USRE557E - Improvement in manufacture of hard rubber - Google Patents

Description

1 Y UNIT D STATES P T N OFFI E,

a H. B. GOODYEAR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ADMINISTRATOR OF n. GOODYEAR, DECEASED, Y I

.. IMPllOVEMENT m MANUFACTURE OF HARD nus-BE Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 8,075. dated May 6,1851; Reissue No. 557 dated,

' I May18,-1858., l v

To all ibhont i t ma, 1 concern:

, Be it-known that Ne son GOODYEAR, late of the city, county, and State of New York,

now deceased,- did, .in his lifetime, invent a' new and useful Improvement in the Preparation and Manufactureof Oaoutchouc, and did thereby produce a new-manufacture or substance,"for which said invention Letters Pat- T description of the said new manufacture or substance, distinguishing it from all other things before known, and of the manner of making the same'in such full, clear, and exact terms as to enable any one skilled inthe art of vulcanizing india-rubber and other allied gums to make. produce, and usethe same.

The invention of the said Nnrson Goon- YEAR relates to an improvement in the preparation of whatis known as vulcanizable india: rubber and allied gums, described in Letters Patent reissuedtoGha'l-les Goodyear on the 25th day of December, 1849, on the surrender of Let'- ters Patent granted to him by the United States and'bearing date-the'fl5th day of June, 1844,

by which said improvement a new substance is produced never before known, and applicable to purposes to which the products of the said Charles Goodyears-invention. are-wholly inapplicable. The object of the said NELSON GOODYEAR was to produce-from india-rubber orother vulca'nizable gums a substance 'or manufacture possessing properties suitable for making (by molding or otherwise) a great va-- riety of articles usedinthe arts, andwhich, prior to his said invention, could only be wrought,

- at great expense, of ivory, bone, tortoiseshell,horn,whalebone, or otherlikesubstances. He was aware that by the vulcanizing process invented by and patented to Charles Goodyear on'the 15th day of June, 1844, and reissued on an amended specification bearing date the 25th 4 day of December, 1849, a new substance was 7 DIvIsI said NELSON produced by snloj ecting india-rubber or allied gums and sulphur (and occasionally other:in-

gredients) inadmixture to ahigh degree of artifieial heat, and that this new substance so produced possessed, in addition to the valuable natural properties of the native gumor gums, improved-new properties valuable in the arts; but, although many of these properties were considered by the said'NELsoN Goon. YEAR i mportant to be possessed bythe material which he desired to produce, yet as the product -of the invention of Charles Goodyear was soft and pliable, and onlyelastic when stretched or compressed, and although eminently useful for the uses contemplated by the inventor, Charles Goodyear-such as wearing-apparel, car and door springs, packing for steam-joints, 800., where pliabilityand its other qualities were important-it was obvious that it was wholly unsuited to the purposes contemplated by the GOODYEAR, from the want of the hardness and beauty, when finished, of the ivory and theother substances named, and of the spring-like property under flexure peculiar to whalebone;

.In view of the properties desired and the manner of production, the invention of the said NELSON GooDYEAneon'sists in the producti'on-of a new manufacture or artificial substance having the hardland tough properties found in various degrees in ivory, bone, tortoise-shell, and horn, and the spring-like property under flexure of whalebone, and which in the'process of manufacture'is plastic, so'that 'it can be molded or modeled with facility into any desired'shape, and whioh,when completed, maybe wrought and polished to as high a degree as any of the native substances for which it is a substitute, which said manufacture or artificial substance is produced by the admixtnre of india-rubber or other vulcanizable gums and sulphurin the proportions of one pound of the gum to about from four ounces to a pound of sulphur, whether alone or with other substances, and then snbj ected to a high degree of heat, which should not be less than from 260 to 275 Fahrenheits scale, during a period of six or-m0re hours, or until the required degree of hardness has'been obtaineril.- any one skilled in theart of vul- To enable canizing caontchouc to produce the said manufacture or substance, I will describe the mode proportions, as in the working of the said vulcanizing process of the said Charles Goodyear the best results are obtained by the use of the smallest proportional quantity of sulphur which will suffice to produce the changetermedvulcanization, andwhich is usually not over one ounce of sulphur to a pound of gum, while so small a proportional quantity of sulphur would entirely fail of producing the result ob-' tained by the improved process of the said NEL- SON GOODYEAR. After the gum'and sulphur have been thoroughly incorporated, and while the compound is in a plastic state, it'inay be rolled into sheets or put into a I by molding or otherwise, and t en,whether in molds or otherwise, subjected to a high degree of heat, which should "not 'be less than from 260 to 275 of 'Fahrenheits scale in asteam or other heater, andkept there about six hours or inorthat is, untilfthe' compound substance has attained the required degree of hardness. And although india-rubber or other allied gum: and sulphur in suitable propon, tions will producethe new manufacture or substance suited to a great variety of purposes, v and which will be capable of receiving the highest degree of polish,"a still cheaper and for'many purposes "abetter substance will be produced by the addition of other ingredients-'- such as magnesia, or lime, or the carbonateof magnesia or of-l'ime, or'the sulphate of magbe made in the proportion of one pound of gum to half a pound of sulphur, anda'half a 7 pound of eitherof the othering'redientsnamed, And in short, with the view to economy, and

nesia or of lime, in whichcase the mixture may to vary the texture in degree, and to impart various colors-other ingredients may be incorporated, such as gum lack, (gum shellac,) rosin, oxides, or salts of lead or zinc, and other similar substances, whether mineral or vegetable. gum lack be introduced, it should y form desired be in the proportion of from four'toeight 1 ounces to the pound of india-rubber or allied gum. The ,various additional or-auxiliary in-.

gredient' only affect the product in degree, as\ the character of the new manufacture or sub-' stance is dependent upon the use of caoutchoucand a s'uflicient proportional quantityof sulphur, and a sufliciently high degree of heat continued long enough to induce the change indicated. And although much latitude may be taken in the proportial quantity of sulphur, a proportion much less'than four ounces to the pound of caoutchouc will utterly fail to produce the new substance or manufacture hereinabove described.

I do not wish to be understood as making claim, broadly,-to a manufacture or substance produced by the admixture of caoutchouc and sulphur, nor as making claim, broadly, to a manufacture or substance by subjecting the compound of caoutchouc and sulphur, whether with or'without other substances, to a high degree of heat, as prior to the invention of the said N ELSON GOODYEAR caoutchoucand sulphur had been compounded, and such compound alone, as well as with other ingredients, had been subj ectedto' a high degree of heat, but not to produce the manufacture or substance having the character peculiar to the said manufacture or substance invented by the saidNEL- son GOODYEAR.

a What is claimed as the invention of the said NELsoN GOODYEAR, deceased, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, 'is- The new manufacture, or substance herein.- above described, and possessing the substantialjproperties herein described, and composed of india-rubber or other vulcanizable gum and sulphur in the proportions substantially such as described, and when incorporated subjected to a high degree of heat, as set forth,

and this, I claim whether other ingredients be or be not used in the preparation of the said manufacture, as-herein described. 1 1

.H. B. GOODYEAR, Admini8tmtor of Nelson Goodyear, deceased.

Witnesses; s .WM. ILBIsHor,

' W LQ B ROWN.