IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MASKS OR COVERINGS FOR THE FACE AND HEAD FOR MEDICAL, ARTISTIC, DRAMATIC, AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William George Forster, of Pelham Villa, Streatham
Common, in the County of Surrey, Executor of Thomas Forster, of the
India Rubber Works, Streatham, in the County of Surrey, Deceased, and
John Leighton, of 12, Ormonde Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
MASKS OR COVERINGS FOR THE FACE AND HEAD FOR MEDICAL, ARTISTIC,
DRAMATIC, AND OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Forster and John
Leighton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th June 1880.
THOMAS FORSTER, of the India Rubber Works, Streatham, in the County of
Surrey, and JOHN LEIGHTON, of 12, Ormonde Terrace, Regent's Park, in the
County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MASKS OR
COVERINGS FOR THE FACE AND HEAD FOR MEDICAL, ARTISTIC, DRAMATIC, AND
OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of masks or
coverings for the face and head for medical, artistic, dramatic, and other purposes.
It is often essential to cover the features for a variety of purposes and yet to
retain the mobility of feature and delicacy of expression.
To produce masks or coverings for this purpose we take moulds of the feature
or form in plaster, glass, or porcelain, or other suitable material, which we dip,
or immerse, or paint over with a solution of india rubber until the covering
or film is sufficiently thick. We dry the same by heat and atterwards cure or
vulcanise it. The perfect article is then drawn from the mould.
We thus make masks on the outside of the mould, and we color, paint, or
perforate them as for the several uses may be necessary.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said William George Forster
and John Leighton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th February
1881.
WILLIAM GEORGE FORSTER, of of Pelham Villa, Streatham Common, in the County
of Surrey, Executor of Thomas Forster, Deceased, and JOHN LEIGHTON, of 12,
Ormonde Terrace, Regent's Park, in the County of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MASKS OR COVERINGS FOR THE FACE AND HEAD FOR
MEDICAL, ARTISTIC, DRAMATIC, AND OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of masks or
coverings for the face and head for medical, artistic, dramatic, and other purposes.
It is often essential to cover the features for a variety of purposes and yet to
retain the mobility of feature and delicacy of expression.
To produce masks or coverings for this purpose we take moulds of the feature or
form in plaster, glass, or porcelain, or other suitable material which we dip, or
immerse, or paint over with a solution of india rubber until the covering or film
is sufficiently thick. We dry the same by heat and afterwards cure or vulcanize
it. The perfect article is then drawn from the mould.
We thus make masks on the outside of the mould, and we color, paint, or
perforate them as for the several uses may be necessary.
Or the operation may be reversed and the masks formed on the interior of a
mould.
In order that the said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which
it is preferred to operate.
The first thing is to prepare or obtain a suitable block or form, and if a
considerable number of masks are required to one size it will be convenient to
have this block or form cast in block tin, as india rubber leaves a surface of this
metal with great facility.
The metal may be cast in a plaster mould made from a statue or cast, or it may
be from a living head. Where the number of masks required to one form is
small, so that it is not worth while to prepare a tin block, a plaster block may be
used, but it must first be prepared by the application of gelatine, which renders
its surface nonabsorbent and imparts a polish. By dipping the plaster block in
to a solution of gelatine in water and then drying it, and by repeating these
operations several times, the plaster block will be brought to a suitable state.
The block should include the entire face and one half or more of the head, the
fore part; it may be either with or without the ears.
•
Having prepared a suitable block it is to be dipped into a solution of india
rubber so that the whole of the surface to be coated may be immersed; it is then
removed and drained, taking care to protect the surface from dust. By successive
dippings and drainings the coating is brought to the thickness desired, and which
will vary according to the purpose which the mask is intended to serve. Thus,
for medical purposes, where the object is simply to protect the features from the
air, the film need be no thicker than is required to admit of the mask being
handled and taken on and off without injury. Masks also which are intended to
leave the play of the features apparent, whilst entirely altering the coloring,
should also be thin, but where the intention of the mask is to represent features
differing in form from those of the wearer the mask will require to be thicker, so
that it may partially retain its own form in wear.
The india rubber solution inay be made with good coal oil; seven parts of this
solvent by weight to one part by weight of india rubber are suitable proportions.

page_text: When by repeated dippings and dryings a coating of suitable thickness is
obtained upon the block, the mask should be strengthened around the edges, and
around any apertures which are afterwards to be made for the eyes and mouth.
This additional thickening may be obtained by laying on the india rubber solution
with a brush, or very thin tapes or strips of india rubber may be made to adhere
by means of the solution. The drying is completed in a warm room or drying
chamber and then the mask is vulcanized.
The vulcanization is done by the wet process by the application of a mixture
of chloride of sulphur and bisulphide of carbon; one part of the former to, say, sixty
of the latter. The application may be made by dipping. When the mask is thus
properly cured it may be withdrawn from the block, and when the necessary
apertures have been cut it is ready for use. Or where the mask is to be colored
the paint may be laid on and dried whilst the mask is still upon the block. The
colors are used in the same way as when painting other articles of india rubber,
balls and the like, or distemper colors may be used.
We claim the elastic masks above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Forster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
W. G. FORSTER. (L.S.)