IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF THE COMPOSITION USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL- CLOTHS AND IN ANALOGOUS MANUFACTURES.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ayrton, of Ormskirk, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PREPARATION OF THE COMPOSITION USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL-
CLOTHS AND IN ANALOGOUS MANUFACTURES.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ayrton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th February 1881.
"
WILLIAM AYRTON, of Ormskirk, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF THE COMPOSITION USED IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF OIL CLOTHS, AND IN ANALOGOUS MANUFACTURES.”
My Invention consists, first, in using in the preparation of the composition used
in the manufacture of oil cloth, table baize, and American leather cloth, and
analogous manufactures silicate of alumina and carbonaceous matters obtained in
admixture from alumina schists or shales, which silicate of alumina and carbonaceous
matters I substitute for or use in conjunction with the china clay or whiting
and the vegetable black ordinarily used in preparing black or grey oil cloth
composition.
In order to obtain the said mixture of silicate of alumina and carbonaceous
matters I take bituminous and other aluminous schists or shales containing a high
per centage of carbonaceous matter, or a higher per centage than that stated in
the Specification of my Patent No. 3592, A.D. 1880, and I treat them by the
process described in that Specification.
My Invention consists, further, in using silicate of alumina obtained from the
refuse resulting from the distillation of aluminous schists or shales in substitution
for the china clay or the whiting ordinarily used in the preparation of the
composition herein before referred to. The said silicate of alumina is obtained
from the said refuse by treating it as described in the Specification of my aforesaid
Patent with reference to bituminous shales.
Silicate of alumina obtained from schists or shales containing iron pyrites is
unfit for use according to my Invention.

page_text: My Invention consists, further, in using a naturally coloured clay or naturally
coloured clays in substitution for the china clay or whiting and the colouring
matters ordinarily used in the preparation of the composition herein before referred
to, the said clay or clays being prepared by grinding and washing, as described in
the Specification of my aforesaid Patent with reference to bituminous shales.
In using the said clay or clays I select one having somewhat the colour or tint
which it is intended the finished cloth shall have, and in preparing the composition
I use the said clay or clays in substitution for the china clay or whiting and the
colouring matters ordinarily used, and I thus produce a cheaper composition than
that produced by the use of the latter materials. Or I use the coloured clay or
clays in combination with the silicate of alumina herein before referred, or in
combination with the silicate of alumina in admixture with carbonaceous matters
hereinbefore referred to when necessary in order to produce the required colour or
tint.

page_text: "
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Ayrton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th August
1881.
WILLIAM AYRTON, of Ormskirk, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF THE COMPOSITION USED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF OIL CLOTHS, AND IN ANALOGOUS MANUFACTURES."
My Invention consists, first, in using in the preparation of the composition used
in the manufacture of oil cloth, table baize, and American leather cloth, and
analogous manufactures silicate of alumina and carbonaceous matters obtained
in admixture from aluminous schists or shales, which silicate of alumina and
carbonaceous matters I substitute for or use in conjunction with the china clay or
whiting and the vegetable black ordinarily used in preparing black or grey oil
cloth composition.
In order to obtain the said mixture of silicate of alumina and carbonaceous
matters I take bituminous and other aluminous schists or shales containing a high
per centage of carbonaceous matter, or a higher per centage than that stated in the
Specification of my Patent No. 3592, A.D. 1880, and I treat the said schists' or
shales by the process described in that Specification.
Silicate of alumina obtained from schists or shales containing iron pyrites is
unfit for use according to my Invention.
My Invention consists further in using naturally coloured silicate of alumina in
substitution for the china clay or whiting and the colouring matters ordinarily used
in the preparation of the composition herein before referred to, which silicate of
alumina I obtain by grinding and washing a naturally coloured clay or naturally
coloured clays, as described in the Specification of my aforesaid Patent with
reference to bituminous shales. By the said process the excess of silica and other
objectionable matters are separated from the silicate of alumina and colouring
matters which are obtained in combination or admixture. Any cheap and common
coloured clay is suitable for the purpose, whether in its natural state or condition
it be soft and moist as fire-clay, or hard and dry as slate-clay, usually denominated
schist or shale.
The silicate of alumina and carbonaceous matter in admixture in the case of
aluminous shales, and the coloured silicate of alumina in the case of the coloured
clay or clays, are or is found in the form of a precipitate in the tank or vat in
which the silicate of alumina is found when shales of the kind referred to in the
Specification of my aforesaid Patent are treated by the process therein described.
In using the prepared coloured clay or clays in the preparation of oil cloth
composition I select a clay having the colour or tint which it is intended the
finished cloth shall have, and in preparing the composition I use the said prepared
coloured clay or clays in substitution for the china clay or whiting and the colouring
matters ordinarily used, and I thus produce a cheaper composition than that
produced by the use of the latter materials.
Where necessary in order to produce the required colour or tint in the composition,
or for other reasons, I use a mixture of two or more of the materials herein before
described as substitutes for the china clay ordinarily used, or as substitutes for the
china clay and colouring matters ordinarily used, and in some cases I use a mixture
of one or more of the said materials and china clay or whiting, but I prefer to use
the materials herein before described in total substitution for china clay or
whiting.
Although it is possible in many cases by the use of prepared coloured clays,
as herein before described, to avoid entirely the use of the colouring matters
ordinarily required, the said colouring matters may be used in conjunction with

page_text: the said coloured clays if it be not convenient to use those clays necessary for
producing the exact colour or tint required. When I use colouring matters in
conjunction with the said clays I prefer to select a clay or clays the colour of
which approximates to that required. The colouring matter is thus economized,
and the amount required is in all cases considerably less than where china clay or
whiting is used as the basis of the composition.
By the use of coloured silicate of alumina obtained from the materials herein
before described the manufacture of oil cloths is much cheapened, the said materials
existing in much greater abundance and being much more widely diffused than the
china clay ordinarily used, and the pigments ordinarily required for colouring the
said composition being dispensed with, or the quantity required much reduced.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which it
is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention of
"Improvements in the Preparation of the Composition Used in the Manufacture
of Oil Cloths, and in analogous Manufactures,”-
First. The use in the preparation of the said composition of silicate of alumina
and carbonaceous matters obtained in admixture from bituminous and other
aluminous schists or shales.
Secondly. The use of naturally coloured silicate of alumina as the basis of the
said composition, the said coloured silicate of alumina being obtained as herein
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ayrton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.