AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING EARTHY OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES WITH VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,.
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING EARTHY OR
MINERAL SUBSTANCES WITH VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES."-A communication
from abroad by Alonzo Hitchcock, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America.
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th February 1872.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF COMBINING
EARTHY OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES WITH VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES," a communica-
tion, to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the incorporation or combination of an
O earthy or metallic substance with vegetable fibres or other vegetable

page_text: substances during their transformation into parchment or analagous
material.
To effect this combination with vegetable fibre I take any vegetable
fibrous material such as flax, hemp, cotton, paper, felt, cloth, and treat
it with sulphuric acid, chloride of zinc, or any other suitable reagent, as
in the ordinary method of making what is known as vegetable parch-
ment or substances analagous thereto, the design being to bring the
vegetable fibre or material either on its surface or throughout the entire
mass into a gelatinous state, and while it is in this gelatinous state cover
or incorporate with the surface or mass the substance which it is desired
to unite with it and allow it to become embedded in or adherent to the
gelatine.
For example, a sheet of paper is immersed in a bath formed of dilute
sulphuric acid, say two parts of sulphuric acid to one part of water, and
allowed to remain until the entire substance of the paper, or at least
its surface, is gelatinized. It is then removed from the bath and
immediately covered on one or both sides with finely pulverized
plumbago or graphite, allowed to become embedded or incorporated
into the gelatinous substance, when it is immediately immersed in a
bath to neutralize the acid. This bath may consist of simple water,
but it is preferable to add to it an alkali, such as carbonate of soda,
potash, or ammonia.
When paper or any other vegetable material is thus treated graphite
forms a very perfect union with it, producing a fine graphitized surface,
which is to a high degree indestructible and very useful for many
purposes, constituting a new article of manufacture.
Hemp, flax, cotton, manila, the fibre of bark, in fact all long vege.
table fibres, may while in the state of raw fibre be treated as herein
described, each particular fibre being by the process invested with the
graphite, when the fibres may afterwards be spun, woven, or otherwise
fabricated into yarn, twine, rope, cloth, and the like.
I treat in the same manner the surface of wood, first gelatinizing it
with acid, covering the surface with graphite, and then washing out or
neutralizing the acid; or I mix graphite with dilute sulphuric acid to
the consistency of a paste, spread this over the wood, and allow it to
remain until the surface is by the acid gelatinized, and then wash out

page_text: the acid or neutralize it. The surface of paper, cloth, felt, or other
fibrous fabric may also be thus graphitized by spreading over it the
above-named paste and then washing out or neutralizing the acid.
Paper pulp, raw cotton, and the like may after being treated by this
process, and before they become hard by drying, be pressed in moulds
into any desired forms.
Other vegetable substances besides those of a fibrous nature may be
treated by my process. For example, esculent roots such as, potatoes,
carrots, and the like, by first transforming them into a gelatine by acid,
as in the method employed to transform these substances into what is
sometimes called artificial vegetable ivory, then incorporating the
graphite into them and then removing the acid, when they may be
pressed in moulds and dried, or may be dried in mass and then cut or
carved into any form desired, for example for journal boxes.
It is evident that other materials besides graphite may by the method
here described be incorporated with the surface of paper, cloth, wood, or
other vegetable substances. For example, by substituting emery for the
graphite a desirable sand paper may be made. Gold and platinum leaf
may thus be made to adhere with great tenacity to the fabric treated.
In fact, any substance that will not be acted on by the acid may be thus
incorporated with the surface of a vegetable substance. It is evident
that the vegetable substance with which it is incorporated by the method
here described must be useful for a great variety of purposes.
It is necessary in the process of fabricating my new material that the
same should be dried after the other substances are incorporated with the
gelatinized substance. To effect this the material may be passed over or
between heated rollers, placed in an oven or in any other suitable
receptacle at the option of the manufacturer.
30
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting."

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF COMBINING EARTHY OR MINERAL SUBSTANCES WITH VEGETABLES SUB-
STANCES, a communication to me from abroad by Alonzo Hitchcock,
of the City and State of New York, United States of America, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to the incorporation or combination of an earthy
or metallic substance with vegetable fibres or other vegetable substances
during their transformation into parchment or analagous material.
To effect this combination with vegetable fibres I take any vegetable
fibrous material, such as flax, hemp, cotton, paper, felt, cloth, and treat
it with sulphuric acid, chloride of zinc, or any other suitable reagent as
in the ordinary method of making what is known as vegetable parch-
ment or substances analagous thereto, the design being to bring the
vegetable fibre or material either on its surface or throughout the entire
mass into a gelatinous state, and while it is in this gelatinous state cover
or incorporate with the surface or. mass the substance which it is desired

page_text: to unite with it, and allow it to become embedded in or adherent to the
gelatine...
For example, a sheet of paper is immersed in a bath formed of dilute
sulphuric acid, say two parts of sulphuric acid to one part of water,
and allowed to remain until the entire substance of the paper, or
at least its surface, is gelatinized. It is then removed from the
bath and immediately covered on one or both sides with finely
pulverized plumbago or graphite, allowed to become embedded or
incorporated with the gelatinous substance, when it is immediately
immersed in a bath to neutralize the acid. This bath may consist of
simple water, but it is preferable to add to it an alkali, such as carbonate
of soda, potash, or ammonia.
When paper or any other vegetable material is thus treated, graphite
forms a very perfect union with it, producing a fine graphitized surface
which is to a high degree indestructible and very useful for many
purposes, constituting a new article of manufacture.
Hemp, flax, cotton, manilla, the fibre of bark, in fact all long vege-
table fibres may while in a state of raw fibre be treated as herein
described, each particular fibre being by this process invested with the
graphite, and the fibres may afterwards be spun, woven, or otherwise
fabricated into yarn, twine, rope, cloth, and the like, and then the same
farther fabricated into other articles.
I treat in the same manner the surface of wood, first gelatinizing it
with acid, covering the surface with graphite, and then washing out or
neutralizing the acid, or I mix graphite with dilute sulphuric acid to the
consistency of a paste, spread this over the wood, and allow it to remain
until the surface is by the acid gelatinized, and then wash out the
acid or neutralize it. The surface of paper, cloth, felt, or other fibrous
fabric may also be thus graphitized by spreading over it the above-named
paste and then washing out or neutralizing the acid. Paper pulp, raw
cotton, and the like, may after being treated by this process, and before
they become hard by drying, be pressed in moulds into any desired
forms.
Other vegetable substances besides those of a fibrous nature may be
treated by my process. For example, esculent roots, such as potatoes,
carrots, and the like, by first transforming them into a gelatine by acid,

page_text: as in the method employed to transform these substances into what is
sometimes called artificial vegetable ivory, then incorporating the
graphite into them and then removing the acid, when they may be
pressed in moulds and dried, or may be dried in mass, and then cut or
carved into any form desired, for example, for journal boxes.
It is evident that other materials besides graphite may by the method
herein described be incorporated with the surface of paper, cloth, wood,
or other vegetable substances. For example, by substituting emery for
the graphite a desirable sand paper may be made. Gold and platinum
leaf may thus be made to adhere with great tenacity to the fabric
treated. In fact, any substance that will not be acted on by the
acid may be thus incorporated with the surface of a vegetable substance.
It is evident that the vegetable substance with which it is incorporated
by the method herein described must be useful for a great variety of
purposes.
.
It is necessary in the process of fabricating this new material that the
same should be dried after the other substances are incorporated with the
gelatinized substance. To effect this the material may be passed over or
between heated rollers placed in an oven or in any other suitable
receptacle at the option of the manufacturer.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, combining with any vegetable
substance graphite, emery, or other earthy or metallic substance by the
means, in the manner, and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
Witness,
CHAS. J. Gooch..
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)