150 SHEET FABRICS. [V. 



upon which an engraving is printed, — its application to pur- 

 poses for which no other substance can as well be employed, 

 will all point it out as one of the valuable gifts of the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom to mankind. No important improvement in the 

 method of vulcanizing, or rather sulphurizing, has lately taken 

 place, for the use of bisulphuret of carbon, sulphuret or hypo- 

 sulphite of lead, sulphuret of antimony, &c., are not improve- 

 ments, but rather indifferent variations of Goodyear's processes. 



Burk's process, patented in England, is to mix by grinding 

 or rolling, 15 pts. golden sulphuret of antimony with 100 pts. 

 India rubber, to make up cloth, &c. with this mixture, and 

 then submit it in a boiler under pressure to the temperature 

 of 260° to 280°. It is at least more costly than Goodyear's 

 process, and its superiority is doubtful. 



For Hancock's proposed improvements in caoutchouc, &c. 

 see Lond. Journ. 96-104, 1849. 



Kamptulicon. — Lieut. G. Walton, of the British Navy, has 

 proposed a mixture of sawdust and caoutchouc, under the 

 name of kamptulicon, as a lining for the interior of iron war- 

 vessels. The inventor claims that, from its elasticity, it will 

 immediately collapse when penetrated by a ball, and thus pre- 

 vent the entrance of water. It also deadens concussion, and 

 by its buoyancy will keep a vessel afloat though it should be 

 riddled with shot, and moreover will prevent loss of life caused 

 by splinters. 



Gruttapercha. — This remarkable product, similar in its origin 

 and composition to caoutchouc, differs wholly from it in its 

 external characters, being very solid and unyielding at common 

 temperatures, having something of the character of horn, but 

 being quite plastic at 212°, at which temperature it can be 

 pressed and moulded into any required form, from the simple 

 form of a tumbler or plate, to the richest carving of a picture- 

 frame and the minute lines of a medal. E. N. Kent has ob- 

 served that it dissolves in the oils of terpentine, rosin, tar, 

 guttapercha itself, in tereben and its muriate, but that neither 

 by precipitation nor by evaporation can the solvent be wholly 

 removed from it again. When dissolved in bisulphuret of 



