
sistency of sole leather, which subsequently hardens by the evaporization
of the camphor until it becomes hard and tough like horn. Before the
camphor has evaporated the material is easily softened by heat, and may
then be readily moulded into any desirable form, after which, as it hardens,
it retains its shape without any appreciable shrinking. By subjecting
the mixture during its conversion to heat and pressure in moulds the
latter may be made of the form of the article designed to be manu-
factured from the product, and thereby enable the article of the required
shape and configuration to be made complete by the same process by
which the material itself is produced. The material thus produced
possesses smoothness, hardness, toughness, susceptibility to polish, and a
capability of being moulded into any desired form; it may be made of
any required color, and can be produced at such a reduced cost by the
said improved process as to render it a suitable, economical, and desirable
material for an almost endless variety of purposes.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, and shewn how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,-
First. In the manufacture of solid collodion the subjection of a mixture
of pyroxiline pulp and powdered gum camphor or other equivalent
solvent to heat and pressure during the process of conversion, substan-
tially as herein-before set forth.
Second. The subjection of the mixture of pyroxiline pulp and a
suitable solvent material during the conversion of the former into

page_text: collodion, to pressure in heated moulds of suitable form to impart to the
material compressed within them the shape and configuration of the
article which is designed to be manufactured therefrom, substantially as
herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
W. J. LOWE.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)

page_text: Filed 13th September 1882.
66
In the Matter of Letters Patent granted to William Robert Lake of the
International Patent Office," Southampton Buildings London, Consulting
Engineer for the Invention of AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFAC**
** TURING SOLID COLLODION AND MOULDING THE SAME INTO ARTICLES
' OF ANY DESIRED FORM " A Communication from abroad by Isaiah,
S. Hyatt, and John W. Hyatt, Junior, both of Albany, New York, United.
States of America dated the 26th July 1870 No 2101 which Letters
Patent have been assigned to and are now vested in the Celluloid
Manufacturing Company of Newark, New Jersey, in the United States
aforesaid
DISCLAIMER AND MEMORANDUM OF ALTERATION proposed to be filed
by the said Celluloid Manufacturing Company.
WHEREAS Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Royal Letters
Patent bearing date the 26th day of July in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy in the thirty fourth year of Her Reign did
for herself ber heirs and successors give and grant unto the said William
Robert Lake his executors administrators and assigns the sole privilege of making
using exercising and vending within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland the Channel Islands and Isle of Man the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SOLID COLLODION AND MOULDING THE SAME INTO
"
ARTICLES OF ANY DESIRED FORM a Complete Specification of which invention
was duly filed in the Great Seal Patent Office with the petition for the said Letters
Patent And whereas by Assignment dated the 20th day of February 1871 and
by divers mesne Assignments and ultimately by an assignment dated the 3rd day
of December 1881 all of which were duly recorded in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: aforesaid the said Letters Patent and all right title and interest in and to the same
have been assigned to and are now vested in the said Company.
And whereas since the said Assignments were made and recorded we have
ascertained that in respect of the solvents employed in practising the said invention
the description and claims are ambiguous and do not distinguish that substance
which was known to be useful and effectual from those substances not known to
be suitable for the purpose specified we are therefore desirous of amending and
limiting the description and claims in the manner hereinafter appearing.
or
NOW KNOW YE therefore that we the said Celluloid Manufacturing Company
by and with the consent of Her Majesty's Attorney General do alter and amend
the said Specification as follows;-that is to say, referring to the Queen's Printers'
copy of the said specification on page 2 thereof we strike out of line 26 the words
or other equivalent solvent material" and on page 3 we strike out of line 21 the
words "or other suitable solvent" and we strike out of line 29 the words «
other solvent material" and out of lines 37 and 38 the words "or other solvent"
and on page 4 we strike out the sentence commencing with the word "Any" in
line 7 and terminating with the word "transformation" in line 9. And on the
same page we strike out of lines 34 and 35 the words "or other equivalent
"solvent" and out of lines 37 and 38 the words "a suitable."
And in order that the effect of the said Disclaimer and Memorandum of
Alteration may be fully understood we annex, a copy of the said Specification
(omitting the introductory and concluding clauses thereof) as it will appear when
the above specified alterations have been made therein.
"Heretofore solid collodion has been produced by saturating pyroxiline or gun
" cotton with some liquid solvent, such as ether or dissolved gum camphor,
and then allowing the liquid to evaporate until the dry solid collodion only
" remains.
"
66
This process requires the use of a large quantity of the solvent liquid in order
" to fully saturate the pyroxiline and insure its transformation, while the product
"has to undergo a process of desiccation before it possesses the requisite solidity
" to enable it to be moulded or otherwise formed into the various articles for
which it is adapted.
*
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
"The object of this Invention is to produce solid collodion in a comparatively
dry state, when first manufactured, by the use of the least practicable quantity
of the solvent material, and which shall amount to but a fraction of the quantity
required by the process above described. The nature of my Invention consists,
first, in subjecting a mixture of pyroxiline pulp and powdered gum camphor, to
the combined action of heat and pressure, which liquefies or vaporizes the solvent
material, and by compressing the pyroxiline pulp into a small bulk enables a
comparatively small quantity of the solvent material to suffice to saturate it,
" and thus effect its desired transformation, while the comminuted state of the
solvent enables a small quantity of it to be readily mixed with the ground
pyroxiline preparatory to the subsequent treatment thereof; secondly, in
subjecting the aforesaid mixture of pyroxiline pulp and a powdered solvent to
pressure in heated moulds of appropriate form, so as to impart to the material
compressed therein the desired shape and configuration of the article to be
produced at the same time and by the same pressure which is employed in the
conversion of the pyroxiline. In working my process I first reduce the pyroxiline
to a fine pulp by grinding it in water in a machine similar to those employed in
grinding paper pulp, although any other suitable means for the purpose may be
employed; to the pulp thus prepared may be added and thoroughly mixed with
"it, by grinding together or otherwise, any suitable powdered material, pigment,
" or other coloring matter as may be required to increase the gravity or vary the
"colour or nature of the ultimate product, so as to more perfectly adapt it to the
"various uses for which it may be designed. To the ground pulp while still wet,
either with or without the above modifying ingredients, I add and thoroughly
"
"
«
"
"
"
"
"

page_text: "
"
"
*
"mix in any suitable manner finely pulverized gum camphor in about the
proportions of one part by weight of the camphor to two parts of the pyroxiline.
"when in a dry state. This proportion of the gum camphor has been found to be
"sufficient, although a greater quantity may be employed, the excess above the
"amount actually required to effect the conversion of the pyroxiline being wasted.
"The gum camphor may be comminuted in any suitable way by grinding in
"water, by triturating, or it may be dissolved in alcohol or spirits of wine and
"then precipitated by adding water. After the camphor is thoroughly mixed
"with the wet pyroxiline pulp and other ingredients, the water is expelled, so far
as practicable, by straining and by pressure in a perforated vessel or by other
"suitable means; this leaves the mixture in ȧ comparatively solid and dry state,
"but containing sufficient moisture to prevent the pyroxiline from burning or
exploding during the remaining process. This consolidated mass is then placed
"in a cylinder or mould of any suitable construction, heated by steam or other
"means to a temperature sufficient to liquefy or vaporize the camphor'therein, and
" is subjected to a heavy pressure in a hydraulic or other press. The temperature
"of the mould or cylinder in which the material is placed for conversion will in a
"measure depend on its diameter or the size of the mass to be heated through.
"The temperature should not exceed 300° (Fahrenheit) as a higher temperature
"would char the pulp in contact with the surface of the mould, while a temperature
"of 150° may perhaps in some cases be sufficient. The heat according to the
degree used liquefies or vaporizes the camphor while the pressure to which the
"mass is subjected by reducing the bulk forces the solvent through the same in
" intimate contact with each particle of the pyroxiline, thereby ensuring its perfect
"conversion with the least practicable quantity of the solvent employed. From
"the foregoing it is evident that no particular degree of pressure is essential,
although a high degree of pressure is desirable, as it enables a less proportion of
"solvent to be used while it ensures a more perfect diffusion of the same through-
" out the mass. The mixture should remain in the mould or other vessel under
"heat and pressure until the complete conversion of the pyroxiline takes place,
"which is effected in a few minutes after the solvent throughout the mass bas
" become active by liquefaction or otherwise; it should then be left to cool under
" pressure in the mould. When first taken out of the mould the product is a solid
"of about the consistency of sole leather, which subsequently hardens by the
evaporization of the camphor until it becomes hard and tough like born. Before
"the camphor has evaporated the material is easily softened by heat, and may
"then be readily moulded into any desirable form, after which, as it hardens, it
"retains its shape without any appreciable shrinking. By subjecting the mixture
during its conversion to heat and pressure in moulds the latter may be made of
"the form of the article designed to be manufactured from the product, and
thereby enable the article of the required shape and configuration to be made
complete by the same process by which the material itself is produced. The
"material thus produced possesses smoothness, hardness, toughness, susceptibility
"to polish, and a capability of being moulded into any desired form; it may be
"made of any required colour and can be produced at such a reduced cost by the
"said improved process as to render it a suitable, economical, and desirable material
"for an almost endless variety of purposes.
"
"
"
"
"
"
"
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, and shewn how the same may be conveniently and
advantageously carried into practice; I claim.-
"First. In the manufacture of solid collodion the subjection of a mixture of
pyroxiline pulp and powdered gum camphor to heat and pressure during the
process of conversion, substantially as herein-before set forth.
"Second-The subjection of the mixture of pyroxiline pulp and solvent material
during the conversion of the former into collodion, to pressure in heated moulds
" of suitable form to impart to the material compressed within them the shape and

page_text: "
configuration of the article which is designed to be manufactured therefrom,
substantially as herein-before set forth."
In witness whereof we John A Barton (President) and Warren S. Sillcocks
both Directors of the said Celluloid Manufacturing Company have on
behalf of said Company hereunto set our hands and seals and caused the
seal of the said Company to be affixed this twenty third day of August in.
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
To the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions.
I hereby grant my Fiat giving leave to the above named Celluloid Manufacturing
Company, as Assignees of the said Letters Patent, to file in the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents for Inventions, with the Specification to which the same
relates the above written Disclaimer and Memorandum of Alteration.