IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF CARDS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUGENE
DESIRE BOUCHER, of No. 15, Rue des Vinaigriers, Paris, in the Republic of
France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of
August, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Eugene Desiré Boucher, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said Eugene Desiré Boucher, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Eugene Desiré Boucher, my exors, adiñors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of certain Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF CARDS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Eugene Desiré Boucher, shall cause a particular description of 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, to be inrolled in Her said

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Eugene Desiré Boucher, do hereby declare, that the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in replacing, in the manufacture of cards for carding
fibrous substances, the iron wire generally employed by wires of the same metal,
previously rendered inoxidizible by the application of a covering or coating of
another metal less exposed to the effects of oxidation than iron. The cards
employed for carding fibrous substances form a kind of brush, and are manu-
factured with iron wire of different sizes, according to their applications, and
are inserted in sheets or bands of leather, caoutchouc, gutta percha, stuff, or
other fabric. Cards thus constructed present serious defects, resulting chiefly
from the great affinity of the iron composing them to the oxygen of the air,
and, in a word, the wires oxidise or rust with the greatest facility, either by
their contact with the damp fibrous substance in which they are sunk, or by
atmospheric humidity, but more especially by the quantity of water accumu-
lated in the fibrous substances, or in the bands or sheets of leather, caoutchouc,
gutta percha, stuff, or tissue forming the body of the cards. Amongst the
injurious effects resulting from that rapid oxidation, the following may be
enumerated: Firstly, the premature oxidation of that part of the iron wire
lodged in the band or sheet diminishes the strength of the wire, renders it
brittle, and very soon causes it to break during the operation of the carding.
Secondly, the part of the wire out of the band or sheet, oxidising irregularly,
becomes covered with holes and rugosities, which, forming a grater, tears the
fibres instead of carding the substances operated upon. Thirdly, the oxide of
iron, or rust, becoming disengaged from the iron in a state of powder during
the carding gives to the fibrous substances in contact with it stains of a red
rust colour.
The herein-after described improvements obviate these very great defects in
the cards; they consist in two processes for coating or covering the iron
wire.
First process: The coppering iron wire for the manufacture of cards by
means of simple immersion.-In five gallons of water I cause to dissolve at a
temperature at about eighty-six degrees of Fahrenheit, one ounce of sulphate
of copper & half an ounce of sulphuric acid. I place this solution in the

page_text: trough, in which stands the reel on which is set the bundle of wire which is to
pass through the drawing bench, and I operate at a cold temperature. As
soon as the iron comes in contact with the solution it is covered with a coat of
red copper, which, however, would not adhere if it were left in that state, but
I cause it to pass through the drawing bench; that operation has the double
advantage of evening the wire, and of giving more cohesion to the superposed
metal. I repeat this immersion in the acidulated sulphate of copper bath and
the drawing bench operation until the coating appears to be strong enough to
prevent in a sufficient proportion the oxidation. The wire is then ready to be
employed for the manufacture of cards.
Second process: Coppering iron wire for the manufacture of cards by elec-
tricity. This second improvement, which I consider preferable to the herein-
before described process, in point of result, consists in spreading the bundle of
wire on a metallic reel in such a manner that the threads should be. separated
as much as possible one from the other. I then place horizontally the wire
reel, previously in contact, by means of a conductor thread, with the negative
pole of a voltaic battery, in a bath composed as follows:-In about five gallons
of water I dissolve two pounds and a quarter of yellow cyanure of potassium
and iron, and four and a half pounds of bicarbonate of potash, which I carry to
a temperature of about forty-eight degrees to fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit, to
accelerate the operation. cause then a large plate of red copper to be placed in
contact in the bath with the positive pole by means of a metallic rod. It is
quite useless to state that I take care that the large copper plate should not
be isolated from either the wire to be coated or the reel on which it is wound
up. By means of the above-described process any thickness of copper can be
deposited, and a perfect cohesion is obtained. But to command more elas-
ticity and evenness, I consider it useful to pass the wire through the drawing
bench. I must observe, that to insure a perfect success it is very important
that the wire before operating should be perfectly clean and scoured by the
usual processes. The coating of yellow copper, tin, brass, lead, zinc, and other
metals can be also obtained by the second process herein-before described.
also apply for the manufacture of cards iron wires prepared by the several
cesses already patented for galvanizing by immersing in a bath of zinc.
I
pro-
And having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details or proportions of substances, or to the
exact mode of performing the operations herein-before described, provided the
general features be similar to what I have laid down; but what I claim as
new, and intended to be protected.by. Letters Patent, is,―

page_text: Firstly, the constructing cards for carding-fibrous-substances with.iron_wire
rendered-inoxidizible by the application of a coating or covering of another
metal far less oxidizible than iron.
Secondly, the processes for obtaining the said coating, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eugene Desiré Boucher, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
EUGÈNE DÉSIRÉ (L.S.) BOUCHER.
Taken and acknowledged by Eugene
Desiré Boucher (party hereto), at
Paris, in the Republic of France, this
28th day of January, 1850. before me.
This is the Specification marked A, and referred to in the Affidavit of William
Armand Gilbee. Sworn this 30th day of January, 1850, before me,
J. JEFFERSON.
William Armand Gilbee, of 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with the
manner and character of the handwriting of Thomas Pickford, Her Brittanic
Majesty's Consul at Paris, in the Republic of France. And this Deponent
further saith, that the signature "Thomas Pickford," set, subscribed, or written
in the margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A, and dated
the Twenty eighth day of January instant, and purporting to be executed by
Eugène Desiré Boucher, of Paris, whereby it is stated that the Specification was
acknowledged by him, the said Eugène Désiré Boucher, before the said
Thomas Pickford, on the said Twenty-eighth day of January, at Paris aforesaid,
is of the proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of William Armand
Gilbee, the Specification aforesaid was enrolled word for word as above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.