questions about gum blanket

[5thvacoh]

hey pards,
this ones been bugging me for a while...on the gum blankets were the outside edges hand sewn, machined, or tacked down by some other way..any help would be great.

Your Most Obediant Servant,

"Patch" 5th V.A. Vols.

Patrick, you must sign your full given name to all posts - Mike Chapman

[rogue]

Re: questions about gum blanket

hey pards,
this ones been bugging me for a while...on the gum blankets were the outside edges hand sewn, machined, or tacked down by some other way..any help would be great.

Your Most Obediant Servant,

"Patch" 5th V.A. Vols.

Patrick, you must sign your full given name to all posts - Mike Chapman

On one I saw some time ago, in a county museum in northern Illinois, the edges were secured by a glued strip of the same material as the body, running on all four sides.
Steve Sullivan

[John E. Tobey]

Re: questions about gum blanket

Like many items made during those pre-specification days, there seem to to have been a variety of edge treatments. Of the ones that I have access to, the following edges can be seen:

1. A narrow strip of rubberized material, folded over and glued to the top side of the blanket. Since this seems to have been the most common method, I've attached a photo. The edge of the folded "binding" is not flush with the edge of the body of the blanket. This does not result in a really heavy edge, as one might expect; original gum blankets using this method were made from really really thin material, more like muslin than tent material. The blanket in the photo is really a hybrid with two kinds of edge treatment: the "added" binding is only on the short sides of the blanket. The long sides were folded over before the cloth was fed into the rubber-coating machine, so these sides have a "hem" formed into the cloth. I guess this saved time, since the manufacturer didn't have to bind two of the sides. Other blankets have the added binding around all four sides.

2. A strip of rubberized material, folded and glued over the edge of the blanket in a "U" shape, thus covering both sides of the edge. This kind didn't seem to hold up real well, because the binding seems to come loose on the back (non-rubberized) side of the blanket.

3. Cloth tape binding, machine-sewn around the edge. I've only seen one like this.

4. Edge folded over (hemmed) and machine-sewn. I've only handled one example like this, too. It could be a period modification, of course, like the previous example.

John Tobey

[Jimmayo]

Re: questions about gum blanket

I have a pistol cart box repaired with a section of gum blanket on the below page. You can see the edge of the blanket. If you want me to look inside drop me an email and I will check it out further to see how it is secured.

http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/j_mayo/relics.html

[Hank Trent]

Re: questions about gum blanket

For what it's worth, rubber overshoes in the period were constructed by "closing the joints by cohesion after touching them with camphine," which looked the same as glued, by actually was just the softened rubber reuniting with itself. (Quote from The American System of Manufactures, edited by Nathan Rosenburg, a reprint of a report by visiting Englishmen in 1854 & 1855).

A strip of rubberized material, folded and glued over the edge of the blanket in a "U" shape, thus covering both sides of the edge. This kind didn't seem to hold up real well, because the binding seems to come loose on the back (non-rubberized) side of the blanket.

The camphine joint might explain the above problem, since the rubberized side would have rubber coating on both the binder and the blanket to stick together, but the non-rubberized side would only have the stickiness of the binding to hold to the plain cloth.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[5thvacoh]

Re: questions about gum blanket

pards,
how period id regimental qm. reproduction gum blanket...
thanks in advance

PATRICK, second warning to sign all of your posts with your full name. Your question above is better suited for the "Camp of Instruction" folder on this forum. Please follow the posting rules or lose your priviledges here - Mike Chapman