Improvements in or relating to Artificial Ivory.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Nov., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Artificial Ivory.
I, CAESAR MARTER, of 6, Colosseum Terrace, Albany Street, N.W. in the County
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My present application for Letters Patent relates to the production of a substance
having the appearance and properties of ivory. This article can be produced in
slabs or pieces of any desired size, and in point of appearance, hardness, and
resistance to moisture and other influences will compare with the best ivory.
The article of my invention may be produced in various ways according to the
precise use for which it is designed, but the method I at present prefer is as
follows:-Bones of any kind whether fresh or dried are first purified by
liminary process, as for instance by benzine or bisulphide of carbon processes to
remove the grease. The purified bones are then subjected if needful to the action
of a bleaching agent, such for instance as a solution of chloride of lime until
they are sufficiently white for the purpose in view. They are then reduced to
powder or to fine shavings by any suitable process as by scraping, pounding, grind-
ing or otherwise. The powdered or scraped bone is then mixed with a glutinous
material, such as a thick solution of gum Arabic or the like, and the stiff paste
thereby produced is placed in a mould or form of the requisite size and shape
aud subjected to pressure. The resulting block after being thoroughly dried
presents the appearance of a coherent, homogeneous body of the appearance and
strength of ivory, and can be worked, sawn or treated in the same manner as
that substance. When the artificial ivory thus produced has been properly mixed
and sufficiently pressed the particles of bone are brought into such intimate
cohesion that the block remains unaffected by moisture, the greater part of the
gum or other cementing material having been expressed during the process of
manufacture leaving almost entirely insoluble bone behind.
The artificial ivory of my invention may be used for any of the purposes to
which the natural ivory is applicable, such for instance, as for carving, inlaying,
pianoforte keys, billiard balls or the like. It is the more satisfactory as an ivory
substitute in that the specific gravity of the artificial mass closely approximates
to that of natural ivory.
I, CAESAR MARTER, of 6, Colosseum Terrace, Albany Street, N.W. in the County
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
[Price 8d.]

page_text: manuer the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:--
My present application for Lotters l'atent relates to the production of a substance
having the appearance and properties of ivory. This article can be produced in
slabs or pieces of any desired size and in point of appearance, hardness, aud
resistance to moisture and other influences will compare with the best ivory.
The article of my invention may be produced in various ways according to the
precise use for which it is designed. Thus for instance one method of producing
the same by the aid of finely comminuted bone with the addition of a certain
amount of glutinous material as set forth in my Provisional Specification.
Further experiment and practical tests have however demonstrated that the
process as then known to me possessed various drawbacks in as much as the
product thus obtained was not practically satisfactory either in regard to outward
appearance or in cohesive properties. The best method at present known to me
for carrying my invention into practise is as follows:- -
The raw material may consists of bones of any kind whether fresh or dry but
preferably of tolerably recent boues of cattle, calves or sheep.
The first operation consists in thoroughly cleansing the bones from any adherent
flesh or skin or traces of blood. This may be done in any suitable inanner with
the aid of a bleaching material such for instance as chloride of lime (leaching
powder). The cleansed bones are then treated with a solvent for the purpose of
removing the grease contained in them; suitable solvents for the purpose are
bi-sulphide of carbon or benzine, and the operation is wellknown and needs no
further description. The bones thus purified are then preferably sorted according
to colour. In order to produce the appearance of ivory in which strata of slightly
different colour are visible it is advisable to select the bone accordingly and to
combine layers of corresponding colour; thus most beef bones possess a more or
less gray colour, veal bones usually possess a more or less creamy colour, and
mutton bones are usually intermediate in colour betweon the two. It will also
be found that in large bones the outer layers of the bone are of a distinctly different
shade to the inner layers. The selected homes are then subjected to the action
of cutters or tools, such for instance as are well known in connection with wood-
working machinery for planing and cutting wood and are reduced to the form of
shavings or thin strips. If sufficiently light in colour they may then be further
treated without purification, but, they usually require to be further bleached by
a suitable bleaching agent auch for instance as bleaching powder, peroxide of
hydrogen or of barium or any other suitable bleaching agent. When these
shavings are sufliciently white they are placed in a vessel, preferably closed,
together with a small quantity of water, and are boiled or digested until a slight
softening of the shavings takes place and the gelatine of the bone is rendered
to some extent soluble. If the proportion of water is properly chosen the mass
will be sufficiently cooked when the water has been almost entirely evaporated.
I finally place the shavings thus prepared in the matrix of a powerful press and
apply sufficient compression to the same to force them to take the desired shape.
In arranging the bone in the press care should be taken to place different shades
of shavings in layers in such a manner that the finished product will appear to
have a varied grain corresponding to the varied appearance of natural ivory. The
amount of compression required for a given object will vary according to the
condition of the shavings to be pressed and the object to be formed.
In general, it is advisable to give a considerable but not excessivo pressure
when the shavings are first placed in the press and after a given time to complete
the operation by pressing to the maximum power of the press thereby, causing
the mass already partially ceniented by the soluble or semi soluble gelatine to
cohere firmly in one solid mass. If found desirable the mould or die may be
heated in any convenient manner before or during the pressing operation. The
coherence of the object thus formed is very materially increased by the inter
lacing or crossing of the fibres of bone shaving giving to the whole mass very

page_text: great increase of cohesive power as compared with masses prepared from bone
dust. It is sometimes desirable to give the mass after pressing a more polished
and translucent appearance than it naturally possesses. This may suitably be
obtained by treating the surface with a colourless oil preferably a mineral lubricat-
ing oil of high gravity, or by plunging it in a bath of melted paraffin wax or the
like and removing any surplus adherent to the surface in the usual manner.
In conclusion, I desire to state that I am aware that it has been proposed to
prepare a solid material from bone dust with or without the addition of other
substances by pressure and the addition of binding substances and I make no
claim for such process and I have proved that bone dust, however treated, does
not possess sufficient cohesive strength to give a practically useful substitute for
natural ivory; nor do I restrict myself to any particular method of reducing bones
to the condition of fibres or shavings nor to any particular machine for pressing
or moulding the said fibres, but,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
The improved method of manufacture of artificial ivory from bone consisting
essentially in reducing the purified bones to the state of shavings or fibres, boiling
or digesting the said shavings with a limited quantity of liquid until the gelatine
of the bone is rendered partly soluble, and finally subjecting the softened mass
to pressure in a suitable mould with or without the application of heat, substan-
tially as and for the purpose described
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.