Improvement in Chemical Fluid Ink Erasers.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 8th Nov., 1887
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvement in Chemical Fluid Ink Erasers.
I, JAMES W. TALLMADGE, of the City, County and State of New York, one of the
United States of America, Inventor, Patentee and Manufacturer (of the Perennial
Chemical Ink Eraser," Patented in the United States of America, March 8, 1887,
and numbered 358,901, and Patented in the Dominion of Canada August 6, 1887,
and numbered 27,346), do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENT
IN CHEMICAL FLUID INK ERASERS, and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My Invention is intended for the use of merchants, lawyers, book-keepers, clerks,
and the writing community in general, to be used instead of a lance or scraper for
erasing ink from paper or parchment, it removes standard writing fluids and inks
instantly without laying the pen down. Applied with the butt of the pen-holder.
Does not destroy the ruling of mill-ruled paper or the printers' ink upon any printed
form, leaving the paper hard and good to write upon as ever. Slightly removing the
gloss, thereby preventing it being used for any illegal purpose. Not recommended
for inks containing acids that burn, it will remove such inks, but they leave a yellow
burn. It cannot restore charred paper. It is intended for the convenience of those
using, or willing to use good standard inks, which are so plentiful that it would require
a volume to enumerate them.
My Invention consists of the following recipe, compounded in the proportions
arbitrarily as set forth, or with so slight deviation as to make no substantial or easily
perceptible difference.
Recipe. To one ounce of solution of chloride of lime add two drops of acetic acid.
I suggest the following to be the best method of using my said Invention.
Directions. To remove fresh writing, first dry the ink with a blotter, then dip the
pen-holder into the eraser and apply plentifully without rubbing, after five seconds,
absorb the eraser with a clean white blotter. Sometimes (especially old dry) writing
requires the application repeated. To remove stains from linen &c., dip the stained
part into the fluid then rinse in clean water.
Solution of chloride of lime is water impregnated with chloride of lime. It is made
by placing one pound of chloride of lime in four quarts of water, thoroughly shaken

page_text: when first put together and allowed to soak twelve hours, then filtered through
filtering-paper.
Acetic acid is a sour acid, and used in making vinegar, &c.
This eraser is perfectly harmless to the hands or clothing, and does not contain
poison. It is invaluable to all, from a school to a bank, as a companion to the writing-
desk for erasing ink from paper and parchment, and to every house-wife for cleaning
stains from linen &c.
I am aware that chloride of lime has before been used with acids for the purpose
above proposed, but in all previous processes, (except as patented to myself in the
United States of America, January 17, 1872, number 122,867, and March 8, 1887,
number 358,901, and in England to William Robert Lake, a Patent Agent as a
communication from the United States of America dated August 6, 1872, numbered
2312). So far as I am aware, chloride of lime has been mixed with acids that burn
and destroy paper, and for this reason it has proved worthless, and the recipe in the
above-named Patent to me, dated January 17, 1872, number 122,867, has proved of
little value, because acetic acid is used to excess (a teaspoonful, instead of two drops),
that quantity of acetic acid sets the chlorine free and forms a strong, offensive and
expansive gas, which will blow the corks from the bottles in forty-eight hours after
mixing, and therefore it loses its strength and erasing quality by evaporation. See
English Patent of August 6, 1872, number 2342. But my Invention compounded in
the proportions given in my recipe above stated will not form any offensive gas, will
not blow the corks out of the bottles, and will not evaporate or lose its strength or
erasing qualities, as it is a radical departure from the construction of the claims in the
above mentioned Patents, numbers 122,867, and 2342.
The difference in the properties of the two products as pointed out, show that the
two compositions of matter are nearly as widely different and distinct as though made
from wholly different substances, and the great difference in proportions give a
composition widely different in its qualities and potency. See Examiners-in-Chief
decision, United States Patent Office, January 18, 1887, in the matter of the
application of James W. Tallmadge, for a Patent for an Improvement in Chemical
Fluid Ink Erasers, filed June 9, 1886, serial number 204,662.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what
1 claim, is.-
The herein-described compound to be used as and for the purposes stated, consisting
of acetic acid and solution of chloride of lime in the proportions specified, to wit.-
To one ounce of solution of chloride of lime add two drops of acetic acid.
Witnesses,
GEO. S. WILSON.
WILLIAM F. SEIBERT.
JAMES W. TALLMADGE.