For improvement in felting India-rubber with cotton fibre. What I claim as new and of my invention, is incorporating the fibres of cotton or other substances, with India-rubber, by pressing the fibres of a fleece or bat of cotton or other fibrous substance into a sheet of India-rubber in the green state, without subjecting the fibres, after they have been incorporated, to a stretching or drawing operation, substantially as herein described.
Fifty-fifth, to Francis C. Hayward and J. C. Bickford, of Colchester, Conn., March 19, 1850. For process of rolling India-rubber cloth. The “claim” is a new or improved process of applying rubber to cloth, by means of rollers; the process being a combination of the method of spreading rubber by the pressure of rollers, and the method of grinding and spreading, at one and the same time, against and into the substance of the cloth.
Fifty-sixth, to John Pridham, Assignor to Horace H. Day, New York, March 19, 1850, for use of oxide of tin, in the manufacture of India-rubber. He does not claim the combining of ochre or pipe clay with India-rubber, or submitting rubber to high heat, or mixing sulphur with rubber. The specific claim is, the combining rubber with tin, as set forth, and the combination of these with sulphur and heat, whereby is produced a fabric having a black surface, which is capable of withstanding all the elements which distinguish vulcanized from other preparations of rubber.
Fifty-seventh, to Fowler M. Ray, New York, April 2, 1850. For springs for cars, &c., of India-rubber. A method of making cylinder or rolls of prepared India-rubber, by rolling up a thin sheet of India-rubber, on a mandrel, while the sheet is in a green state, and as it comes from the heated calendering cylinders, substantially as described. He also claims a mandrel or cylindrical rod pressed against the periphery, or a cylinder or roller, so that the thin sheet of prepared rubber in the green state, and taken as it comes from the calendering cylinder, may be wound upon the mandrel, and the several windings made to adhere, by pressure, substantially as described.
Fifty-eighth, to S. T. Armstrong & C. J. Gilbert, of New York, N. Y., for improvement in the process of working gutta-percha. Sept. 17, 1850. What we claim under the first part of our invention, consists in the use of lime or other alkaline substance, with heat, in the manner substantially as herein described, in the cleaning of gutta-percha, to neutralize the acid or acids contained in that substance in its crude or native state, and thus preserve and render more permanent its useful properties, as specified.
And in the second part of our invention, we claim compounding lime with gutta-percha, substantially as herein described, for the purpose of improving its qualities, preserving it wholly or partly from deterioration, and protecting it against the injurious effects of the atmosphere and heat, substantially as described.
Remarks.—Two patents for improvement in the manufacture of India-rubber, were granted in 1850. The first of which is for the use of the hypo-sulphate of zinc. This salt is prepared in the following manner. In a solution of caustic lime, potash, or other caustic alkali, boil flour of sulphur until the liquor is saturated, and into this liquid pass sulphurous acid gas, by any of the known means, for the purpose of obtaining a hypo-sulphate of the alkaline base. The liquid is allowed to stand and cool. The clear liquor is then decanted into a vessel containing a suitable quantity of a saturated solution of the nitrate or other analogous salt of zinc. On mixing these solutions the zinc is precipitated in a white powder, which is regarded as the hypo-sulphate of zinc. It is then washed on a filter, dried and subsequently ground in a paint-mill. Three pounds of this powder is mixed with ten pounds of India-rubber, and heated from three to five hours, at a temperature of 260° to 280°. The rubber, according to the inventor, will be found completely cured or vulcanized, and requires no free sulphur to be used in any part of the process, and no washing with alkali, as do the ordinary materials used for vulcanizing. Hence it is alleged that this process is adapted to the covering of silks and other delicate textures, and colored fabrics.
Another patent was granted for a compound for vulcanizing India-rubber. The mode of treatment is much the same as the last, and produces the same results. The material is the artificial bi-sulphuret of zinc. The inventor claims the use of this composition without the use of sulphur in any part of the process of manufacture, and the washing with alkaline solutions is not required, and is not used in this mode of manufacture.
Fifty-ninth, to Fowler M. Ray, New York, Oct. 18, 1850. For vulcanized India-rubber springs. The “claim” as set forth in the employment of a ring, or rings, or disks, made of any of the preparations of caoutchouc, known under the various appellations of metallic or vulcanized rubber, as a substitute for metal or other kinds of springs, heretofore known and used, when such ring or rings, or disk or disks, or the equivalent thereof are applied, in manner substantially as described, whether made of metal or other solid or non-elastic substance. Also making the surfaces of all or either of the plates above and below, and interposed between the elastic rings or their equivalents, or the surfaces of the elastic rings or other of their convex, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified.
Sixtieth, to Jonathan Trotter, of New York, Dec. 3, 1850. For vulcanizing India-Rubber. The claim is the use and employment of zinc, in a manner whereby a hypo-sulphate or similar preparation of zinc is obtained in combination with India-rubber, for the purpose of curing or vulcanizing it, substantially as set forth with the use of free sulphur in any way in combination with the rubber.