IMPROVEMENTS IN UNITING AND COMBINING MINERAL AND METALLIC SUB- STANCES WITH VEGETABLE FIBRES AND FABRICS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Haseltine at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th April
1866. A communication from abroad by Taliaferro Preston Shaffner,
of Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America.
. I, GEORGE HASELTINE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN UNITING AND COMBINING MINERAL AND METALLIC SUB-
STANCES WITH VEGETABLE FIBRES AND FABRICS," a communication, to be as
follows:-
t
The nature of the said Invention chiefly consists in covering the surface of
vegetable fabrics or fibres with a metallic coating, and also in impregnating
vegetable materials with metallic solution or powder, gluten, and coloring
matter..
To preserve fabrics the same are immersed in a bath of india-rubber or
caoutchouc dissolved in benzine or other equivalent solvent.. Wax dissolved
in benzine, or the spirit of turpentine may be used, though. india-rubber is

page_text: preferable. When the fabric has become saturated with the solution it is
exposed to the atmosphere until the benzine shall have entirely evaporated;
the fabric is then covered with plumbago or graphite in a dry state, which
readily adheres to the india-rubber; then the fabric is placed in a bath of
metallic solution, as the sulphate of copper, and the whole subjected to
electrical action, exactly like the ordinary electrotyping process. The copper
will be precipitated by this action upon the plumbago coating, and in a short
time every fibre, either singly or unitedly, will become coated with the said
metal. Other metal adapted for electroplating may be substituted for
copper, and this process or treatment is applicable alike to woven fabrics,
ropes, wood, and other conditions of fibre. The plumbago or graphite may
be forced into the pores or cavities of the fibre by pressure or exhaustion,
and in a like manner metallic solution or powder may be injected into
the fibre of the vegetable material to prevent decay, or to render the fibre
uninflammable. The fabric either impregnated with plumbago or not may
be immersed in the dissolved india-rubber, and when dried covered with
a coating of paint; or the fabric may be placed in boiling wax, or a com-
pound of wax, pitch, and tallow. This compound will give a little stiffness
to the fabric, which for some uses is desirable. When fabrics are thus
prepared and printed upon they are much more durable than oilcloth or
fabrics simply covered with paint, as the oil is then liable to penetrate
and destroy the fibre. The object of the india-rubber solution is to insulate
the fibre from the oil, and the same object is attained by the use of the
said compound.
.)
In metallizing paper either of the above-described processes or the
following may be adopted. The surface of the paper is first coated with the
dissolved india-rubber or other solution, and then covered with gold,. bronze,
or other metallic powder; another coating of india-rubber is then put over
the metallic surface, over which a thin coating or film of paper is deposited;
by the pressure of machine rollers the said film becomes incorporated with
the body of the paper. The surface of the paper may also be covered with a
size composed of about seventy-five parts of silicate of either soda or potash,
and about twenty-five parts of water. After this has been applied the surface
of the paper may be calendered. In some cases it is preferable to coat the
surface of the paper with a mixture of metallic powder and india-rubber, or
other similar solution. The paper is by preference passed between felt rollers
saturated with the solution to ensure the gluten being evenly distributed, or
brushes may be employed for this purpose. After the metallic covering or

page_text: coating has been applied to the paper it is again passed between the felt
rollers which press the said powder into the gluten.
Another method of metallizing paper is to employ a perforated revolving
cylinder filled with metallic powder, which by this means can be evenly dis-
tributed into the paper pulp; or a flat sieve may be employed instead of a
perforated cylinder to distribute the metallic powder.