AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF COMPOUNDS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
WATERPROOF COMPOUNDS."-A communication from abroad by Leonard
F. Requa, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th June 1875.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF COMPOUNDS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to obtain a cheap and efficient
compound for coating textile fabrics and rendering them acid and
waterproof.

page_text: The Invention is particularly applicable to the production of bags for
carrying and storing articles of various kinds, and for covering or
enveloping purposes. This coating composition has for one of its
component parts lampblack, which forms an essential element in com-
bination with other materials in producing a composition well adapted
for waterproofing articles.
The following are the proportions of the materials preferred to be
used-Cleaned and masticated india-rubber, six pounds by weight,
dissolved in two gallons of benzine or other solvent; to this is added
fifteen pounds of whiting or chalk, five pounds of oxide of zinc, two
pounds of asphaltum, seven ounces of pulverized sulphur, and two
pounds of lampblack. These materials are subjected to agitation in a
closed vessel until thoroughly mixed and brought to a proper consistency
for spreading upon the fabric to be coated. The composition thus pre-
pared is spread upon fabrics intended to be waterproofed in the ordinary
The fabrics thus coated are to be subjected to a steam heat in
a closed chamber under a pressure of about thirty pounds to the inch
to vulcanize or cure them.
manner.
It should be remarked that the lampblack serves to increase the bulk
of the compound and to render the coated fabric soft and pliable, and as
it is a carbon it is one of the best resistants of acids, and forms with
rubber a chief element of the composition. Its affinity for the rubber is
such that it combines mechanically therewith, and thereby prevents the
eating and dissolving action of the acids, while maintaining a pliable
condition of the coating, and gives to the composition a fine spreading
quality.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 4th December 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 30
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WATERPROOF
COMPOUNDS," being a communication to me from abroad by Leonard F.
Requa, of the City and State of New York, in the United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 consists in the preparation of a waterproof compound
suitable for coating textile fabrics and enabling them to resist the
action of acids, whereby they will be adapted for various uses, such as
the production of bags for carrying and storing articles of any description,
and for any covering or enveloping purposes. This coating composition
has for one of its component parts lampblack, which forms an essential
element, in combination with other materials, in producing a com-
position well adapted for waterproofing articles.
The proportions of the several materials herein declared have been
determined in the light of experiment and by practical use, and are
3 therefore held an important matter in producing a suitable and durable
coating. Crude gum or rubber is thoroughly washed in pure water in
a machine adapted for the purpose to cleanse its surface of all foreign

page_text: matters; it is then dried and reduced from its natural bulky state by
the masticating process, and by rolling to a comparative thin or sheet
condition to accomplish two important results, viz., to bring it to a
condition to be more readily dissolved, but more especially to open any
cells which may be formed in the body of the material, and which are
usually filled with foreign substances, such as sand, and which without
such mastication would render the gum unfit for covering purposes and
retard its reduction to a liquid state, while at the same time the
expulsion of this confined matter also carries away any vapours which
may be confined in the cells of the rubber, and which would otherwise
interfere with the proper action of the reducing materials upon the gum.
To form, say, about thirty pounds of the waterproof composition six
pounds of the prepared gum are taken and submerged in two gallons
of benzine or other suitable solvent, which will in about ten hours
reduce the same to a plastic state. To this soft mass is then to be
added fifteen pounds of ground whiting or chalk, five pounds of oxide of
zinc, two pounds of asphaltum, seven ounces of pulverized sulphur, and
two pounds of lampblack. These ingredients are then subjected to
agitation in a closed vessel till thoroughly mixed and brought to a proper
consistency to be spread upon the fabric to be waterproofed. The
object is to produce a water and acid-proof composition that can be
worked with the best results, and for this purpose the employment of
lampblack serves especially in its combination with the oxide of zinc to
neutralize the action of acids to which fabrics when manufactured into
manure or fertilizing bags may be subjected. The composition thus
prepared is spread upon the fabrics in any suitable way, and the coated
material is submitted to a steam heat in a closed chamber under a
pressure of about thirty pounds to the inch to vulcanize or cure the
same.
The lampblack serves to increase the bulk of the compound and to
render the coated fabric more soft and pliable, and as it is a carbon it is
therefore one of the best resistants of the acids. Its affinity for the
rubber is such that it readily enters into mechanical combination there-
with, and thereby more effectually prevents the eating and dissolving
action of the acids, while maintaining a pliable condition of the coating,
and gives to it a fine spreading character. Its employment greatly
cheapens the composition.
The lampblack protects the other ingredients which might be attacked

page_text: by the acids in the compound; it is fine, light, and becomes thoroughly
incorporated with the other materials, and as no acids will dissolve it no
corrosion of the compound can take place.
The fabric to be coated may be a coarse material with large meshes,
and in such case it is necessary that the compound should be as cheap
as possible, for as much of it goes to fill and give solidity to the meshes
as is used in forming the surface coating.
The acids above referred to are such as are used to form what are
known as manipulated fertilizers, and the compound will resist such
acids.
The proportion of gum stated herein is well suited to produce a cheap
compound, while also being very serviceable for the purpose, but it is
obvious that by increasing the proportion of the gum the coating will
present a smoother surface.
Having now set forth the nature of this Invention of "An Improved
Manufacture of Waterproof Compounds," as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim, the composition herein described
in which lampblack is combined with cleaned and masticated rubber,
benzine, whiting or chalk, oxide of zinc, asphaltum, and sulphur, sub-
stantially in the proportions herein stated for waterproofing fabrics as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hercunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-