CHAPTER YI. 



CLAIMS OF THE AUTHOR AS INVENTOR. 



Sheet India rubber. Peculiarities of the invention. Laminated fabrics of cotton and gum. Com- 

 mencement of the manufacture. The author's reasons for jjatenting his improvements. The 

 process of solarization. An extract from Perciva I. Awards given to the Inventor. Certificates. 

 Copy of original specification of patent, 1844, as legally prepared in 184L The process patented 

 in England, in 1844. Synoptical statement on the author's claim to his inventions. 



It is not the design of the author to discuss, in this chapter, 

 claims of a legal nature, or the merits of minor inventions which 

 have been made by him during the course of his experiments. 

 Such of the inventions as are exclusively his, both as relates to 

 their origin and their development, as also those that are pat- 

 ented by him, are indicated by his initials affixed to them in the 

 index. Pains have also been taken by him to credit to other 

 persons the inventions which originated with them, even though 

 they have been developed and brought to the notice of the pubhc 

 by the writer. 



The points to which it is desired to draw particular attention 

 in this chapter, are the three following : 



1st. The manufacture of gum-elastic into sheets, in 1835, 

 and the discovery of the nitric acid gas process in 1836. 2d. 

 The discovery of the heating or vulcanizing process in 1839. 

 3d. The important invention of the fibrous fabrics in 1840, per- 

 fected in 1850? The invention of the inodorous fabrics is here 

 claimed, although its peculiar merit has not been tested by the 

 public. These are matters of history, of which all who are 

 informed on the subject, in the United States, have knowledge. 



That India rubber could be manufactured into sheets in such 

 a manner as to prevent the surfaces, when brought in contact, 

 from adhering together, and the whole becoming a solid mass, 

 was never known until 1835, or that it could be made effectu- 



