AN IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE FOR COVERING FLOORS AND WALLS AND FOR OTHER ANALOGOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Warne, James Archibald Jaques, and
John Americus Fanshawe, of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex,
India-rubber Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED FABRIC
APPLICABLE FOR COVERING FLOORS AND WALLS AND FOR OTHER ANALOGOUS
PURPOSES."
Sealed the 25th January, 1859, and dated the 23rd November, 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Warne, James
Archibald Jaques, and John Americus Fanshawe at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd November,
1858.
We, WILLIAM WARNE, JAMES ARCHIBALD JAQUES, and JOHN AMERICUS
FANSHAWE, all of Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex, India-rubber
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Ax
IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE FOR COVERING FLOORS AND WALLS AND FOR OTHER
ANALOGOUS PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
:
The improved fabric which forms the subject of the present Invention
consists in the combination of a woven or other textile fabric with a compound
of india-rubber or gutta-percha, or the two materials combined, mixed with
pulverized or ground cork, sawdust, woody fibre, paper cuttings, or some
filamentous material, to which is to be added sulphur, or some equivalent
compound containing sulphur. The fibrous or filamentous materials, sawdust,
or groundcork,are, with theaddition of the sulphur or its equivalent, intimately
mixed with the india-rubber or gutta percha, then the combined ingredients

page_text: are spread evenly on both sides of the textile or woven fabric. In addition to
the sulphur or its equivalent, we sometimes find it advantageous to use
metallic oxides..
The compound fabric thus produced is then submitted to the vulcanizing
process, in order to render it inalterable byheat or cold at ordinaryatmospheric
temperatures, after which it will be fit for use for any of the purposes for
which it is intended to be employed.
If it be desired to use the fabric for covering floors or for making mats or
other analagous articles, one or both of the surfaces may be painted, printed,
or otherwise ornamented.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, fiied
by the said. William Warne, James Archibald Jaques, and John Americus
Fanshawe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd May, 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
WARNE, JAMES ARCHIBALD JAQUES, and JOHN AMERICUS FANSHAWE, of
Tottenham, in the County of Middlesex, India-rubber Manufacturers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Eetters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said William Warne, James Archibald Jaques, and John Americus
Fanshawe, Her special license that we, the said William Warne, James
Archibald Jaques, and John Americus Fanshawe, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Warne, James
Archibald Jaques, and John Americus Fanshawe, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "AN IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE POR COVERING FLOORS AND
WALLS AND FOR OTHER ANALOGOUS PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Warne, James Archibald Jaques, and
John Americus Fanshawe, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: 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 we, the said William Warne, James Archibald
Jaques, and John Americus Fanshawe, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement (that
is to say)-
The improved fabric which forms the subject of the present Invention
consists in the combination of a woven or other textile fabric with a compound
of india-rubber or gutta percha, or the two materials combined, mixed with
pulverized or ground cork and other vegetable substances, such as sawdust,
woody fibre, paper cuttings or pulp, or some vegetable fibrous or filamentous
material, to which is to be added sulphur, sulphate of lime, sulphate of zinc,
or some equivalent compound containing sulphur.
In carrying out our Invention, we take the india-rubber or gutta percha, or
both combined, and reduce them to a plastic state by any of the ordinary
means, and we mix therewith the fibrous or filamentous materials, sawdust,.
and ground cork, with the addition of the sulphate of lime, sulphate of zinc,
sulphur, or its equivalent. In order to intimately blend or mix these materials,
we use in the operation rollers that are actuated at different speeds; and when
well mixed, the combined ingredients are to be spread evenly on one or both
sides of the textile or woven fabric, which may, if desired, be preserved from
decay by being soaked in tannin, or by any of the processes usually employed
for that purpose.
The woven or other textile fabric having been coated or covered on one or
both sides with the requisite thickness of the compound of ingredients above
mentioned, the fabric thus produced is then submitted to the action of steam
or hot air, as in the ordinary processes of vulcanizing or curing used in pre-
paring solid vulcanized or mineralized india-rubber. By this means the
fabric is rendered unalterable by heat or cold at ordinary temperatures, after
which it will be fit for use for any of the purposes for which it is intended to
be employed. In addition to the sulphur or its equivalent, we sometimes find
it advantageous to use metallic oxides, as in the case of preparing solid
vulcanized or mineralized india-rubber for some purposes.
If it be desired to use the fabric for covering floors or for making mats or
other analogous articles, one or both of the surfaces may be painted, printed,
or otherwise ornamented, or the fabric may be stained by vegetable or
mineral dyes.

page_text: In producing our improved fabric we do not mean to confine ourselves to
any precise proportions in which the several ingredients are to be combined to
form the coating compound, but we find the following ingredients and pro-
portions to answer well, and give very satisfactory results (namely):-Thirty-
live parts of india-rubber, eight parts of gutta percha, eight parts of mineral
or coal-tar naphtha or any of the well-known solvents, eighteen parts of
pulverized or ground cork, about twelve parts, a little more or less, of vegetable
fibre, seventeen parts of sulphate of lime, ten parts of sulphate of zinc, and
six parts of sulphur. It will be obvious, however, to a practical man that
these proportions may be varied to some extent without departing from the
nature and object of our Invention.
Having now described our Invention of "An Improved Fabric applicable
for Covering Floors and Walls and for other analogous Purposes," and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim as of our
Invention, the combination as above described of canvass or some other woven
or textile fabric with a compound of india-rubber or gutta percha, or both of
these materials, with pulverized or ground cork and other vegetable dust,
fibre, or filamentous substance, and sulphur, or some equivalent substance
containing sulphur in chemical or mechanical combination, which compound
bric is afterwards submitted to the action of the heat of steam or hot air,
for the purpose of rendering the same unalterable by ordinary changes of
temperature.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Warne, James Archibald
Jaques, and John Americus Fanshawe, have hereunto set our hands
and seals, the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM WARNE.
(L.8.)
JAMES ARCHIBALD JAQUES. (L.S.)
JOHN AMERICUS FANSHAWE. (L.S.)