US483243A - Phalen - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC RUDOLF GRAF W'ESTPIIALEN, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

METALLIC COVERING-PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,243, dated September 2'7, 1892.

Application filed June 9,1891. Serial No. 395,698. (No specimens.)

To all whomit may concern.-

Be it known that I, RunoLE GRAF' WEsr- PHALEN, a subject of the Emperor of Austria- Hungary, residing atV ienna,in the Province of Lower Austria, in the Empire of Austria-Hungary,l1ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metallized Covering-Plates Made of Asbestus and other Fibrous Material and in the Process of Making the Same; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to the manufacture of felted stuffs or fabrics used as a means for preventing radiation of heat or as a covering for wallsto exclude cold or to exclude dampness or as a roofing material. Felted materials, especially when made of short fibers, are liable to wear rapidly, whether such fabrics are made of vegetable, animal, or mineral fiber, and they also have a great affinity for moisture, of which they absorb great quantities. Various means have heretofore been resorted to to render these fabrics waterproof and to a greater or less degree fireproof; but

jected to friction or by attrition with other hard substances or bodies and to provide the same with a wearing-surface which is capable of being ornamented for use as interior wall-coverings.

The invention further consists in rendering these improved or strengthened fabrics water proof, so as to adapt them for use on exterior walls or for roofing purposes.

To these ends the invention consists in the mode of treating felted fabrics or materials, in a felted and metallized fabric or material, and in such a fabric or material rendered waterproof, as will now be fully described.

In carrying out that part of my invention which relates to the strengthening of felted fabrics or materials so as to increase their durability I provide the same with a metallic coating by first rendering the material conductive by the application of a conductorof electricity, such as graphite. graphite has been applied to non-conductors of electricity, especially to woven fabrics, by

result being an imperfect deposition of the metal. To avoid this, the felted material, after being thoroughly dusted with graphite, has its conductive coating burnished or polished by calendering or otherwise, not only to form a smooth conductive coating, but to more intimately combine the conductor of electricity with the fibers.

For the purpose of metallizing the materials referred to I preferably employ either copper or aluminium, the coating being obtained in the usual way by electroplating.

In case a binding or cementing substance or compound is used in the manufacture of felted fabrics, especially of such fabrics as are made of short fibers-as, for instance, fab

rics of asbestus-in the manfacture of which it is desirable to use a binding material, and as the binding materials heretofore used principally chlorideof zinc, glue, starch, &c.-- are decomposed by free acids, the galvanic bath should be so prepared as not to contain acid in afree state. Neutral copper solutions, for instance, result, however, in a brittle and more or less non-cohesive deposit, and in view of this it is preferable to employ solutions of sulphate of copper in which the free sulphuric acid is replaced by acid salts of metalsas, for instance, sulphate of soda or of zinc or of 1ron.

When these felted fabrics are designed for use as water and more or less fire proof materials, I make them of asbestus fiber in the following manner: I take fifty parts,byweight, of asbestus fiber, ten parts, by weight, of asbestus-felt waste, ten parts, by weight, of oxide of zinc, and from three hundred to five hundred parts, by weight, of water. These substances are intimately mixed in a suitable mixing-vessel, after whichI successively add thereto, in the order named and while the mass is being stirred, first, seven parts, by weight, of a solution of chloride of zinc of from 50 to Baum; second, ten parts, by weight, of a soap solution, preferably one part, by weight,

Heretofore the simply dusting the latter with graphite, the

of the best quality of soap to ten parts of water; third, twenty-one parts, byweight, of a solution of alum in the proportion of about three parts, by weight, of alum to twenty-one of water; fourth, 0.3 parts, by weight, of an aqueous solution of soda, and, lastly, 0.8 parts, by weight, of a solution of sugar of lead in two parts of water. The subsequent addition of the zinc chloride forms with the zinc oxide present an insoluble composition as the compound becomes concentrated or condensed the soap, alum, soda, and sugar of lead serving as fillers to fill the interstices between the fibers or the pores of the insoluble composition, the presence of soda promoting the chemical reactions which take place afterward. The composition, having been intimately mixed and rendered perfectly homogeneous, is then con verted by molding or otherwise into slabs or sheets of the desired size for wall or roof coverings, which sheets or waste in the manufacture of textiles may thus be utilized for the manufacture of a Valuable material.

Inasmuch as these fabrics are provided with 1. The herein-described mode of manufacturing Water and fire proof materials made of non-conductive fibers, which consists in combining with the fibrous substances oxide of zinc, chloride of zinc, soap, alum, soda, and sugar of lead, in or about in the proportions set forth, and sufficient water to form a composition adapted to be molded or otherwise formed into slabs or sheets, converting the material into slabs or sheets, applying thereto a conductor of electricity, and electroplating the said slabs or sheets, for the purpose set forth.

2. As an article of manufacture, a water and fire proof slab or sheet composed of mineral fibers, oxide of zinc, chloride of zinc, soap, alum, and sugar of lead,and an outer coating of metal, as set forth.

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

RUDOLF GRAB 'WESTPHALE I.

Witnesses:

W. B. MURPHY, A. SOHLESSING.