IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL OR IMITATION IVORY and
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL OR
IMITATION IVORY 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 a. composition of substances and in a method of
blending the component parts of the said composition so as to produce a very
close imitation of ivory.
According to the said invention I use soluble pyroxyline as the counterpart of
the gelatine of the tusk and finely divided neutral matter, such as precipitated
sulphate barytes, silicate of alumina etc, as the counterpart of the skeleton frame
of the natural tusk.
Various materials have been used to imitate this valuable material and amongst
others a composition of pyroxyline and inert matters is described in the specifica-
tion of United States Patent granted to J. B. Edson and dated August 14 1883
N° 283225, where the different growths or layers of xylonite, are either of differing
densities or of different colors, so as to indicate the grain of the natural tusk by
these characteristics.
By means of the present invention a homogeneous compound of like density
throughout is obtained; the surface only of the rolled sheets being tinted with a
slight stain of color, the results being that a closer imitation of natural ivory is
obtained, that the manipulation is rendered more easy, and that with the ingre-
dients used, as hereinafter described, a translucency peculiar to natural ivory is
obtained.
•
The ingredients I prefer, and their proportions are as follow:-
Soluble pyroxyline, about ten parts.
Camphor, from four to five parts.
Precipitated sulphate barytes, about three parts.
Oxide of zinc either precipitated or sublimed, one part.
°
The best results are obtained by reducing these ingredients to a fine state of
division, rendering them perfectly dry and thoroughly mixing together, and then

page_text: adding either of the following solvents or a mixture of any of them, viz: ethylic
alcohol, methylic alcohol or methylated spirits, say about six parts, the solvent
being added to the mixture of pyroxyline and.neutral matters mentioned above.
The agglutinated mass is next subjected to heat and pressure between a pair of
rolls in the usual well known manner to reduce the material into sheets the
thickness of which may vary from one thirty second (2) to one sixteenth (1) of
an inch.
Alternate sheets are then dipped either into a very dilute solution of
aniline yellow of a tint that will imitate the grain of the natural tusk, or the
surface of each sheet, or of each alternate sheet, is then painted over with a very
dilute wash of aniline yellow, one part of the aniline to one thousand parts of
alcohol, being ample..
The sheets are now bundled up in layers and submitted to pressure until a
perfect weld of each layer to the next is effected. These sheets thus welded
together are then ready for manufacturing purposes, and can be reduced to such
forms as may be required, by any method known.
I do not confine myself to the exact proportions of the ingredients above spe-
cified, since the proportions may be varied somewhat without injuring the product,
nor do I confine myself to the neutral matter or metallic oxide specified above,
there being many neutral materials and other oxides that serve as equivalents for
those specified, but the above ingredients in the proportions specified and combined
in the manner directed have yielded a composition of matter, very closely,
resembling the natural.ivory tusk.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
First. The process of producing imitation ivory, consisting in tinting the surface
of layers of a composition of pyroxyline and inert matters, with colouring matter,
substantially as described.
Second. The process of producing imitation ivory, consisting in colouring the
surface. of the layers or alternate layers of pyroxyline compound, and then uniting
the same to other layers of like composition, substantially as set forth.
Third. The process of producing imitation ivory, consisting in forming a com-
position of pyroxyline and neutral matters, then forming the same into sheets,
next colouring the surfaces of sheets of such composition, and uniting such sheets
together by pressure, substantially as described.
Fourth. A product composed of a series of sheets of a composition of pyroxyline
and neutral matter of uniform composition, with at least one surface of the super-
posed sheets coloured, and the sections united together either by heat and pressure,
or by solvents and pressure, substantially as described.
D
11
003
T
1007
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.