IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA TO THE MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES AND MATS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Astley Paston Price at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th August
1868. A communication from abroad by Anthony Pollak, of the City
of Washington, in the United States of America.
I, ASTLEY PASTON PRICE, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION OF INDIA-RUBBER AND GUTTA PERCHA TO
THE MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES AND MATS," a communication to me from abroad
by Anthony Pollak, of the City of Washington, in the United States of
America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of the application of india-rubber and gutta percha
to the manufacture of certain articles in common use named brushes and hall
or door mats.
With respect to the first head of the Invention, namely, the application
of the before-mentioned materials to the manufacture of brushes, it may bo
observed that in the ordinary manufacture of brushes the manner of securing
the bristles has prevented their being firmly held, so that they soon become
loose and drop out long before the bristles are deteriorated. This is par-
ticularly the case with brushes that are used in water, acids, or other fluids or
solutions, as when fastened or secured with the cement commonly employed
it becomes soft by their action, and when fastened by wires the wires-become
rusty or eaten away. Now this Invention consists in a new mode of securing
bristles or other materials used in the manufacture of brushes by fixing them

page_text: in a setting, or backing, or stock of india-rubber or gutta percha, whereby the
bristles are so firmly held and clasped by the elastic force of the rubber or
gutta percha that they cannot become loose or be drawn out, and will retain
their place until entirely worn out, and so that the action of water, acids, or
other fluids or solutions cannot as in ordinary brushes act upon or destroy
their setting. For this purpose I employ a composition of india-rubber or
gutta percha with white lead or zinc, white sulphur, or other substances
employed in the vulcanization of india-rubber or gutta percha, and the
compound material is then subjected to the necessary degree of heat in moulds
according to the desired amount of flexibility required after the bristles or
other substances have been suitably arranged therein. Previously to and whilst
submitting the brushes to the action of heat in order to effect the vulcanization
of the india-rubber or gutta percha, cold water may be admitted to or brought
into contact with the bristles so that they may not be injured by the heat.
The result is that the bristles become firmly imbedded in the composition and
cannot become loose therein. By the application of the proper degree of heat
in any of the well known modes adopted by manufacturers, the back or stock
of the brush may be made of a flexible composition of india-rubber or gutta
percha, so as to be adapted to irregular or curved surfaces,, or if desired it may
be made inflexible.
With regard to the second head of Invention, namely, the application of
india-rubber and gutta percha to the manufacture of hall or door mats, it
consists of forming them with protuberances arranged in series upon the upper
surface. These proturberances may be either conical, or pyramidal, solid, or
hollow, and they are formed like the rest of tho mat of india-rubber or gutta
percha, or both combined, with any of the various materials usually mixed
with either of them for manufacturing purposes. The protuberances may,
where economy is desired, be manufactured of a superior class of vulcanized
india-rubber or gutta percha to the rest or body of the mat.