IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CANE, IN ORDER TO RENDER IT SUITABLE TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WHALEBONE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Abraham Boss, of Bury Street, in the City of
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CANE, IN ORDER
TO RENDER IT SUITABLE TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WHALEBONE."-
A communication.
Sealed the 28th October 1856, and dated the 29th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Abraham Boss at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th April 1856.
I, ISAAC ABRAHAM Boss, of Bury Street, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING CANE,
IN ORDER TO RENDER IT SUITABLE TO BE USED AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR WHALEBONE," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing cane, in order
to render it suitable to be used as a substitute for whalebone; for which
purpose, the cane is first cut by being passed between two circular saws, the
cane being moved past the saws by two grooved rollers, and it is supported by.
a grooved bed or guide, on to which it is pressed by a pressing roller. The
canes having been properly cut on four sides, they are to be impregnated with
a preparation of animal matter, which is obtained as follows:-Bones are

page_text: steeped in a solution of chloride of lime; the bones having afterwards been
dried, are softened by digesting with steam; they are then combined with a
solution of alum, and the filtered liquor obtained is employed for impregnating
the canes, by placing them in a suitable closed vessel with such fluid, and
subjecting the same to a pressure of about twelve atmospheres. After the
impregnated canes have been dried in currents of air, they are soaked in a
solution of alum, and again dried and finished for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Isaac Abraham Boss in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
ABRAHAM Boss, of Bury Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Isaac Abraham Boss, Her special licence that I, the said Isaac Abraham
Boss, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Isaac Abraham Boss, 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, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PREPARING CANE, IN ORDER TO RENDER IT SUITABLE TO BE USED AS A
SUBSTITUTE FOR WHALEBONE," (a communication,) upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Isaac Abraham Boss, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 I, the said Isaac Abraham Boss, 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:
This Invention has for its object improvements in preparing cane, 'in order

page_text: to render it it suitable to be used as a substitute for whalebone; for which
purposes the cane is first cut by being passed between two circular saws, the
cane being moved past the saws by two grooved rollers, and it is supported by
a grooved bed or guide, on to which it is pressed by a pressing roller. The
canes having been properly cut on four sides, they are to be impregnated with
a preparation of animal matter, which is obtained as follows:-Bones are
steeped in a solution of chloride of lime; the bones having afterwards been
dried, are softened by digesting with steam; they are then combined with a
solution of alum, and the filtered liquor obtained is employed for impregnating
the canes, by placing them in a suitable closed vessel with such fluid, and
subjecting the same to a pressure of about twelve atmospheres. After the
impregnated canes have been dried in currents of air, they are soaked in a
solution of alum, and again dried and finished for use.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
The canes to be used are first squared by passing them twice between two
circular saws, which are set apart, and revolve in parallel planes, so as to cut
off each time so much of two of the sides of a cane as will reduce it to the size
or square required; the canes, thus prepared, are then to be impregnated with
animal matter, which is to be rendered insoluble by alum. In preparing the
animal matter or gelatine, it is preferred to be obtained from bones (by reason.
of their cheapness), and it is recommended that the bones used should have
been first crushed and steeped some hours in a solution of chloride of lime.
The gelatine is obtained from such bones in the ordinary and well-known
manner, to which no claim is made; this animal matter or gelatine is, when
used, diluted with soft water, to render it capable of penetrating the cut or
squared canes, when subjected to any of the ordinary means now well known
and employed for impregnating wood with preservative fluids. I prefer to
employ a close vessel (such as has heretofore been used for impregnating
wood) into which the canes are placed; the vessel is then filled with a solution
of animal matter, and the contents are then subjected to a pressure of about
twelve atmospheres. It is preferred that the solution of animal matter should,
when introduced into the vessel, have mixed with it a solution of such a
quantity of alum as will aid in rendering the animal matter insoluble when
dried up within the canes, as hereafter explained, but not sufficiently completely
to do so without a further application of alum. The canes having been
thoroughly impregnated with the solution of animal matter, are to be removed
from the vessel and dried, by subjecting them to currents of air; when well
dried the canes are then to be soaked for some hours (five or more) in a

page_text: solution of alum, by which the animal matter contained in the canes will be
rendered insoluble. The canes are again to be well dried, and when dry they
are to be finished for use, in substitution of whalebone, employed in the
manufacture of umbrellas, parasols, and other articles.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I am aware that solutions
of animal matter (gelatine) with alum have before been used in woven fabrics
to render them waterproof; I do not, therefore claim to combine such matters,
but only to combine such matters with cane, in order to render the same
suitable to be used as a substitute for whalebone.
In witness whercof, I, the said Isaac Abraham Boss, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
I. A. BOSS.
(L.S.)
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.