IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THREADS FROM OR WITH GUTTA PERCHA, AND IN ORNAMENTING THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 28th July 1854, and dated the 3rd February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Joseph Meeus
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February 1854.
I, PIERRE JOSEPH MEEUS, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF THREADS FROM OR WITH GUTTA PERCHA, AND IN ORNAMENTING THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in manufacturing threads from strips of gutta
percha sheet. I cut the gutta percha sheet into strips of the required dimen-
sions, then twist and make them into a thread of the fineness or coarseness
desired. Or I twist or twine a strip or strips round a thread or core of silk,
cotton, or metal, &c., as is commonly done in covering silk, &c., with thin
surfaces or strips of gold, silver, &c.
In some cases I twist or employ, in combination with my gutta percha
threads, threads of silk, gold, cotton, &c., or I cover them entirely with such
threads.

page_text: Another means of producing a gutta percha thread consists in passing cotton
and other threads through gutta percha solution. I claim therefore the pro-
duction of gutta percha thread made from sheets of gutta percha, as herein-
before partially described, or by twisting strips of gutta percha round threads
made of other materials, whether such threads are applied to render fabrics
waterproof, or to produce a metallic or flocked surface by the direct application
of metal powder, metal leaf, or other substance in powder to such threads
before or after weaving.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Joseph Mecus in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
JOSEPH MEEUS, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Pierre Joseph Mceus, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre Joseph
Meeus, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Pierre Joseph Mecus, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, 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 THREADS FROM OR WITH GUTTA PERCHA, AND IN ORNAMENTING
THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Joseph
Meeus, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 I, the said Pierre Joseph Meeus, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: My Invention consists in a mode or modes of manufacturing threads from or
with gutta percha (either pure or mixed with such other materials as are com-
monly combined therewith), and in a mode or modes of ornamenting threads
made from or with gutta percha.
The manner in which I manufacture my gutta percha threads is as follows:-
I take a thin sheet of gutta percha and cut it into strips of the required width,
by any convenient arrangement of machinery. I then use these strips as threads,:
or I twist them separately or two or more of them together and pass them
through a die plate or gauge applying a gentle heat at the same time so as to
form round threads. Or I twist or twine a strip or strips round a thread or
core of silk, cotton, or metal, &c., as is commonly done in covering silk, &c.,
with thin surfaces or strips of gold, silver, &c. Another means of producing a
gutta percha thread consists in passing cotton and other threads through a
gutta percha solution once or oftener until a sufficiently thick coating is obtained.
The manner in which I ornament gutta percha threads is as follows:-I twist
or employ, in combination with them, threads of silk, cotton, or other textile
material, or of gold, silver, or other metal. Or I cover them entirely with such
threads, or with gold, silver, or other metal, in the state of leaf or powder, or
with flock or other like powder, or with varnish or pigments.
The machinery which I employ for cutting thin sheets of gutta percha into
strips or threads, is the same that is commonly used for cutting threads of
caoutchouc or fringed paper; but I prefer to use a steel roller having a series
of grooves formed round it, with sharp edges between the grooves working in
combination with another plain roller. The sheet of gutta percha is placed on
a sheet of cardboard or lead or zinc and passed between the rollers, when the
gutta percha will be cut up into strips or threads, which can be used as above
mentioned.
I employ the gutta percha threads made according to my Invention in the
manufacture of stuffs and fabrics of every description for the purpose of ren-
dering the same waterproof, and of producing therein stripes and patterns of all
kinds. I likewise use them in embroidering by hand, in net, lace, and other
descriptions of fancy work, and in the production of patterns on fabrics in the
jacquard loom, and for making outlines in embroidery, &c. The gutta percha
threads may be ornamented, after having been woven or otherwise worked into
fabrics of any description, by gilding or coating them, with metal leaf or powder
or flock powder on all those parts which appear on the surface of the fabric.
For this purpose it is merely necessary to subject the fabric to a gentle heat,
so as to render the gutta percha adhesive, and then to apply the metal leaf or

page_text: powder, and submit the fabric to a slight pressure so as to cause the leaf or
powder to adhere, the superfluous quantity being afterwards brushed off.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as my
Invention is,-
First, the manufacture of gutta percha threads by cutting thin sheets of
gutta percha into strips, and twisting such strips either singly or two or more
together with the aid of heat and compression so as to form round threads, as
herein-before described.
Second, the manufacture of gutta percha threads by twisting or twining a
strip or strips of gutta percha round a thread or core of textile material or
metal, or by passing such thread or core through a solution of gutta percha, as
herein-before described; and,
Third, the ornamenting of gutta percha threads by the direct application
thereto of metal leaf, metal powder, or other substance in powder, either before
or after such threads have been woven or otherwise worked into fabrics, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Joseph Meeus, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
PIERRE JUSEPH MEEUS. (L.S.)