A NEW MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN FLEXIBLE ELASTIC WATERPROOF SHEETS, SURFACES, COMPOUNDS, AND SUBSTANCES, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Hancock, of West Street, Smithfield, in the
City of London, Manufacturer, and Stephen William Silver, of Bishops-
gate Street, in the said City of London, Manufacturer, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN FLEXIBLE ELASTIC WATERPROOF
SHEETS, SURFACES, COMPOUNDS, AND SUBSTANCES, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF
Sealed the 7th March 1865, and dated the 15th December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Hancock and
Stephen William Silver at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 15th December 1864.
We, CHARLES HANCOCK, of West Street, Smithfield, in the City of London,
Manufacturer, and STEPHEN WILLIAM SILVER, of Bishopsgate Street, in the
said City of London, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN FLEXIBLE ELASTIC WATERPROOF
SHEETS, SURFACES, COMPOUNDS, AND SUBSTANCES, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO
VARIOUS PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
It consists in an admixture of the milk of caoutchouc and of the milk of
ballata, with or without the addition of sulphur, pigments, dyes, and other
substances employed in the various compounds of caoutchouc. The compound
or substance is made into sheets which may be put together and combined
into blocks of various sizes according to the purposes for which the material is

page_text: required and moulded or masticated. The milk of caoutchouc and ballata
may be laid upon leather, paper, textile or other fabrics so as to render them
waterproof when required. This new manufacture may be applied in sheets
or blocks to various purposes for which caoutchouc and similar substances
have hitherto been applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Hancock and Stephen William Silver in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHARLES
HANCOCK, of West Street, Smithfield, in the City of London, Manufacturer,
and STEPHEN WILLIAM SILVER, of Bishopsgate Street, in the said City of
London, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Charles Hancock and Stephen William Silver, Her special licence
that we, the said Charles Hancock and Stephen William Silver, our exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Charles
Hancock and Stephen William Silver, our 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 law-
fully 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 MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN FLEXIBLE ELASTIC WATERPROOF SHEETS,
SURFACES, COMPOUNDS, AND SUBSTANCES, AND THE APPLICATION THEREOF TO VARIOUS
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Charles
Hancock and Stephen William Silver, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of either of us, 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 we, the said Charles Hancock and Stephen William
Silver, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inventon, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
Hitherto caoutchouc either alone or in combination with gutta percha has
been used for the manufacture of flexible elastic waterproof articles and com-
pounds, but certain disadvantages are incident either to the manufacture or
subsequent application of those articles or compounds from which the article or
compound according to our new manufacture are in great measure free.. Our
Invention consists in employing an admixture of the milk of caoutchouc and the
milk of ballatta. These substances are mixed together in equal proportions by
stirring one into the other in suitable vessels, the air being excluded from the
mixture until required for use, as exposure to the air has a tendency to
produce coagulation, which causes some difficulty in the after working.
The above proportions are the best for a flexible compound, but where
great elasticity is required the caoutchouc should be in excess of the ballatta,
as about two-thirds of the caoutchouc to one-third of the ballatta.
When pigments, powders, sulphur, or coloring matter are to be combined
with the milk, we first grind or nix the same in water or in flour, paste, size,
or gum, and then mix or stir the whole well together. The above compound
may then be used as follows:-
Upon a tablet of plaster of paris or porous porcelain or clay made perfectly
flat and even, and with a projecting rim round its edge, we float or otherwise
distribute an even surface of the compound milk, or we float one milk only
and when that is dry float over it the other milk, and so on coat upon
coat of the milks separately or combined until a sheet of the requisite
thickness is obtained. When thoroughly dry, the sheet is raised at the
edge, carefully drawn off, and suspended in the air to be further dried for use.
Blocks of the required thickness may be made by repeating the layers of
milk or by rolling sheets into a solid cylinder and employing pressure, or
by submitting several sheets piled one upon another to suitable pressure
before they become too dry and hard to adhere to each other. Before adding
the second coat on the above surface we wash or brush over each sheet with
a mixture of glycerine and water, or with fine pummice powder for the purpose
of removing the glossy surface which sometimes prevents the adhesion of the
next sheet or coat of milk, the milk mixing with water, but being greasy on
the surface when dry. The sheets or blocks may be masticated either by
themselves or in combination with sulphur, pigments, or other matters and
substances.
Compound fabrics may be made by spreading the milk of caoutchouc and
ballatta upon leathers, paper, textile and other fabrics with a brush or hy means

page_text: of guages (a process which is well understood in the waterproofing trade)
or other suitable means which will distribute an even supply of the material;
the number of coats are regulated according to whether the surfaces coated
are intended for double or single textures or to be rendered more or less water.
or air proof. For some purposes we prefer coating the fabric with the milk
first and then roll on to it or otherwise apply sheets of the ballata and
caoutchouc of the thickness required or apply the sheets of the material or
compound to the leather or fabric by means of hot plates, rollers, or other
convenient and suitable methods.
A compound or fabric partly or entirely air and water proof may be made
by coating or saturating a bat or fleece of cotton wadding or wool with the
compound or milk of ballata and caoutchouc, or with ballata alone, or if with
caoutchouc alone then we coat it with ballata alone, or with ballata and caout-
chouc combined. A convenient way of doing this is by placing the sheet of
wadding or fleece upon a plaster of paris table top or upon porous porcelain
surfaces, then pour on the milk, and apply sufficient pressure with a brush
(or other suitable means) to force it through the fabric. If a thick sub-
stance is required we lay one saturated fleece upon another and apply suitable
pressure until the required thickness is obtained. If we desire to vulcanize
the fabric we mix sulphur with the milk. We prefer using unsized paper for
most purposes as the milk penetrates it more freely than when sized.
Sheets of ballata or caoutchouc may be made by spreading the milk upon
cloth previously sized or coated with flour paste, and when the milk has dried
we damp the cloth and peal off the sheet of ballata and caoutchouc.
The compound of ballata and caoutchouc milk may be applied to the backs
of books, for the purpose of cementing the leaves in place of stitching for this
purpose, in the same way as solutions of caoutchouc have heretofore been
employed, and for this purpose we find an excess of the milk of caoutchouc
say two-thirds caoutchouc to one-third ballata to answer extremely well.
The back edge of the book is to be first rasped and the milk compound is
applied with a brush or spread on with a thin ivory knife or spatula coat upon
coat according to the thickness required for the size of the book. The
cemented back cloth or leather previously coated with the compound may be
veneered over if required. If beat be applied to the coated cotton cloth or
leather back of the book and the two surfaces be brought together with
pressure they adhere and form a stronger back to the book.
A strong and waterproof cartridge may be made with the waterproof
paper or fabric by rolling a sheet of the prepared fabric upon a wood or
other suitable roller and then rolling it gently over a flat hot plate heated by

page_text: steam, thereby forming a cylinder for the cartridge, one end of which may be
closed by heat, and the other end when the powder is inserted is corked
carefully and tightly tied with string or with a vulcanized india-rubber ring.
The sheets of ballata and cauotchouc may be cut into tapes and fillets or
formed or punched into rings and other forms by processes which are well
understood by caoutchouc manufacturers.
.
A compound substance applicable to various useful purposes may be made
by mixing with the milk of caoutchouc or with ballata milk or with the two
combined ground powder or elastic pulverized dust of vulcanized india-rubber
and spreading it upon flat surfaces or upon cloth or leather or other fabric.
The compound may also be pressed into moulds of various forms and shapes,
and from blocks produced from moulds sheets of the required thickness may
This compound is suitable for noiseless floorcloth and other
be cut.
useful articles.
The veneered paper and fabrics, and the saturated wadding or fleece, may
be made into gum wadding for priming fire-arms. The gum wads are made
by punching them out of sheets of the required thickness, and when fine
pummice powder is added to the compound the wad makes a barrel clean
after every shot.
Sheets of various thicknesses for driving bands, shoe soles, and for other
purposes are made by subjecting the coated fabrics (leather and paper and
saturated felt or fleece of cotton or wool) to pressure and heat through rollers
or by means of hot plates or hot air. The above compounds may also be
formed upon moulds, shapes, and forms into hat, cap, and other bodies,
coverings for the feet of animals, and a variety of other articles.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed we wish it to be understood that we
claim as our Invention the manufacture of flexible elastic waterproof articles
and compounds in the manner above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Hancock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
CHARLES HANCOCK. (L.E.)