The nature of this invention consists in producing by means of oil and other fatty substances, smooth and glassy surfaces upon the material commonly known as hard compound of vulcanized caoutchouc, or gutta-percha, or other similar gums, which may be manufactured according to the process described in letters patent granted to Charles Goodyear, May 6, 1851.
Claim.—The producing smooth and glassy surfaces upon hard compounds of caoutchouc and other vulcanizable gums, by means of the use of oil, or other equivalent substances, applied to the surface of the prepared gum, and between the gum and the plates or the moulds.
Eightieth, to William E. Rider and John Murphy, of New York. For improvement in sulphurizing gutta-percha and like gums. Patented November 7, 1854. The improvement consists in the removal of superfluous sulphur from India-rubber or gutta-percha, when it has been vulcanized or is in the act of being vulcanized, by filling the vulcanizing oven with hydrogen gas during the heating process, called the curing, and allowing the gas to escape as fast as it becomes neutralized; by which, as the inventor alleges, the after accumulation of sulphur upon the surface of said gums, is prevented, and consequently the necessity of boiling them in caustic alkali, entirely avoided.
Claim.—The claim covers the whole ground, substantially as set forth. No illustration.
Eighty-first, to George Reynolds. For improvement in composition for tanning. Patented Dec. 19, 1854. Twenty hides with the hair on, are steeped for six weeks, in the following solution, viz.: 1 bushel of muriate of soda, 1 bushel of alum, and 6 pounds of sulphuric acid, diluted with three hogshead of water. The hides are to be beamed, and when steeped as stated, they are removed and dried, and then stuffed, or rubbed with tallow or oil, according to circumstances. But the hides are not steeped in tanning liquor till finished. They are calculated to be used for mocassins, &c., with the hair next the person.
Claim.—The claim is confined to the composition stated.
Eighty-second, to Edward Brown. For improvement in porous elastic cloth for gaiters. Patented Sept. 26, 1854. This improvement consists in cementing between two pieces of stocking fabric, strips of India-rubber, or a sheet of India-rubber previously perforated, for the purpose of furnishing a material pervious to moisture.
Claim.—The above described elastic fabric, the India-rubber being confined between two thicknesses of stocking-work, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
Eighty-third, to Elias C. Hyatt and Christopher Meyer, of Milltown, N. J. For improvement in the manufacture of boot and shoe-soles of gutta-percha or India-rubber. Patented January 17, 1854. The material, in its plastic state, is passed between two rollers, marked 1 and 2 in the engraving, so as to form a continuous sheet of various thicknesses in its different parts, suitable for the heel, the shank, and the toe. The external surface of the sole is formed by No. 2—a being a corrugated surface for the toe parts, c for the heel part, and b a smooth surface for the shank part. After the continuous sheet has been formed between the rollers, it is cut up into pieces of suitable width for soles.
The inventors say: We are aware that India-rubber has long since been reduced to sheets by rolling, and that the rollers used for this purpose have sometimes been engraved to produce a figured surface, analogous to that often connected to the heels and fore parts of shoes; but these sheets have been substantially of uniform thickness, varying only in the slight indentations, &c., required to produce an ornamental or figured surface. This we do not claim. But we are not aware that India-rubber has ever been rolled into sheets having a substantial variety of thickness in its different parts. Nor are we aware that shoe-soles, having the proper variety of thickness, have ever been rolled out, or made in one solid piece, before our invention; nor was it known that such forms could be produced, as we have produced them, in India-rubber, until our experiments practically illustrated the fact.