IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISHES APPLICABLE TO THE WATERPROOFING AND COATING OF FABRICS AND OTHER USES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Walton and Richard Beard, junior, both
of the British Grove Works, Chiswick, in the County of Middlesex, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISHES
APPLICABLE TO THE WATERPROOFING AND COATING OF FABRICS AND OTHER
USES."
Sealed the 18th March 1862, and dated the 30th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Walton and
Richard Beard at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 30th September 1861.
WC, FREDERICK WALTON and RICHARD BEARD, junior, both of the British
Grove Works, Chiswick, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare tho
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISHES
APPLICABLE TO THE WATERPROOFING AND COATING OP FABRICS AND OTHER USES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
varnishes applicable to the waterproofing and coating of fabrics and other
In the Specification of a Patent granted to one of us on the 27th
January 1860 (No. 209), there was described, amongst other matters of
Invention, the manufacturing varnishes by dissolving in volatile solvents
drying oils, oxydised or converted into resinous bodies, using therewith gums
or gum resins.

page_text: Since the filing of the said Specification, we have discovered that the
manufacture of varnishes, when employing in that manufacture drying oils thus
oxydised or converted into resinous bodies, is greatly improved by combining
with the converted drying oil coal, naptha, benzole, or other suitable distillate
from coal, together with gums or gum resins soluble in such solvents, such
as Burgundy pitch, gum copal, gum kuri, and others. And it is preferred to
treat the resinous bodies obtained from drying oils by first subjecting the samo
to pressing rollers to convert those bodies into thin films or sheets, and then
to place such films or sheets into a suitable still or vessel with naptha or
other solvent distilled from coal or from products of coal, and in some cases
we combine therewith turpentine. In applying these varnishes to woven or
other cloths or fabrics, we are enabled to use the ordinary spreading apparatus
such as is used by manufacturers in spreading india-rubber on fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Walton and Richard Beard in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FREDERICK
WALTON and RICHARD BEARD, junior, both of the British Grove Works,
Chiswick, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Frederick Walton and Richard Beard, Her special licence that
we, the said Frederick Walton and Richard Beard, our executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Frederick Walton
and Richard Beard, our 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF VARNISHES APPLICABLE TO THE WATERPROOFING
AND COATING OF FABRICS AND OTHER USES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Frederick Walton and Richard Beard, our exe-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, or them, should

page_text: particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Walton, on behalf of
myself and the said Richard Beard, 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 the manufacture of
varnishes applicable to the waterproofing and coating of fabrics and other
uses. In the Specification of a Patent granted to one of us on the 27th
January 1860 (No. 209) there was described, amongst other matters of
Invention, the manufacturing varnishes by dissolving in volatile solvents
drying oils oxydised or converted into resinous bodies, using therewith gums or
gum resins.
Since the filing of the said Specification, we have discovered that the
manufacture of varnishes, when employing in that manufacture drying
oils thus oxydised or converted into resinous bodies, is greatly improved by
combining (or employing as a solvent) with the converted drying oil coal
naptha, benzole, or other suitable distillate from coal, together with gums or
gum resins soluble in such solvents, such as Burgundy pitch, gum copal, gum
kuri, and others; and it is preferred to treat the resinous bodies obtained
from drying oils by first subjecting the same to pressing rollers to convert
those bodies into thin films or sheets, and then to place such films or sheets
into a suitable still or vessel with naptha or other solvent distilled from coal or
from products of coal, and in some cases we combine therewith turpentine.
In applying these varnishes to woven or other cloths or fabrics, we are
enabled to use the ordinary spreading apparatus such as is used by manu-
facturers in spreading india-rubber on fabrics.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to describe
more fully the manner of performing the same.
In order to prepare a varnish suitable, for example, for coating fabrics, we
take oxydised oil (by which we mean the solid semi-resinous matter prepared
from drying oil in the manner fully described in the Specification of a Patent
before referred to,) and pass it between rollers to crush it into thin films or
sheets; at the same time we mix with it a quantity of Burgundy pitch,
varying from one-twentieth to one-fifth of the weight of semi-resinous
matter. The addition of this Burgundy pitch greatly facilitates the solution

page_text: of the semi-resinous matter, and that in proportion to the quantity employed;
the pitch, however, tends to make the varnish tacky, hence we employ but a
small proportion of it in articles of superior quality. When it is desired to
give a color to the varnish, the pigment to give the color desired is added
to the mixture, and if this color be a bright one, the Burgundy pitch used
should be as light in color as it can be.
For making articles of a coarser and cheaper description, whiting or
chalk, or similar materials, may also be added in greater or less quantity
according to the quality of the article. These materials are passed repeatedly
between the rolls until the mixture is complete, or the substances may be
mixed in any other convenient manner. This being done, the whole is placed
in a vessel, by preference, of earthenware, together with a quantity of coal
naptha, varying, by preference, from one quarter of the weight of the semi-
resinous matter to four times that quantity; the vessel is closed air-tight to
prevent loss of naptha by evaporation. The vessel is then placed in another
vessel containing water, which is kept constantly boiling. The boiling is
continued until the solution is complete, usually for about 24 hours.
The varnish prepared as above described is spread on fabrics in the same
manner as india-rubber cement is commonly spread, and it will be found to
dry rapidly; the varnish may be thinned, if desired, before spreading by the
addition of a further quantity of naptha.
In order to prepare a varnish suitable more especially for being applied by
a brush to walls or other surfaces, we employ the following materials:-
Oxidized oil, twenty parts; Burgundy pitch, one part; copal or kuri, one
part. These materials are crushed and mixed together by means of rollers,
as already described, and are then dissolved in coal naptha; the varnish
may, before it is used, be thinned by the addition of solvent to any desired
extent.
Turpentine may be used to thin the varnish in place of naptha, and this
will cause the varnish more closely to resemble ordinary varnishes. Turpentine
may also be employed with the solvent used in preparing the varnish; the
use of turpentine, however, causes the varnish to dry less rapidly. If the
proportion of gum copal or kuri bo much greater than that mentioned above,
the varnish will be liable to crack, and where a flexible varnish is required,
we prefer to employ a smaller proportion of these gums. Other varnishes
may be made by substituting other gums for gum copal or kuri, the varnish
maker selecting the gums as heretofore, according to the description of varnish
he desires to produce.
We have spoken of coal naptha as the solvent employed for this; however,

page_text: benzole and other products of the distillation of coal may be substituted.
Coal naptha, however, is the cheapest solvent, and that which we prefer to
employ.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Walton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
FREDERICK WALTON. (L.S.)