Transcriber’s Note
Subscripts are represented by bracketed numbers preceded by an
underscore: C_{10}H_{16}.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
Arithmetic of Electricity.
A Complete and Indispensable _vade mecum_ for amateur, student, and
electrical engineer.
Fully Illustrated. Price, $1.00.
Home Experiments in Science.
252 Pages. 96 Illustrations. Price, $1.50.
RUBBER HAND STAMPS
AND THE
Manipulation of Rubber
A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE MANUFACTURE OF INDIA RUBBER HAND
STAMPS, SMALL ARTICLES OF INDIA RUBBER, THE HEKTOGRAPH,
SPECIAL INKS, CEMENTS, AND ALLIED SUBJECTS
BY
T. O’CONOR SLOANE, A.M., E.M., PH.D.
Author of
“Home Experiments in Science,” “Arithmetic of Electricity,” etc.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
NORMAN W. HENLEY & CO.
150 NASSAU STREET
1891
COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY
NORMAN W. HENLEY & CO.
PREFACE.
The present work hardly needs a preface. The object is to present in
the simplest form the subject of the manipulation of india rubber. To
mould and cure the mixed gum but few appliances are needed, and these
can be made at home. The articles produced are of more than ordinary
utility. These two facts give value to the art and furnish a _raison
d’être_ for this book. If its instructions do not prove practical it
will have missed its object.
For some reason the methods of moulding the material are not generally
known. Experiment has taught many the futility of attempting to
melt and cast it. While thus intractable by the usual methods, it
is the most plastic of materials when properly treated. Its power
of reproducing the finest details of a mould, of entering all the
intricacies and undercuttings of a design, cause one to feel a peculiar
pleasure in working with so responsive a material. It is not saying
too much to affirm that to some readers this book will disclose a long
hidden secret. To make it more generally useful it is written for such
readers, to meet the want of those knowing of the subject. It was felt
that in following this course, and in treating the subject from its
first steps, including the simplest as well as most advanced methods,
the book would appeal to a larger body of readers.
The allied subjects to which some chapters are devoted will be
acceptable to many readers. The hektograph is given in several
modifications. A substitute for rubber stamps which stands the severe
usage of the Post Office has very distinct merits, and the manufacture
is accordingly described in detail. Cements and inks embody many
special formulæ. In the last chapter interesting and practical notes
will be found.
For the use of certain cuts we are under obligations to the Buffalo
Dental Manufacturing Co., Messrs. E. & F. N. Spon & Co., and to Mr. L.
Spangenberg.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
THE SOURCES OF INDIA RUBBER AND ITS HISTORY.
The Trees--The Sap--Caoutchouc--Early Uses by the
Indians--First knowledge of it in Europe--Goodyear, Day, and
Mackintosh 9
CHAPTER II.
THE NATURAL HISTORY AND COLLECTION OF INDIA RUBBER.
African, East Indian, Central and South American
Gums--Different Methods of Collection and Coagulation 15
CHAPTER III.
PROPERTIES OF UNVULCANIZED AND VULCANIZED INDIA RUBBER.
Properties of Unvulcanized Rubber; its Cohesion
and importance of this property--Analysis of Sap and
Caoutchouc--Effects of Heat and Cold--Distillation
Products--Vulcanized Rubber, and its Properties 24
CHAPTER IV.
THE MANUFACTURE OF MASTICATED, MIXED SHEET AND VULCANIZED
INDIA RUBBER.
Treatment by the Manufacturer--Washing and
Sheeting--Masticating--Making Sheeting and
Threads--Mixing--Curing--Coated Tissues 35
CHAPTER V.
INDIA RUBBER STAMP MAKING.
Mixed Sheet--Outlines of Moulding--Home-Made Vulcanizing
Press--Further Simplifications of Same--Securing Accurate
Parallelism of Platen and Bed--Distance Pieces--Wood vs.
Iron as Material for Press--Use of Springs on the Home-Made
Press--Metal Flask Clamps--Large Gas-Heated Vulcanizing
Press--Preparing Type Model--The Matrix--Plaster of Paris and
Dental Plaster as Substances for Matrices--Dextrine and Gum
Arabic Solutions for Mixing Matrix--How Matrix is made--Shellac
Solution for Matrix--Matrix Press and Spring-Chase--How to
retard the Setting of Plaster of Paris--Oxychloride of Zinc
Matrices--Talc Powder--Moulding and Curing the Stamp--Kerosene
Heating Stove--Manipulation of Press--Degree of Heat--Simple
Test of Curing--Time Required--Combined Matrix Making and
Vulcanizing Apparatus--Chamber Vulcanizers--Object of Steam
in Vulcanizers--Temperature Corresponding to Different Steam
Pressures--Jacketed Vulcanizers--Gas Regulator--Flower
Pot Vulcanizer--Fish Kettle Vulcanizer--Making Stamps
without any Apparatus Whatever--Notes on Type, Quadrats and
Spaces--Autograph Stamps 47
CHAPTER VI.
INDIA RUBBER TYPE MAKING.
Movable Type Making--Simple Flask and Matrix--Precautions
as to Quantity of Rubber--Moulding--Curing--Cutting Type
Apart--Special Steel Moulds--Wooden Bodied Type 73
CHAPTER VII.
THE MAKING OF STAMPS AND TYPE FROM VULCANIZED INDIA RUBBER.
Ready Vulcanized Gum as Material for Stamps--Simplicity
of the Process of Using It--Advantages and
Disadvantages--Availability for Type 77
CHAPTER VIII.
VARIOUS TYPE MATRICES FOR RUBBER STAMPS AND TYPES.
Electrotype Matrices--Papier Maché--Flong Paste--Flong
Matrices--Beating into Model--Drying and Baking--Struck-up
Matrices--Chalk Plates 80
CHAPTER IX.
THE MAKING OF VARIOUS SMALL ARTICLES OF INDIA RUBBER.
Suction Discs--Pencil Tips--Cane and Chair Leg
Tips--Corks--Mats--Cord and Tubes--Bulbs and Hollow Toys 85
CHAPTER X.
THE MANIPULATION OF SHEET RUBBER GOODS.
Sheet Rubber Articles--Toy Balloons--Uses of Sheet Rubber in
the Laboratory 94
CHAPTER XI.
VARIOUS VULCANIZING AND CURING PROCESSES.
Liquid Curing Baths--Sulphur Bath--Haloids and Nitric
Acid as Vulcanizers--Alkaline Sulphides--Sulphur Absorption
Process--Parke’s Process 97
CHAPTER XII.
THE SOLUTION OF INDIA RUBBER.
Mastication with Solvent--Peculiarities of
the Process--Different Solvents and their
Properties--Paraffin--Vulcanized Rubber Solution--Aqueous
Solution 103
CHAPTER XIII.
EBONITE, VULCANITE AND GUTTA-PERCHA.
Ebonite and
Vulcanite--Manufacture--Manipulation--Gutta-Percha and its
Manipulation 108
CHAPTER XIV.
GLUE OR COMPOSITION STAMPS.
Substitute for Rubber Stamps--The United States Government
Formula--Models and Moulds--Dating--Handles 113
CHAPTER XV.
THE HEKTOGRAPH.
How Made--The French Government Formula--Hektograph Sheets 121
CHAPTER XVI.
CEMENTS.
Marine Glue, and other special Cements 125
CHAPTER XVII.
INKS.
Hektograph, Stencil and Marking Inks--White and Metallic Inks 129
CHAPTER XVIII.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Preservation and Renovation of India Rubber--Burned Rubber
for Artists--India Rubber Substitutes--General Notes of
Interest 134
RUBBER HAND STAMP MAKING AND THE MANIPULATION OF RUBBER.
CHAPTER I.
THE SOURCES OF INDIA RUBBER AND ITS HISTORY.
India rubber or caoutchouc is a very peculiar product, which is found
in and extracted from the juice of certain trees and shrubs. These are
quite numerous and are referred for the most part to the following
families: Euphorbiaceæd, Urticaceæd, Artocarpeæd, Asclepiadaceæd, and
Cinchonaceæd. It is evident that a considerable number of trees are
utilized in commerce for its production, and it is certain that it
exists, quite widely distributed, in many cases as a constituent of the
juice of plants not recognized as containing it.
When an india rubber tree is tapped, which is effected by making
incisions in the bark, the sap of the tree exudes. It is a milky
substance and is collected in various ways; it may be in vessels of
clay, in shells, or in other receptacles by the india rubber hunters.
If this substance is examined it is found to be of very remarkable
and characteristic constitution, resembling in its physical features
ordinary milk. It is composed of from fifty to ninety per cent. of
water, in which is suspended in microscopic globules, like the cream
in milk, the desired caoutchouc or india rubber. If the juice is left
to stand in vessels, like milk in a creamery, the globules rise to
the surface, and a cream of india rubber can be skimmed off from the
surface. If the juice is evaporated over a fire, the water escapes
and the india rubber remains. By dipping an article repeatedly in the
juice and drying it, a thick or thin coating of india rubber can be
developed. Before the modern methods for the manipulation of the gum
had been developed, and before the invention of vulcanization, this
method was adopted for the manufacture of shoes. The original “india
rubbers” for protection of the feet in wet weather were made in this
manner. A clay last was used, upon which the india rubber was deposited
as described. The clay last was then broken out and removed. Great
quantities of overshoes were thus made in South America, and many were
exported to Europe.
When caoutchouc has once been removed from this watery emulsion,
which for all practical purposes is a solution, it cannot be restored
to the former state of liquidity; it remains solid. It will absorb
a considerable quantity of water, but will not enter again into
the _quasi_ solution or combination. This property of permanent
coagulation, which interferes to a degree with its easy manipulation,
was early discovered. In the last century quantities of the natural
milk were exported to Europe to be used in what may be termed the
natural process of manufacture, because once solidified it could not be
redissolved, and because the manufacturers of those days had not the
present methods of dealing with the apparently intractable gum.
The natives of South America before the advent of Europeans, were
familiar with the treatment of the juice by evaporation just described
and used to make bottles, shoes and syringes of it for their own use.
The name _Siphonia_ applied to several species of rubber tree, and
_seringa_ (caoutchouc) and _seringari_ (caoutchouc gatherer) in Spanish
recall the old Indian syringes and tubes.
The gum is now collected for export in many parts of the world. South
and Central America are, as they have always been, the greatest
producers. Some is collected in Africa, Java and India. The best comes
from Para. However carefully treated a great difference is found in the
product from different countries. The Brazilian india rubber, known as
Para, from the port of shipment, ranks as the best in the market.
Its history as far as recorded, does not go back of the last century.
Le Condamine, who explored the Amazon River, sent from South America
in 1736 to the _Institute de France_, in Paris, the first sample of
india rubber ever seen in Europe. He accompanied the sample with a
communication. He said that the Indians of that country used the gum in
making several domestic objects of utility, such as vessels, bottles,
boots, waterproof clothing, etc. He stated that it was attacked and
to a certain extent dissolved by warm nut oil. In 1751 and 1768 other
samples were received through MM. Fresnau and Maequer, who sent them to
the Academy of Sciences, Paris, from Cayenne in Guiana.
Although from this period numerous experiments were tried with the new
substance little of importance was done with it for many years. Its
first use was to rub out pencil marks, whence it derived its name of
“india rubber.” As late as 1820 this continued to be its principal use.
An interesting reminiscence of its early history is given by Joseph
Priestley, the great English chemist of the last century, celebrated
as the discoverer of oxygen. In 1770 he mentioned the use of the gum
for erasing pencil marks, and speaks of its cost being three shillings,
about seventy cents, for “a cubical piece of about half an inch.”
As we have seen, its solubility was early studied. In 1761 Hérissant
added turpentine, ether and “huile de Dippel” to the list of solvents.
In 1793 its solubility was utilized in France by Besson, who made
waterproof cloth. In 1797 Johnson introduced for the same manufacture
a solution in mixed turpentine and alcohol.
The year 1820 is the beginning of the period of its modern use on a
more extended scale. Nadier developed the methods of cutting it into
sheets and threads and of weaving the latter. Mackintosh in 1823 began
the manufacture of waterproof cloth, using the solution of the gum in
coal tar naptha, which was caused to deposit by evaporation a layer of
the gum upon a piece of cloth which was covered by a second one. This
protected the wearer from the gummy and sticky coating of raw india
rubber. At the best the original Mackintoshes must have been very
disagreeable articles for wear.
In 1825 india rubber shoes of raw india rubber were imported from South
America and formed for a while an important article of commerce.
In 1839 Charles Goodyear, of Massachusetts, invented the art of
vulcanizing, or combining india rubber with sulphur. It was patented
on June 15, 1844, and covers only the manufacture of soft rubber.
Vulcanite or hard rubber (whalebone rubber) is disputed as to its
origin, its invention being assigned by some to Nelson Goodyear and by
others to Austin G. Day, of Connecticut. Goodyear however succeeded in
obtaining a patent on May 6, 1851. Day obtained a patent on August 10,
1858.
Vulcanization is the most important invention ever made in connection
with india rubber and may fairly rank as one of the greatest
discoveries of the present century. It is claimed by the English, an
inventor named Handcock being cited as the rival of Charles Goodyear.
The latter inventor had as an associate Nathaniel Hayward, who is
probably entitled to some of the credit.
By vulcanization india rubber loses susceptibility to heat and cold,
becomes non-adherent, and insoluble in almost all substances. It is
converted from a comparatively useless substance into one of wide
applicability.
The subject of india rubber is so interesting in its theoretical as
well as practical bearings that it seems impossible that those who
are workers in it should not feel an interest in its natural history.
For such readers the chapter on the natural history and collection of
india rubber has been written. As it is a product of widely separated
lands on both hemispheres, and as it is yielded by an immense number
of plants, it is impossible in the limits of a chapter to give a full
outline of its natural history.
The chapter in question is, therefore, with this apology, inserted
where it belongs, near the beginning of the book. Those who are
entirely practical may pass it over. There is no doubt that the few
minutes necessary for its perusal will be bestowed upon it by some.