CAOUTCHOUC MANUFACTUKE8. 



CAPIAS. 



to determine whether Hancock hod stolen Ooodyear's id**. 

 Hancock admitted tht the specimens tent by Ooodyeor hod suggested 

 to him the expediency of a conn* of experiment* ; bat contended that 

 the experiment! were entirely hi* own, unaided by any an.il; 

 thaw specimen* ; and the decision WM given in hi* favour confirming 

 the validity of both patent*. Many other Uw-suiU hare taken plaoe 

 between rival patentee*, in relation to this manufacture. 



1845. A patent was granted in thin year for a mode of getting rid of 

 the exoe of oulphur in vulcanised caoutchouc, by a mode of treating 

 it with a ttrong hot aolntion of sulphate of soda or potash ; restoring 

 to it the colour and transparency of the original material, without 

 lessening thoee peculiar properties which the sulphur produces. Blocks 

 and aheete of this extremely tough material began soon to be made 

 for a very varied range of purjxwes. Twelve-inch cube* were made 

 olid and uniform throughout ; and sheets were formed a hundred and 

 fifty feet long by nearly five in width. Mr. Cow, connected with one 

 of the royal dockyards, suggested a very useful application of vuf- 

 eanised .sheets. Whenever a ship requires repair, it generally calls for 

 the troublesome process of dry-docking, to examine the injuries without 

 interference from the water ; this dry -docking it was now found might 

 in many such cases he dispensed with, by the use of a ship-sheet, a 

 piece of vulcanised caoutchouc about ten feet square by three-eighths 

 of an inch thick ; this was lowered over the side of the vessel, and 

 when properly adjusted, was pressed against the damaged part of the 

 hull so firmly by the action of the sea or river water, as to permit 

 the water Kit/tin the ship to be pumped out, and the damaged place 

 examined. 



1846. By this time, many articles previously made of plain caout- 

 chouc were found to be better if made of the vulcanised material ; 

 while new applications were every week devised. The public thus 

 became accustomed to the use of vulcanised caoutchouc for elastic 

 bands, washers and packing for machinery, engine-valves, corrugated 

 sheets for railway purposes, billiard cushions, hose-piping, tubing, 

 (urgical bottles, gig- and carriage-spring*, hydrostatic bed-covers, sack- 

 ing for iron bedsteads, solid wheel-tires, buffer-springs, japanned arti- 

 ficial leather, pump buckets, gas holders, buoys, vulcanised thread, 

 trowsers- and vest-straps, swimming belts, socket joints, printers' 

 rollers, boots, overshoes, machinery band*, spherical valves, knee-caps, 

 sheet expanders, baby jumpers, corn protectors, cigar cases and tubes, 

 tobacco pouches, sponge and soap bags, jar covers, conical stoppers, 

 bows for archery, playing balls, horse-shoes, greyhound and sheep 

 stockings, cricket gloves and leggings, waggon and cart covers, rick 

 covers, carriage aprons, knapsacks, canteens and drinking cups, &c. So 

 tough is this material, that Mr. Hancock and Mr. Nasmytb, judging 

 from certain remarkable experiments made by them at Patricro:t, 

 believed it might be usefully applied to the hulls of ships to render 

 them shot-proof a supposition not, so far as we are aware, yet practi- 

 cally tested. Two patents about this time gave a still greater extension 

 to the use of caoutchouc : one wax to render it softer than usual, BO as 

 to serve as a kind of spongy stuffing ; the other was to render it harder 

 than usual, by casting or pressing it upon moulds, and vulcanising it 

 while in that state. The spongy caoutchouc did not find a very wide 

 phere of usefulness ; but the other novelty admitted of very beautiful 

 results in reproductions of chasing, carving, engraving, bas-reliefs, 

 medallions, Ac. ; and also a v. ry hard material for slabs, bars, tablets, 

 inlaying, door-knobs, combs, knife-handles, carriage panels, and even 

 flutes. Different degrees of elasticity, flexibility, toughness, hardness, 

 and ktrength could thus be ensured, according as the caoutchouc was 

 vulcanised before or after iU fabrication into articles. The harder 

 kind can be turned in a lathe, or have a screw-worm cut in it, as readily 

 as wood ; it u indeed strong enough to build houses, ships, and waggons 

 of, if we had any motive to incur the expense. 



1851. By the year of the Great Exhibition, the caoutchouc manu- 

 facture had reached a high degree of .excellence in England and 

 America. No less than fifty English patents had been procured for 

 toe application of vulcanised caoutchouc to various purposes, the 

 Tulcanising itself still being done by or under licence from the firm of 

 Hancock and Macintosh. The Exhibition displayed in a striking way 

 the ingenuity of the Americans in the use of caoutchouc. Many 

 Engluh productions had been prepared under a process patented by 

 Mr. Parkes ; bo devised a mode of vulcanising thin sheets of caout- 

 chouc very quickly, without the aid of beat, by treating thorn with a 

 solution of chloride of sulphur in bixulphnrct of carbon. Anothe 

 patent, by Mr. Brockedon and Mr. Hancock, for a mode of coinliinint 

 caoutchouc with gutU-percha, led to the production of many very 

 beautiful article*, thin sheet* of this compound material being after- 

 ward* vulcanised by Parkes's process. Various inventors had devised 

 mods* of producing in caoutchouc some such change as vulcanisation 

 by substance* other than sulphur; and thus new useful forms of 

 toe gum came into notice, under the names of " galvanised," " mine- 

 nliiwl,- " metallised," and " thionined " caoutchouc. 



1858. The seven years following the Great Exhibition were marked 

 by a development of all the various modes of employing caoutchouc, 

 and by the invention of many new ones. The patent* obtained wi 

 not K> much for new processes, as for improvement* on prooe* 

 already known. One wan for a mode of printing on surface* ol 

 vulcanised caoutchouc, susceptible of subsequent expansion or con- 

 traction. Another was for a mode of using up ncrapn of vulcanised" 



niU-houo much more difficult to effect than when the gum U in the 

 rulcanised state. A third was for * new method of making vulean- 

 d caoutchouc thread ; and there were numerous others, which need 

 not be particularised here. Messrs. Silver, at their works at North 

 Woolwich, are endeavouring to render caoutchouc a substitute for 

 gutta-percha as an insulating covering for telegraph wires. 



The importation of caoutchouc, as may be supposed from the above 

 details, has rapidly and largely increased. In 1850 it amounted to 

 900,000 Ibs., whereas in recent years it has more than once exceeded 

 3,000,000 Ibs. The produce of Brazil brought to market far exceeds 

 that of all other countries combined. Singapore is the marl 

 which the caoutchouc from Java, Sumatra, Malacca, Borneo, Penang, 

 Mnill Ac., is brought, and from which it is shipped to England. 

 Much of the caoutchouc brought into the market is found to be adul- 

 terated with chalk, Paris white, pumice, clay, barytes, oxide of r.inc, 

 white lead, red lead, ivory black, lamp black, black lead, and other 

 substances. 



CAPACITY, the same in sense as CONTEXT of volume in pun 

 mathematics. In physics it generally signifies power of holding or 

 retaining. Thus we speak of the capacity of a body for he. 



CAPELLA, or a Aurigce, a star of the first magnitude, in the body 

 of the goat which Auriga is represented as carrying. [AFRICA.] This 

 is a double star, with a small proper motion, + 0" 13 in right ascension, 

 0"'35 in declination. 



CAPERS, considered botanically, are the flower-buds of the Caparu 

 tpinoia, a plant which grows largely upon rocks and ruined walls in 

 the south of France and Italy, and which looks very attractive with its 

 white blossoms and lilac stems. The flower-buds are picked as an 

 article of commerce, to undergo a certain preparation before using. On 

 an average, each plant yields about a pound of buds. The smallest 

 quantity is yielded when picked young ; but these are the finest, and 

 bring the highest price. When the buds are picked, they are thrown 

 into a cask of strong vinegar, and sold to dealers, who, by the use of 

 various kinds of sieves, separate the buds into nonpareil*, cay 

 capote*, secondt, and third*, differing in quality and in price. The 

 green colour of capers is an evil rather than a good ; it does not natu- 

 rally belong to them in the pickled state, but is produced by an arti- 

 ficial application of copper, which is in its nature deleterious. Capers, 

 though not largely consumed in England, find a considerable sale in the 

 south of Europe. 



CA'PIAS. This term denotes in law certain writs so called from 

 the occurrence of the word (capias) in the ancient Latin forms : 



1. Capita ad retpondendtim. This is a judicial writ by which all 

 personal actions (that ia, such as do not relate to land or real property) 

 were, prior to the 1 & 2 Viet. c. 110, commenced in the superior court* 

 of common law against any person whom it was intended to arrest or 

 hold to bail, and who was not already in custody. 



Since the passing of that Act, the writ of capias ad mpondendnm is 

 no longer the commencement of the action ; and it* use is restricted to 

 certain special cases specified in the 3rd section, and noticed above. 

 [ HAH. ] In form it is a command from the king to the sheriff, to take 

 the defendant if he shall be found in his bailiwick, and him safely keep 

 until ho shall have given bait, or made a deposit according to law in a 

 specified action at the suit of the plaintiff, or until the defendant shall 

 liy other lawful means be discharged from custody. The sheriff is also 

 required to deliver a copy of the writ on execution to the defendant; 

 and the defendant is enjoined to take notice that within eight days 

 after the execution of it he must cause special bail to be put in for 

 him in the court from which the writ is issued. The sheriff is also 

 commanded to make his return to the writ immediately after ho has 

 executed it, stating the day of such execution ; or if not executed 

 within one calendar month from the date, then that he also return it, 

 or sooner, if lawfully required to do so. It in witnessed in the name 

 of the chief judge of the court from which it issues, and is dated on 

 the day it issues. 



ndvm, usually called a en to. Thin in a writ of 

 execution to imprison the person of the defendant after judgment has 



taincd against him, until he make satisfaction to : 

 It commands the sheriff (of any county within which the defendant is 

 supposed to be) to take the defendant, and him Nifely keep, HO that ho 

 may have bis body in court ou the return of the writ to tali 

 plaintiff. This writ must strictly pursue the judgment ujx.n which it 

 u founded ; that is, in a judgment against I . the ca fa 



cannot issue against one only, without showing upon the face of it a 

 valid reason for it being so ; nor can it be suud out for a larger sum 

 than has been ntnrrrat against the defendant. 



Formerly it was the practice to tr.tlc (that is. date it) in Term 

 but now it may Iw Icttnt on the day on which it is wouod (3 & 4 Will IV. 

 c. 07, . 2). It may also by that act be made returnable iumu ili.itely 

 after the execution, instead of waiting until the ensuing Term, which 

 was often productive of groat loss and delay ; nor ia it now necessary 

 that any certain number of days should elapse between the htte and 

 the return. Where the hcriff can do so, he ought regularly to return, 

 liy indorsement on the bock of the writ, the manner in which he has 

 executed it ; for instance, that he has either taken the defendant and 

 has his body ready, or that the defendant is so ill that he cam 

 moved, or that he it not to be found in his bailiwick. The writ, wheu 

 returned, U lodged with a master of the court out of which it issued ; 



