_Claim._—The method of making a safety boat or other vessels of gutta-percha mixed glue, so that the air chambers or other parts, if separately formed, may together with the boat body, be so united and completed at one pressure, that if the braces, thwarts, knees, supporters, or other accessories to the boat proper, are solid, the whole, with the inner and outer forms, may be made or completed together at one time, and at one pressure, as described. _Ninety-eighth_, to William F. Converse, Harrison, Ohio, April 17, 1855. For improvement in India-rubber springs. _Ninety-ninth_, to Sigismund Beer, assignor to Lewis Feuchtuanger, and Sigismund Beer, New York, May 29, 1855. For improvement in de-vulcanizing India-rubber. _Claim._—The restoration of caoutchouc, gutta-percha or other similar gums, which have undergone the process of being cured or vulcanized, so that those gums may be capable of being used again as a substitute for native gums, may be capable of being used again as a substitute for native gums of like character, or in combination with such gums, by first treating the vulcanized gum with alkalies, or compounds of alkalies and oils, as potash with any common grease or oil, for extracting the sulphur, &c., and then submitting the mass to heat and turpentine, or any other liquid known to be a solvent of the gum in its natural condition. _One hundredth_, to Francis Baschnagel, New York, Aug. 14, 1855. For improvement in compositions for treating rubber and gutta-percha. _Claim._—The conversion or restoration of caoutchouc or gutta-percha, whether they have been vulcanized or not, into a soft, plastic, and workable state, (by a new combination of chemical agents) so that they may be re-manufactured in a state already vulcanized or not, according as the substance converted or restored had or had not been vulcanized; the substances which I use for this purpose being bi-sulphuret of carbon in conjunction with alcohol absolute, and not common alcohol, without the addition of any other chemical agent; and without the application of heat. _One hundred and first_, to James West, October 30, 1855. For improvement in roofing compositions. The proportions are: Sixteen ounces naptha, half an ounce of India-rubber, half an ounce of shellac, and half an ounce of gutta-percha dissolved in linseed oil, gum shellac dissolved in alcohol, two ounces “puzzolan” (composed of pulverized glass,) quick lime pulverized and sifted, and two ounces of smalt. _Claim._—The use of lime in combination with the rubber, gutta-percha, and shellac solutions in the composition, as set forth. The solution of rubber, gum-shellac, gutta-percha, and the naptha, are to be warmed to blood heat, then the “puzzolan” to be mixed therewith, and immediately to be applied to the roof and rubbed smooth; then the smalt is to be sifted on. _One hundred and second_, to Charles Rice and Sylvanus H. Whorf, Nov. 13, 1855. For improvement in lasting and applying soles to shoes.