AN IMPROVED COMPOUND AND MODE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME FOR DENTAL AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Ellis Harris, of Mile End Road, and Finsbury
Circus, Surgeon Dentist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND AND
MODE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME FOR DENTAL AND OTHER PURPOSES."
aled the 1st September 1877, and dated the 5th March 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Ellis Harris at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th March 1877.
ALFRED ELLIS HARRIS, of Mile End Road, and Finsbury Circus, Surgeon Dentist.
"AN IMPROVED COMPOUND AND MODE OF EMPLOYING THE SAME FOR DENTAL
AND OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of an advantageous compound,
termed multicolor, for forming the pallets and gums of artificial teeth, as also a cheap
and durable substance suitable for moulding into various articles for use or orna-
mentation, such as for marquetry or inlaid cabinet work, jewellery, and imitations
of different natural woods, stones, and gems, or other work requiring embellishment,
or for the substance and body of other articles, and consists of an admixture or com-
bination of the ordinary black vulcanite and coloured vulcanized caoutchouc, blended
and united by heat and pressure into a plain or varigated homogeneous mass, capable
of being wrought into numerous useful and ornamental forms and devices; for example,
in forining the said multicolor compound, I take thin sheets or layers of the common
black vulcanite, and incorporate therewith two or more layers of differently coloured
sheets of caoutchouc (prepared by heating the caoutchouc with sulphor or other
suitable pigments), and compress the whole between rollers into a solid compact body,
by which toughness, strength, and solidity is given to the otherwise porous black
vulcanite, thereby enabling the same to be hardened with less heat than by the
process hitherto in use; the mass in its pliant state is then cut and placed in moulds
of any required shape or figure, and finally submitted (within any suitable apparatus,
to heat, from high-pressure steam or otherwise, for the pupose of hardening the same
as aforesaid, and rendering it pliable and capable of being polished, and employed as
a cheap and durable substitute in place of other substances hitherto in use for
similar purposes.

page_text: For dental purposes, I employ about one part of the coloured rubber to about seven
parts of the black vulcanite, to produce a thinner dental plate of less weight than
metal ones, and of greater flexibility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Ellis Harris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th September
1877.
ALFRED ELLIS HARRIS, of Mile End Road, and Finsbury Circus, in the County
of Middlesex, Surgeon Dentist. "AN IMPROVED COMPOUND AND MODE OF EM-
PLOYING THE SAME FOR DENTAL AND OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of a hard and durable compound,
termed multicolour, to be employed for forming the pallets and gums of artificial
teeth, as also for moulding into various articles for use or ornamentation, such as for
jewellery and marquetry, or inlaid cabinet work, in imitation of different natural
woods and marble surfaces or coverings for walls, linings, or otherwise, or for com-
posing the substance and body of other articles required, and consists in preparing
the said multicolor compound by an advantageous admixture of the ordinary black
vulcanite with coloured vulcanised caoutchouc, blended together by heat and pressure
so as to form a motley or variegated compact mass or substance suitable for being
readily moulded or rolled out into sheets or layers of any required thickness,
and finally hardened by submitting the same to the action of sulphor and surcharged
steam, raised to a temperature of about 300f within suitable apparatus, until suffi-
ciently hard and fit for being polished as required; or by employing in like manner
other coloured rubbers (as a base) in place of the black aforesaid, but I prefer the
black vulcanite, on account of its greater-strength, lightness, and purity.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I now proceed to describe in detail the mode of performing the
same (that is to say),—
In forming the said compound, suitable for dental purposes, I take thin sheets of
elastic coloured rubbers or caoutchouc, and arrange the same in flat or horizontal
layers one above the other, the substances are then passed between rollers, and
pressed, so as to mechanically blend and unite the coloured rubber with the body of
the plain vulcanite or base; the combined ingredients are then cut transversely into
shreds, and again spread over the surface of other plain sheets of the vulcanite, and
squeezed between rollers as before, until the whole of the several covered layers
have been completely blended and diffused throughout in one entire union with the
body of the substance composing the compound mass or multicolour. Thus I am
enabled by the above process to obtain a substance of greater strengh, durability,
and lightness, for moulding into thin dental plates, and employ the same as a cheap
substitute in place of metal plates, without the pernicious effects of any external
colouring matters or pigments, as hitherto in use.
Another method employed by me in lieu of the above process is, to dissolve the
black vulcanite or coloured rubbers in any suitable menstruum, such as chloroform,
benzoline, spirit, or other solvent, and thus run or blend the said colours together,
to form the pattern with mass, in a semi-fluid or plastic state; the spirit is then
allowed to evaporate until the compound has become sufficiently solid and hard
for being vulcanized, polished, and finished as aforesaid.
In conclusion to the foregoing description, I would here briefly note that in ren-
dering the said multicolour compound suitable for the various other purposes to
which it may be found applicable as hercin-before described, I employ the coloured
rubbers in more or less proportions, according to the nature of the work required
and the number and variety of the colours to be incorporated, but in all cases I
employ the soft or elastic coloured rubbers, for better combining with the black

page_text: vulcanite, and facilitating the vulcanization, and thereby economise time and heat
in the said process.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would
have clearly understood that I do not intend to confine myself to the precise
details herein-before set forth and described, as the same may be otherwise varied, or
receive such other modifications as in practice may be found necessary, without
departing from the general principle of this my said Invention, nor do I claim as new
and of my said Invention the exclusive use of the aforesaid substances, combinations,
and processes, except when the same are employed in and for the purposes of my
said Invention, which I hereby declare to consist in the mode of preparing and
employing coloured rubbers in combination with black vulcanite, for producing the
multicolour compound for dental and other purposes, substantially in the manner
herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Ellis Harris have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of September in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness,
B. F. WEATHERDON,
34, Essex Street,
Strand.
A. E. HARRIS. (L.S.)