A PROCESS AND MANUFACTURE WHEREBY THE TEXTURE OF HEMP, FLAX, WOOL, COTTON, AND SILK, AND ALSO LEATHER, PAPER, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, MAY BE RENDERED IMPER- VIOUS TO WATER AND AIR
Year: 1823

page_text: MACINTOSH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MACINTOSH, of Cross Basket, County of Lanark, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS I,the said Charles Macintosh, did, by my Petition, humbly
represent unto His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
that I had,after much study and expence, discovered and invented "A PROCESS
AND MANUFACTURE WHEREBY THE TEXTURE OF HEMP, FLAX, WOOL, COTTON, AND
SILK, AND ALSO LEATHER, PAPER, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES, MAY BE RENDERED IMPER-
VIOUS TO WATER AND AIR;" that I was the first and true Inventor of the said
improvement, and that the same had not been practised or used by any other
person or persons, to the best of my knowledge and belief, and praying that His
Majesty would be graciously pleased to grant unto me, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, for the sole use, benefit, and advantage of my
said improvement, within that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom called
England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
also in all his Colonies and Plantations abroad, for the term of fourteen
years, pursuant to the Statute in that case made and provided: And whereas
His said Majesty,being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions
that mightbeforthe public good, was graciously pleased to condescend to my
request, and by His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster the
Seventeenth day of June, in the Fourth year of His reign, did, of His especial
grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Macintosh, my exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full

page_text: power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Macintosh, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, and
by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I,the
said Charles Macintosh, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use,exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in such manner as to me, the said Charles Macintosh,
my exors,adñiors, and assigns, or any of them, should in myor their discretion
seem meet; that I, the said Charles M'Intosh, my exors, admors, and
assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit,
commodity, and advantages from time to time coming,growing,accruing,and
arising by reason of the said Invention for and during the term of years
therein mentioned; to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence,
powers, privileges,and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned to be
granted unto me, the said Charles Mac Intosh,my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
for and during and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the
date of the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be
completed and ended, according to the Statute in that case made and
provided; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I,
the said Charles Macintosh, should not particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months nextand immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease,and determine, and become
void and null, anything therein-before contained to the contrary thereof in
anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Macintosh, do hereby declare that my said Invention doth consist
in a manufacture of two or more pieces of linen, woollen, cotton, silk,
leather, or paper, or other the like substances, any or either or combina-
tions of any or either the same, cemented together by means of a flexible
cement, the nature of which said manufacture is,that it is impervious to water
and air; and in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles

page_text: Macintosh, do hereby describe the process which I have found the best for
performing the said manufacture by the following description thereof, that is
to say:-
I prepare caoutchouc by cutting it into very thin shreds or parings, and
then steep it in the substance which is produced in making coal gas, com-
monly called coal oil. The quality of these ingredients is extremely various,
and the relative proportions to be employed must depend on the quality of
cach; but when the caoutchouc is of the best quality, and the oil pure,
from ten to twelve ounces of the former to a wine gallon of the latter will be
found to answer. This infusion I submit to a gentle heat obtained from a
water or steam bath, and I employ constant trituration until such time as the
ingredients are reduced to a thin pulpy mass, when, to render the whole as
homogenious as possible, I pass it through a very fine wire or silk sieve, or
searce; and if this part of the process has been duly followed out the varnish
will then be without any granular particles, and will in appearance resemble
thin transparent honey. Fabrics or substanceseifectually united by cement thus
prepared, in whatever way the union is effected, become bothair and water proof;
but with a view to prevent the cement from appearing upon the surface of the
manufactured article, and to insure at the same time a perfect union of the
substances, I in the first place distend the substances to be united, and with a
brush or other suitable instrument lay upon the surface of each an uniform
layer or coating of the varnish or cement; and when this coating has from
evaporation of the oil, which is extremely volatile, acquired a clammy viscous
consistency (and this will take place in ashorter or longer space, in proportion
to the heat of the atmosphere and the current of air in which the manufacture
is carried on, or to which the coated surfaces may be exposed,) I apply the
varnished side of both substances to each other, and by means of a callender
or rollers, or other suitable means, I powerfully press the fabrics or substances
together, whereby they become united, and are rendered a compound fabric
or substance, and thereafter I expose this compound fabric or substance in a
stove room or other suitable place to a heat of from one hundred to one
hundred and forty degrees, for the double purpose of maturing the manufac-
ture and obtaining a farther evaporation of the oil, which while it remains
gives off a disagreeable effluvium. When the substances to be united are of
an open texture, or not of a smooth and uniform surface, I apply a greater
number of coatings of the cement or varnish; and when three or more
fabrics or substances are to be united together I coat with the varnish the
substance or substances to be enclosed on both sides,and complete the process
as before suggested. Farther, in some cases it may be sufficient to apply the

page_text: layer or coating or coatings of the varnish upon one side only of one of the
fabrics or substances, applying the other fabric or substance uncoated upon the
clammy viscous surface of that which has received one or more coatings of the
varnish, and then complete the process as before suggested.
Now whereas caoutchouc in a state of solution and dissolved in manner
herein-before described is well known to chemists and others, and not new,
therefore I do not claim any right, title, or privilege in respect of the same; but
a manufacture of two or more pieces of linen, woollen, cotton, silk, leather, or
paper, or other the like substances, any or either or any combinations of any
or either the same, cemented together by means of flexible cement, in
manner herein-before described, being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, entirely new, and never before used in these Kingdoms, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that the said Specifi-
cation doth complyin all respects, fully and without reserve or disguise, with
the said proviso in the said in part recited Letters Patent, contained; and I do
hereby propose to maintain my exclusive right and privilege to the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Macintosh, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, aforesaid,
the Fifth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-three.
CHARLES (L.s.) MACINTOSH.
Taken and acknowledged, signed,
sealed, and delivered (being first
duly stamped) before and in the
presence of
CHARLES (L.S.) MACINTOSH.
Taken and acknowledged, signed,
sealed, and delivered (being first
duly stamped) before and in the
presence of
GEO. CUNNINGHAM,
Of the City of Glasgow, Witness.
MALCOM MC COIG,
Of the City of Glasgow, Witness.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, the Honourable William
Smith, Lord Provost and Chief Magistrate of the City of Glasgow, County
of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby certify and attest, that on the day of the
date hereof personally came and appeared before me, Charles Macintosh, of
Crossbasket, and acknowledged and delivered the Specification, Deed, or
Writing hereunto attached as his true and genuine act and deed, in presence
of Malcolm McCoig, the Deponent named in the Affidavit hereunto prefixed;
and I farther certify that the said Malcom Mc Coig is a person well known,

page_text: and worthy of good credit, and by solemn oath, which he then took before
me upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, did solemnly and sincerely
declare, testify, and depose to be true, the several matters and things
mentioned and contained in the said Affidavit. In faith and testimony
whereof, I, the said Lord Provost, have caused the Corporation Seal of the
said City of Glasgow to be hereunto put and affixed, and the Deed or
Specification mentioned and referred to in and by the said Affidavit to be
hereunto also attached, at Glasgow, this Fifth day of December, One thou-
sand eight hundred and twenty-three years.
I, Charles Denny, of the City of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Notary Public, by Royal Authority duly admitted and sworn, do
hereby certify and attest, that the Honorable William Smith, before whom
the Affidavit hereunto prefixed was emitted, & by whom the prefixed
Certificate is granted, is Lord Provostand Chief Magistrate of the said City of
Glasgow that I was present with and did see Charles Macintosh, of
Crossbasket, Esquire, acknowledge and deliver as his true and genuineaot and
deed the Deed or Specification hereunto attached, in prosence of the said
Honorable William Smith; and did likeways see Malcom M.Coig, of the said
City, Gentleman, emit the Affidavit hereunto prefixed, before the said Honor-
able William Smith; and that the name "Malcom McCoig," set and sub-
scribed to the said Affidavit as the person emitting the same, and the name
"W Smith," subscribed to the Jurat thereof, and to the Certificate thereunto
annexed as of the person administering the same, are of the genuine hand-
writing and subscription of the said Malcom McCuig and William Smith
respectively. In faith and testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and
seal at Glasgow aforesaid, this Fifth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-three.

page_text: Malcom McCoig, of the City of Glasgow, County of Lanark, North Britain,
Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that he was present with George Cunning-
ham, also of the said City, Gentleman, and did see Charles Macintosh, of
Coossbasket, the person named and designed in the Specification, Deed, or
Poll hereunto attached, sign, seal, and as his genuine act and deed in due
form of law deliver the same, in presence of the said George Cunningham
and this Deponent; and that the name "Charles Macintosh," set and sub-
scribed to the said Specification, Deed, or Poll, is of the true and proper
handwriting and subscription of the said Charles Macintosh; and further,
that the names of "Geo. Cunningham" and "Macolm Me Coig," set and
subscribed to the said Specification, Deed,or Poll, as Witnesses to the execution
and delivery of the same, are of the respective proper handwriting and sub-
scription of the said George Cunningham and this Deponent; and all this is
truth, as the Deponent shall answer to God.