US5536A - Improvement in making hollow articles of india-rubber - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATE T O FICE.

CHARLES GOODYEAR, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAKING HOLLOW ARTICLES OF INDIA-RUBBER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5,536, dated April 25, 1848.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES GOODYEAR, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful process or mode of manufacturing from caoutchouc or india-rubber, or its equivalent, hollow balls or toys or'other articles of like character; and I do hereby declare that the nature of the same is fully described and represented in the following specification.

The article termed in commerce vulcanized india-rubber consists, usually, of a composition of gum-elastic and sulphur subjected to a high degree of heat, or one sufiicient to cure it or divest it of adhesive properties and impart to it powers of resistance to the action of various chemical or other matters not enjoyed by caoutchouc in. its primitive or unmanufactured state. In the making of hollow spheres and various other hollow articles of such vulcanized rubber I employ the rubber in sheets, and in the state in which it is just previous to being baked or exposed to heat, as aforesaid, the rubber being then in a tacking or adhesive state. I cut it into such shape or shapes as will enable me to lay it in a mold of the article to be produced, and so as to cover the whole internal surface of said mold, and so that the adjacent edges of the piece or several pieces so laid in the mold may be laid close together, or so as to touch or nearly touch one another. To form a hollow ball, the pieces may be cut or shaped like the four quarters of an orangepeel. The mold may be made of iron or other proper material capable of withstanding the heat and internal pressure arising from the expansion of air produced by the heat during the baking or curing process. Its joints should be made to fit well and close, so as to prevent, as far as possible, what are termed moldmarks being made on the article formed in it.

When the pieces of india-rubber or gum-elastic composition are laid in the mold, care must be taken that atmospheric air be suffered to remain along with the same in the interior of the mold. The 'mold may be made, if necessary, so as to admit of air being forced into it and between the pieces of rubber in it after it is closed together and before or during the process of heating it. After the mold and rubber are so prepared, the whole should be subj ected to the degree of heat sufficient to expand the air within the same and to cause it to force the rubber closely against the interior surface I -for the curing process above mentioned, it being intended that it shall always be equal to that required to fully and completely cure the article or render it non-adhesive, and possessing the usual properties of the vulcanized india-rubber. When removed from the mold, the article Will be found to have taken the shape required, and to contain the quantity of air necessary to insure its constant inflation.

What I claim is The above-described process of making hollow spheres, various hollow toys, orother 1101- low articles of caoutchouc, the same consisting in the employment of a mold, and heat, and air, substantially in the manner and under the circumstances above set forth. 7

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 11th day of November, A. D. 1847.

CHARLES GOODYEAR. \Vitnesses: AUSTIN G. DAY,

XVrL-A. REYNOLDS.