Improvements relating to the Moulding of Articles from Vegetable Fibrous Material.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Moulding of Articles from Vegetable
Fibrous Material.
I, GEORGE KIMBALL LITTLEFIELD, of 29 High Street, Boston, Massachusetts,
United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object the manufacture of various articles of use, such
as tubes, boxes, gear wheels or the like from vegetable fibrous material, that has
been treated with acids and water and known generally in the trade as "vulcanized
fibre" and this invention consists of the method or mode of making various articles
of use, of vegetable fibrous material, by first treating the vegetable fibrous material
with acid or acids, then forcing the fibrous material thus treated through suitable
openings, or slits, or holes in a head, block or plate, then moulding the material in
a suitable mould for the article desired, and after the article has been removed
from the mould treating it with water all substantially as hereinafter described.
In carrying out this invention any suitable vegetable fibrous material can be
used and it is first placed in any suitable vessel and the whole saturated or treated
with chloride of zinc, tin, calcium, magnesium or aluminium or sulphuric acid of
the required strength, and subjected to heat the vegetable fibrous material being
stirred and mixed so that all particles of the vegetable fibrous substances are
thoroughly treated and acted upon by the acid, and in this state the vegetable
fibrous matter is placed in a suitable hollow cylinder having a head, in and through
which head is a number, or series of thin narrow slits, or small apertures, or
holes, through which the so treated vegetable fibrous material is forced by a
suitable plunger, so that after they have passed through the slits or holes they will
be in the form of long strips or strings of the vegetable fibrous matter which strips
or strings are quite thin and fine respectively, which reduces the vegetable matter
to practically long, fine fibres of the material.
While in the moist condition from the treatment of the acid and in the strip or
string form these lengths or fibres as it were of the acid treated vegetable fibrous
material are placed in any suitable mould which is designed or intended for the
article which is to be made of the material, and with a suitable plunger the mass is
compressed firmly in the mould and when fully moulded it is removed from the
said mould and placed to soak in or treated with water, in the usual manner of
treating such acid treated fibrous material for sheet form and then afterward
dried.
It is desirable in making the mould for the article for it to be made somewhat
larger than the size of the finished article, as in the drying of the fibrous material,
it shrinks considerably, generally 50 or 60 per cent.
The advantage of this invention in moulding vegetable fibrous material, treated
with acid, is that the material is obtained in the form of long strips or strings of
fibres, which lay together, or side by side, or intermingle with one another in such
manner, as to make a union between them, so that as the material shrinks after
being moulded as described and is dried they all become closely united and homo-
geneous, and being in lengths they are so tied together as to make the article
strong and durable holding firmly together when the fibrous material is treated
and made in sheet form.

page_text: The thinner the strips or smaller the strings of the acid treated fibre, are, the
better they will lay and unite together in holding and the stronger will be the
article made therefrom.
If desired the acid treated fibrous material can be forced first through a series of
thick slits or large openings, and then through thinner and smaller ones respectively
until the desired fineness is accomplished.
The article after being moulded can be finished in any suitable manner.
It is not intended to limit this invention to the particular treatment, by acid and
water of vegetable fibrous material described, as it can be treated by acid and
water in any other suitable manner known in the art, for the production of what is
generally called vulcanized or laminated fibre and the like.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The method of moulding articles from vegetable fibre consisting in first treating
the vegetable fibrous material with acid, then forcing the material so treated
through slits, holes or apertures in a suitable head, block or plate, whereby the
material is formed into strips or strings, depositing said strips or strings while in a
plastic condition in a mould, compressing the same therein, and finally immersing it
in water, substantially as described.
Dated this 18th day of December 1901
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.