US328843A - Joseph e - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT @rrren.

JOSEPH It. FRANCE, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

CELLONITE OR NlTRO-CELLULQSFZ ARTECLE.

EsPECIFICATIQNx'orming part of Letters Patent No. 328,846, dated October 20,1885.

Application filed July 28, ices.

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J osnrn It. Fnanon, a citizen oftheUnited States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Oellonite or Nitro-Ocllulose Articles, of which the following is a specification.

It has long been known that nitrocellulose compounds, under various namessuch as parkesine, partsine, cellonite, celluloid, zylonite, pyroxyline, &c.-have been used in various arts for ornamental or useful purposes, or for both combined. In all. such uses, with the exception of artificial palates and similar uses, when only a thin sheet molded into proper form was to be used, the intro-cellulose compound was applied and utilized as a coating or covering simply for some body forming the base and having the contour of the finished article. Hitherto such bases have always been of material subject to change with varying thermal or hygrometric variations. For instance, wooden cores or bosses have been used in very many articles, the ornamental and preservative finish therefor being given by a coating of a nitrocellulose compound. In such cases the wooden core, no matter, apparently, how thoroughly seasoned, would still shrink, loosening the coating therefrom or causing such coating to crack and open in seams, this being due to the fact that wood is always subject to and acted upon by hygrometric changes. In other cases metallic cores or bases have been used, finished, ornamented, or protected by a nitrocellulose covering. Such metallic cores are always subject to molecular changes, to change of size and contour by thermal variations, tending at one time to expand and crack or scam the coating, at another to shrink therefrom. These defects are especially objectionable in view of the tendency of the material itselfthe nitro-cellulose composition-to warp when in use. This warping tendency renders the compound difficultto satisfactorily work, and for the articles, as hitherto made, to retain the originally given and desired shapes. If, then, in

view of these facts, a wooden core, or core of any other material affected by hygrometric changes, apt to shrink or swell as the atmos phere is damper or dryer, or a core affected Serial No. 172,890. (No model.)

by thermal changes, as a metal core, expanding or contracting with variations of temperature, is used, the changes in such core give full play, afford ample opportunity for the warping tendency of the nitro-cellulose covering to be exercised, with the result that such covering is finally loosened from the core or is cracked and seamed thereupon.

In view of these facts, therefore, my invention consistsin an article having. a protective or ornamental covering of a nitro-cellulose compound upon a base, or upon a base composed largely and for the most part of some material not susceptible in any appreciable degree to ordinary thermal or hygrometrie changes, a base which is non-shrinkable for covering or coating with the nitrocellulose compound. For this purpose I have found shellac and equivalent gums a very suitable material. Shellac, though capable of liquefaction, and in such state of being cast or molded into any desired shape, is nonshrinkable. At the same time it is not infiuenced by any thermal and hygrometric changes within the ordinary limits of such changes.

In carrying my invention into effect, there fore, I make a base of any suitable or desired form for the use to which the finished article is to be applied, of shellac or similar gum or substance having similar qualities, and then apply thereto a coating of a nitrocellulose compound, colored or ornamented as taste may dictate. This coating may be made in tubes, which,after being softened byheat and pulled upon the core or base, is placed in proper dies, which flows the cellonite around the core, closing up all end openings. It may also be made in the form of sheets applied thereto, the seams and openings being then closed and smoothed by proper dies, or in any other practicable method; or, again, this finishing coating of the nitro-eellulose composition may be made by deposition by the insertion of the base in a solution of the nitrocellulose composition until the proper or desired thickness has been deposited thereon and the solvent allowed to evaporate, leaving a hard-finished coating or skin of the compound upon the article.

If the article is to possess greater tensile strength than would be conferred by such base, as in the case of swoi'dgrips, knife and fork handles,whip-handles, rings, &c., a stiffeningpiece of metal, as a wire or thin strip, may be placed therein, it being so protected by this base that it is not readily affected by ordinary thermal or hygrometric changes.

The invention thus set forth is typified in a few of the uses to which it is applicable in the drawings,wherein Figures 1 to 6 represent, in Fig.1 in perspective, and the remainder in section, its application to such uses. It is of course understood that its uses are not confinedto the example here given, but may be almost indefinitely extended; that these examples orillustrations are merely typical, and given with the object of rendering the invention more readily and clearly understood.

In Fig. 1 is represented the grip of a sword, the reference-numeral 2 indicating a base or body of shellac or material having similar properties, which is to be passed around or fitted upon the tang of the blade within the guard, such tang fitting in the longitudinal aperture 1. Upon the body or base is made the coating 3, of nitrocellulose compound, colored and ornamented as desired.

In Fig. 2 is shown a knife or fork handle, such body or base here designated, 5, being pressed, formed, or fastened upon the tang 4, and covered with the nitrocellulose coating, covering, or skin 6.

In Fig. 3 are shown the parts of a pistol or gun grip or stock, 7 and 9 being the bodies or bases formed as explained and covered with nitrocellulose 8 and 10, the usual screws, 11, for fastening them to the iron or metal frame work, passing therethrough.

In Fig. 4 is shown a truss-pad, in which for increased rigidity and bearing force, a small or thin metal plate, 18, may be used, upon which is fastened, formed, or cast a body, 12, of appropriate shape and contour, over which is the coating 14 of nitrocellulose.

In Fig. 5 is shown a ring for use in harness or any other connections in which such rings may be desirable. It is composed,primarily, of a body or base, 17, as described, with a coating or skin, 18, of nitrocellulose. If desired for increased strength, a wire or strip, 19, of metal, whalebone, or other suitable material may be embedded within the base or body 17.

In Fig. 6 is shown a part of a whip, cane,or umbrellastock, 22 being the base or body thereof with the nitrocellulose coating 23,the end or handle thereof being finished in any suitable or desired design or configuration. In such cases also,for increased strength and rigidity, a wire, rod, or strip, 24, of any suitable material,may be embedded in the body or base. It will be noted that such wire, rod, or strip is in Fig. 1 the tang of the blade, extending between the ends of the guard; in Fig. 2 it is the tang 4; in Fig. 4 it is the plate, while in Figs. 5 and 6 the wire, rod, or strip is 19 or 24. In all these cases the amount of the wire, rod, or strip, whether of metal, rattan, wood, or whalebone, or other material, is of exceedingly small bulk relatively to the case orbody, and is so covered,secured,and protected therein as not to be subject to ordinary variations in thermal and hygrometric conditions.

The coverings or coatings of nitrocellulose material may, as before explained, be applied in any of the well-known waysfor instance, as a tube softened by heat, applied upon the bodies 2 5 &c., the open end or ends being closed and smoothed by suitable rollers or dies, or by sheets of the coating placed therearound, and the seams and openings closed and finished by dies or rollers; or it may be applied by deposition by dipping the base in a solution of the nitrocellulose material.

Thus made an article is produced in which the interior body or base is of cheap yet sufficently strong material, not affected by such thermal and hygrometric changes as it is likely to be subjected to, while the body or base not being subjected to such changes, thedanger of the coating, warping, or cracking is obviated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. As anew article of manufacture,an article having a base or body of a non-shrinkable material not affected by ordinary thermal or hygrometric changes and a coating of nitrocellulose compound, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a core, base, orbody made of a shellac or equivalent composition and a coating of a plastic material, such as a nitrocellulose compound, substantially as do scribed.

3. The combination of acorc, base, or body made of a shellac or equivalent composition, a stiffening or fastening strip, rod, or wire, and a coating of a plastic material, such as a nitrocellulose compound, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH R. FRANCE.

Witnesses:

M. J. DE WITT, J OHN TREHAVEN.

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