IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING CELLULOID OR ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1880

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alfred Julius Boult, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson
and Company, Patent Agents, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and
Berridge Street, Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Consulting Engineer,
for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING CELLULOID OR
ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES." A communication from abroad by Nathan Hart
and Robert Alexander Bacon, of the City and State of New York, United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Julius Boult at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th November 1880.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson and Company,
Patent Agents, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, 6, Lord
Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and Berridge Street, Leicester, in
the County of Leicester, Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING
CELLULOID OR ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES." A communication from abroad by
Nathan Hart and Robert Alexander Bacon, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America.
The object of my Invention is to enable figures or designs or letters in tints or
colours to be permanently printed or marked upon surfaces composed wholly or in
part of celluloid or of similar substances, such as xyloidine.
Before the date of my Invention, celluloid surfaces have been covered with
tints, but they could be washed or rubbed off, whereas my Invention made them
permanent.
To accomplish the desired result, I dissolve aniline colours in carbolic acid, adding
to such carbolic acid either alcohol alone, or ether alone, or alcohol and ether
together, substantially as hereinafter described.
Carbolic acid is a solvent both of aniline colours and of celluloid, and when the
solvent above described has evaporated after decorating the celluloid surface with
colours, such colours will be found to be intimately united with the celluloid without
injury to the substance of the celluloid.

page_text: A proper mode of carrying out this Invention is as follows:-I dissolve two
grains of aniline colour, purple, red, blue, or other colour, in one drachm of carbolic
acid, and add thereto an equal portion of either alcohol alone, or ether alone, or an
equal portion of alcohol and ether mixed. The liquid colouring matter thus
prepared may be used for decorating celluloid, either by printing or by a brush or
pen. I do not intend to limit myself closely to the proportions above named. The
proportions of the colour to be solvent can be varied within reasonable limits, as
may also be the relative proportions of the carbolic acid and the alcohol or ether,
such proportions affecting the intensity of the colour or tint produced, and the
rapidity of drying and absorption.
It is obvious that any colour which is soluble in carbolic acid, and which when
so dissolved is not injurious to the surface of the celluloid, may be substituted for
the aniline colours.
I do not in this application claim the use of ether or alcohol, or both combined,
as a solvent for celluloid, nor do I claim in this application the ornamentation of
celluloid by securing the incorporation of colours with the surface by the use of
either ether or alcohol, unless carbolic acid is also used.
My Invention enables me to print figures or designs or letters in tints or colours
permanently upon playing cards of celluloid, or upon other surfaces of which
celluloid is a component part. The foundation of such cards should be made of
linen, paper, or other sufficiently tenacious material, and the surface then coated
with celluloid in any well known manner. Solid bodies of celluloid, such as billiard
balls, may also be coloured by means of this Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Julius Boult in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
May 1881.
ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of the Firm of Wm. P. Thompson and Company, Patent
Agents, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, 6, Lord Street,
Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, and Berridge Street, Leicester, in the County
of Leicester, Consulting Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN DECORATING CELLULOID
OR ANALOGOUS SUBSTANCES." A communication from abroad by Nathan Hart
and Robert Alexander Bacon, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America.
The object of this Invention is to enable figures or designs or letters in tints or
colours to be permanently printed or marked upon surfaces composed wholly or in
part of celluloid, or of similar substances, such as xyloidine (xylodine).
Before the date of this Invention, celluloid surfaces have been covered with
tints, but they could be washed or rubbed off, whereas this Invention makes them
permanent.
To accomplish the desired result, I dissolve aniline colours in carbolic acid, adding
to such carbolic acid either alcohol alone, or ether alone, or alcohol or ether together,
substantially as hereinafter described.
Carbolic acid is a solvent both of aniline colours and of celluloid, and when the
solvent above described has evaporated after decorating the celluloid surface with
colours, such colours will be found to be intimately united with the celluloid without
injury to the substance of the celluloid.
A proper mode of carrying out this Invention is as follows:-
Dissolve two grains of aniline colour, purple, red, blue, or other colour, in one
drachm of carbolic acid, and add thereto an equal portion of either alcohol alone, or
ether alone, or an equal portion of alcohol and ether mixed. The liquid colouring
matter thus prepared may be used for decorating celluloid, either by printing or by
a brush or pen. I do not intend to limit myself closely to the proportions above
named. The proportions of the colour to the solvent can be varied within
reasonable limits, as may be also the relative proportions of the carbolic acid, and
the alcohol or ether, such proportions affecting the intensity of the colour or tint
produced, and the rapidity of drying and absorption.
It is obvious that any colour which is soluble in carbolic acid, and which when
so dissolved is not injurious to the surface, of the celluloid, may be substituted for
the aniline colours.
I do not in this application claim the use of ether or alcohol, or both combined,
as a solvent for celluloid, nor do I claim in this application the ornamentation of
celluloid by securing the incorporation of colours with the surface by the use of
either ether or alcohol, unless carbolic acid is used also.
This Invention enables me to print figures or designs or letters in tints or colours
permanently upon playing cards of celluloid, or upon other surfaces of which
celluloid is a component part. The foundation of such cards should be made of
linen, paper, or other sufficiently tenacious material, and the surface then coated
with celluloid in any well known manner. Solid bodies of celluloid, such as billiard
balls, may also be coloured by means of this Invention.
Having now described this Invention and the method of performing the same,
as it has been communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, I wish it to be
understood that what I claim and desire to protect under the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The process of decorating surfaces composed wholly or in part of celluloid

page_text: or its equivalent, by the application of aniline or equivalent colours dissolved in
carbolic acid and ether, and applied substantially as described.
Second. The process of decorating surfaces composed wholly or in part of celluloid,
or its equivalent, by the application of aniline or equivalent colours dissolved in
carbolic acid and alcohol, and applied substantially as described.
Third. The process of decorating surfaces composed wholly or in part of celluloid,
or its equivalent, by the application of aniline or equivalent colours dissolved in
carbolic acid and ether and alcohol, and applied substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Julius Boult, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
ALFRED J. BOULT. (L.S.)