IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUTTA PERCHA, INDIA-RUBBER, AND COMPOUNDS OF THOSE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Chatterton, of Highbury Terrace, and
Willoughby Smith, of Pownall Road, Dalston, both in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUTTA
PERCHA, INDIA-RUBBER, AND COMPOUNDS OF THOSE SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 19th June 1860, and dated the 14th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Chatterton and
Willoughby Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 14th January 1860.
We, JOHN CHATTERTON, of Highbury Terrace, and WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of
Pownall Road, Dalston, both in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING GUTTA PERCHA,
INDIA-RUBBER, AND COMPOUNDS OF THOSE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
One object of this Invention is to render the gutta percha, india-rubber, and
compounds containing either of those substances when employed for coating
and insulating electric telegraph conductors less permeable when subjected
to great pressure of water and more durable when exposed to air.
Another object of the Invention is to improve the pliability and durability
of tubes and other articles made of gutta percha, india-rubber, or compounds
containing either of such substances. And the Invention consists in im-
Price 8d1

page_text: mersing and soaking for some hours such coated or insulated electric telegraph
conductors, tubes, and other articles in a heated insulating liquid not being a
solvent of gutta percha or india-rubber, which will fill the pores of such sub-
stances; although other insulating liquids may be employed in carrying out
our Invention, we prefer to use the best wood tar for these purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th July 1860.
SHALL COME, we, JOHN
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS
CHATTERTON, of Highbury Terrace, and WILLOUGHBY SMITH, of Pownall
Road, Dalston, both in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith, Her special licence that we, the
said John Chatterton and Willoughby Smith, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Chatterton and Willoughby
Smith, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING GUTTA PERCHA, INDIA-RUBBER, AND COMPOUNDS OF THOSE SUBSTANCES,"
-upon the condition-(amongst others)-that-we, the said John Chatterton and
Willoughby Smith,-our-excenters 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 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we,the said John Chatterton and WilloughbySmith,
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 :-
One object of this Invention is to render gutta percha, inuia-rubber, and

page_text: compounds containing either of those substances, when employed for coating
andinsulating electric telegraph conductors less permeable when subjected to
great pressure of water, and also more durable when exposed to air.
Another object of the Invention is to improve the pliability and dura-
bility of tubes and other articles made of gutta percha, india-rubber, or
compounds containing either of such substances; and the Invention consists
in immersing and soaking, for some hours, such coated or insulated electric
telegraph conductors, tubes, and other articles in a heated insulating liquid
not being a solvent of gutta-percha or india-rubber, which will fill the poresof
such substances. In carrying out this Invention we use a tank,having a space
or jacket around it, for heating its contents either by steam or hot water; the
tank is then about three-parts filled with Stockholm tar, which is the insulat-
ing liquid we prefer to employ, and heated to between 80° and 90° Fahren-*
heit; coils of insulated wire are then suspended in the liquid and allowed to
remain immersed from 10 to 12 hours; they are then taken ont,and each wire
is passed through a die or suitable stuffing box to take off the superfluous
liquid. When the coated wire is required to be made into a submarine cable
we prefer to subject the covered wire to this process immediately before it is
covered with tarred yarn, as the tarred yarn will then adhere inore effectually
to the coated wire than when the coated wire is taken out of the water tank
and in a wet state covered with the tarred yarn,as isnow generallydone. We
prefer to strain the tar before using it for this purpose, and in some cases we
add to the tar about th of its weight of clean resin, which renders the mix-
ture stiffer or harder when cold. We also, in like manner, immerse and soak
for some hours, bands, tubes, and other articles made ofgutta-percha, india-
rubber and compounds of these substances in tar or a mixture of tarand resin
or other similar liquid, not being a solvent, in order to improve their pliability
and durability; the liquid adhering to them when they are taken out of the
vessel being removed by passing them through a stuffing box, or die, or other
wise. We would here remark that gutta-percha is not in itself permeable; but
in the manufacture of telegraph wires coated with this substance it is possible
that minuteporesordefects mayexist in the coating,and although thesedefects
may not be discoverable by any of the known electrical tests either when the
coated wire is immersed in water under bydraulic pressure, or after the coated
wire has been long immersed in water,it is desirable that they should be filled
with an insulating material. This object is obtained by immersingandsoaking
the coated wire in an insulating liquid, as herein described; and also when the
coated wire is to be afterwards covered with tarred yarn, the tarred yarnwill,
as before stated, adhere more effectually to the coating than when the insu-

page_text: ated wires are taken out of the water tanks, and in a wet state covered with
he tarred yarn, as is now generally done.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Chatterton and WilloughbySmith,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourteenth day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.