IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHELL-LAC
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martin Kenneth Angelo, of Gloucester Place,
Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHELL-LAC."
Sealed the 18th February 1868, and dated the 23rd August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martin Kenneth Angelo
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1862.
I, MARTIN KENNETH ANGELO, of Gloucester Place, Portman Square, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHELL-LAC," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used in the
manufacture of shell-lac. The seed lac or gum lac is, by preference, placed
in a bag or tube of woven fabric, as heretofore, before subjecting it to heat,
but in place of the heat for melting, the lac being obtained from a naked
charcoal fire, as is now the practice, steam heat is employed, and, by prefer-
ence, in the. annular space produced by combining two cylinders or tubes
concentrically; the form, however, of the steam heating apparatus may be
varied. At one end of the hollow chamber, which is heated by steam, as
above explained, is a conical instrument or stop, the largest diameter of which

page_text: is of somewhat less diameter than the interior of the steam heated chamber.
so as to allow the tube of woven fabric to be progressively drawn through the
heated chamber and over the cone, the lac in the woven tube being stopped
by the cone from passing out of the heated chamber. The conical instrument
or stop is fixed on the end of a hollow rod, so that steam may be supplied
through the rod to the interior of the hollow cope or stop. At the lower part
of the hollow heated chamber is formed a gutter or channel along. which the
melted lac as it passes through the woven fabric flows towards the end of the
steam-heated chamber opposite to that at which the hollow stop or conical
instrument is situated. The stream of melted lac is received by and pressed
between two cold pressing surfaces, by preference between two pressing
rollers kept cold by streams of water passing through them, by which the
melted lac will be converted into shell-lac.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance, of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Martin Kenneth Angelo in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd February 1863.1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARTIN
KENNETH ANGELO, of Gloucester Place, Portman. Square, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Martin Kenneth Angelo, Fer special licence that I, the said Martin
Kenneth Angelo, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Martin Kenneth Angelo, 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, s
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SHELL-LAC," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Martin
Kenneth Angelo, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention and in what s
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: 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 Martin Kenneth Angelo, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
1
The seed lac or gum lac is placed in tubes of woven fabric; those which I
prefer are woven without any longitudinal seams, and I employ metal .tubes.
with gutters or channels at their lower parts; these metal tubes and gutters
are heated externally, and, by preference, with steam in a jacket or chamber
surrounding the tubes. Through these heated tubes the tubes of woven fabric.
containing the seed lac or gum lac are drawn, whereby the gum as it becomes
fluid is caused to filter through the woven fabric, and descends into the gutters
of the tubes, the fluid gum being then conducted to and rolled between rollers,
as hereafter described. The gum in the interior of the woven tubes is.
prevented passing beyond the lower ends of the heated tubes as the woven
tubes are drawn out of such heated tubes by reason of the woven tubes being
compressed, and this may be done in any convenient manner; it is, however,
preferred to twist them as they progressively come near the end of the heated
tubes, or the woven tubes may be drawn over mandrils near the ends of the
heated tubes, so as to insure the gum being prevented following with the.
woven tubes as they pass out of the heated tube.
:
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
an arrangement of mechanism by which I prefer to carry out my, improve-
ments. I would, however, first remark that the mechanism used may be
varied so long as heated tubes with gutters externally heated be used in com-.
bination with means for pressing the gum out of the woven tubes.
In weaving tubes for the purposes of my Invention I prefer to use yarns
or threads of cotton, though yarns or threads of other fibres may be employed;
and in weaving seamless tubes suitable for my Invention I believe it will be.
found that the most suitable fabric for the purpose is tabby weaving, that is,
equal warps up and equal warps down each time the weft is passed through
the shed opened in the warp, though other "ties" may be resorted to in.
weaving seamless tubes.

page_text: tubular passages may be combined into one apparatus, and be beated by
steam in one chamber, through which the tubular passages pass; in the
Drawings there are shewn six such heated tubular passages. Figure 2. is a
side elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of apparatus combined suitably for carrying
out the second part of my Invention.
a, a, is a chamber suitable for containing steam; within this chamber are
six tubular passages, each having a gutter, as shewn at Figure. 1. This
chamber a and the tubular passages therein are inclined, so that as the fluid,
gum passes through the woven tubular fabrics within the heated tubes it
flows down the gutters till it comes to and passes out at the lower ends of
those gutters; the fluid gum then descends to and passes between a pair of
pressing rollers b, b, where the fluid gum is cooled and rolled into thin
sheets by reason of the rollers 6 being constantly kept cool by means of
water passing through the interior of such rollers.
c, c, are woven tubular
fabrics containing seed or gum lac, which are supported at intervals external
of the heated tubes. on the rack or frame d, d. I prefer that the apparatus
should be so arranged that the woven tubes may be caused to rotate as they
pass through the tubular heated passages, for this purpose e, e, are hollow
sockets through which the woven tubes pass, and fit sufficiently tight to cause
such woven tubes to rotate with the sockets, on which are formed worm or
screw wheels, which are actuated by a screw shaft f, on which are pullies 9,
by which the shaft f may be caused to rotate at any desired speed.
At the lower end of the heated chamber a are six' nippers h, h, shewn at
Figure 4, each having a hole through its jaws of small diameter as
compared with the diameter of the heated tubular passages, so that the
twisted part of the woven tubes, in being drawn through such holes, may be
further compressed, and prevent as much as may be the gum passing away
with the woven tubes after they have left the lower ends of the heated tubular
passages. The ends of the woven tubes are fixed by set screws or otherwise to
the ends of six rods i, i, which have longitudinal feathers on them, so that
they may slide through the rotating sockets i, j, which have worm or screw
wheels formed thereon, so that they may be rotated by the screw shaft k,
which has pullies on it, in order to its being driven at any desired speed. By
this means any desired twist may be put on the woven tubes as they are
drawn through the holes in the nippers. The rods i, i, may be moved back
by any suitable means. In the Drawings the drawing back of the rods i, i,
and the woven tubes is accomplished by weights suspended over pullies, as is
shewn.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of

page_text: performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
the separate parts of the mechanism herein described; but what I claim is,
the arranging apparatus or mechanism in such manner that woven tubes con-
taining seed or gum lac may be caused to pass through heated tubular
passages, and be compressed or otherwise acted on in such manner as to
prevent the gum interior of the woven tubes passing away out of the heated
passages as the woven tubes progressively pass out from such heated passages,
and also the manufacture of shellac by means of rollers, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Kenneth Angelo, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
M. K. ANGELO. (L.S.)