A NEW PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DESIGNS IN RELIEVO, AND IN DEEPENING ON SHEETS OF INDIA-RUBBER OF ANY LENGTH WHATEVER
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugene de la Bastida, of 43, Hart Street, Blooms-
bury Square, W.C., London, in the County of Middlesex, England, for
the Invention of "A NEW PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DESIGNS IN
RELIEVO, AND IN DEEPENING ON SHEETS OF INDIA-RUBBER OF ANY LENGTH
WHATEVER. A communication from abroad by Messrs. Albert Cohen
and Charles Vaillant, of Harbourg-on-Elbe, Hanover, Manufacturers.
Sealed the 18th November 1862, and dated the 22nd May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugene de la Bastida at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd May 1862.
I, EUGENE DE LA BASTIDA, of 43, Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square, W.C.,
London, in the County of Middlesex, England, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "A NEW PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DESIGNS
IN RELIEVO, AND IN DEEPENING ON SHEETS OF INDIA-RUBBER OF ANY LENGTH
WHATEVER," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the production of designs in relievo and
deep on sheets of india-rubber of any length destined to be used as carpets,
coverlets, hangings, and other articles with designs of vulcanized india-rubber,
gutta percha, and all other substances more or less analogous to india-rubber,
whatever be their denomination.
It is now a long time since the use of india-rubber has been tried in the
manufacturing of carpets and hanging, which should in the open air and in
damp places resist the influences of the atmosphere; but before the present

page_text: ก
moment nothing had been discovered except the very slow and laborious
process of composing these articles of small pieces (like piece of mosaic
work) before being vulcanized, and afterwards uniting them by means of vul-
canization. By this process only the very simplest designs could be pro-
duced, such as those composed of triangles, squares, polygons, circles, and
other equally simple figures.
Let us now see in what the new process consists. On the under board or
table of a strong press of suitable description, and with detached metallic
pieces, which fit together exactly, the design to be reproduced is composed.
Upon the plate thus composed we place a sheet of soft and malleable india-
rubber of the requisite thickness and not vulcanized, which we then press
forcibly on the prepared design by means of the upper board. The press
boards, upper and lower, are disposed in such a manner as to be capable of
being heated as the pressing advances, which is done to the temperature of from
120° to 150°. The sheet of india-rubber thus placed between the two boards
or plates so heated becomes vulcanized, and the design which has been
impressed upon it does not afterwards undergo any change, be it exposed
to cold, heat, or damp. The advantages of this method of proceeding may
be enumerated thus:-
i
1°. By composing the mould or matrix of a certain number of figures and
ornaments disposed in different manners, a great many different designs may
be obtained, whereas otherwise it would be necessary to compose a different
plate specially for each size and for each design.
2º. The design once composed, in 30 or 40 minutes afterwards the sheet of
india-rubber may receive the impression of a carpet, for instance, and the
designs be continued ad infinitum by passing forwards between the boards for
the next, pressing that part of the sheet which remained outside non-
vulcanized; and when the first sheet is finished another is attached to the end
of it, and undergoes the same process; the second impression becomes com-
pletely vulcanized, and corresponds exactly with the first, and so on with the
others.
3°. The richest and most complicated designs may be produced by this
method of proceeding, to which may also be added inscriptions with letters
hollow or in relievo.
We manufacture in that manner the following articles:-Carpets for anti-
chambers, garden pavilions, stairs, railway and other carriages, door mats,
hanging and tapestries for damp apartments, reproduction of ornaments in
relief, sign boards, and a great number of other articles connected with this
branch of industry.

page_text: Now, what is claimed by this Invention is not the press with its heated
boards or plates, nor the vulcanization of india-rubber things that are sup-
posed to be already known and employed by manufacturers in a thousand.
ways; but the Patent is sought for this method of manufacturing carpets,
hangings, and other similar objects of indefinite length by means of pressure
and vulcanization combining and acting simultaneously, and also for the pro-
duction of the most varied designs whose composition is obtained by the help
of hollow plates forming all the various combinations that are possible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eugene de la Bastida in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
DE LA BASTIDA, of 43, Hart Street, Bloomsbury Square, in the County of
Middlesex, England, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Eugene de la Bastida, Her special licence that I, the said
Eugene de la Bastida, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Eugène de la Bastida, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "A NEW PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF DESIGNS IN
RELIEVO, AND IN DEEPENING ON SHEETS OF INDIA-RUBBER OF ANY LENGTH WHAT-
EVER," which Invention is a communication from abroad to me by Messrs.
Albert Cohen and Charles Vaillant, Manufacturers of India-rubber Articles, at
Harbourg-upon-Elbe (Hanover), upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Eugene de la Bastida, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eugene de la Bastida, 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:-
This Invention has for its objects the production of ornamental designs on
sheets of india-rubber intended to be used for carpets, mats, bangings for
walls, and such like purposes. India-rubber and its compounds have already
been used in the manufacture of carpets, mats, and hangings for walls in a
variety of ways, all more or less of an appearance wanting in ornament, and
yet of a costly character.
Now, my. Invention consists in the production of cheap ornamental designs.
I take a number of small separate pieces of metal or other suitable material,
having upon them designs sunk or in relief of an ornamental character, and
with them, upon an iron table, compose numerous parts of types, and thus
produce the patterns for carpet or other article to be made.
I then place a
sheet of india-rubber or india-rubber compound prepared for vulcanization,
and of a suitable thickness, upon the pattern composed of ornamental designs,
and bring down a plate of metal with sufficient force to press the sheet of
india-rubber into or upon the designs, and to take an exact impression thereof;
I then heat the table, and vulcanize the india-rubber, after which it is
unchanged by moisture or atmospheric influences.
It will be obvious that, by composing the pattern of a number of small
separate designs accurately fitting together, I may obtain a variety of patterns
by simply transposing the numerous parts of which each design is composed,
and I may, with great facility, increase or diminish the size of my pattern;
thus I avoid the ordinary and expensive moulds and special fixed sizes. I
produce carpets and mats of any length by vulcanizing between the hot plates
a piece at a time.
Very rich ornaments, crests, coats of arms, inscriptions, mottos, monograms,
initial letters, and devices of the most elegant and elaborate description
may be produced upon carpets, mats, and such like articles of india-rubber
and its compounds by this my Invention in a cheap and expeditious manner
hitherto unattainable. Among the articles so produced may be mentioned carpets
for anti-chambers, gardens, pavillions, stairs, railway and other carriages, door
mats, hangings and tapestries for damp appartments.
And in order that my Invention may be perfectly understood, I proceed
to explain more fully the way in which I carry out the same.
I carve or
model in wood or any other suitable material in dimensions, say 3 inches
square or thereabouts, an ornament, such as a flower, a leaf, a scroll, an

page_text: ornamental letter, a crest, coat of arms, inscription, motto, monogram, initial
letters, or a device of the most elegant and elaborate description; and I then
mould and cast a number of them in iron or any other suitable material; and
having a number of these devices of different characters, I make them all
exactly of one size, so that a composed "form" of any dimension or shape can
be made, provided it be a multiple of the unit of size or square I have fixed
upon; and I, having various devices, but all of one size, can arrange them in
a great variety of ways, producing patterns, for instance, with a flower at each
corner, and a scroll to form a border, and the centre made up with monograms
would be one pattern, and of which a certain number of mats could be made;
then simply transpose the same, putting the monogram for the border, and the
scrolls for the centre or a part of it, and another pattern is produced; and it is
well known that by having a certain number of different patterns made to
correspond and fit with and against each other as to size, a great variety of
changes may be made and patterns produced; in fact, with a few hundred
different designs of squares, some thousands of different patterns can be made,
and any new and special device can be introduced to the centre, or borders, or
angles with the utmost facility.
There is another advantage connected with this ornamental type, besides
the facility the principle gives, of enabling a manufacturer to produce a vast
number of various ornamental mats or carpets, which is, that whenever a piece
of type, or single square of any device jets out of order or broken, it is very
easily renewned, without deranging any other parts of the composition.
I am well aware that mats have been made of small pieces of tube of various
sections placed together and then vulcanized, and that mats have been
moulded, and that moulds have been made of separate pieces of metal let into
a plate so as to form pep or studs for the purpose of producing cells; but my
Invention enables me to dispense with plates (which fix the edge of a mould).
I simply require the square pieces of ornamental patterns, which I compose
and transpose with the greatest facility, and are thus enabled to produce most
elegant designs of great variety from comparatively few patterns at a very
small cost and in. a very rapid manner.
And what I claim, is the production
of ornamental designs on sheets of india-rubber intended to be used for
carpets, mats, hangings for walls, and such like purposes, in a manner herein
described.
EUG. DE LA BASTIDA. (L.S.)