Improvements in the Manufacture of Iridescent Fabrics and Papers.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Mar., 1893-Accepted, 17th June, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iridescent Fabrics
and Papers.
I FRANCISQUE VOLAND of 37 Rue Montbernard Lyons (Rhône) in the Republic
of France Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the manufacture of irisated or iridescent fabrics and
papers and to the means employed therein.
Fabrics as heretofore manufactured with the object of obtaining the effect of
iridescence or causing the material to produce different colours according to
the angle at which it is presented to the eye have been obtained by weaving
with warps of different colours repeated in groups of three or more in the
same order combined with extremely slight or thin weft threads this fabric being
afterwards passed between rollers fluted or grooved in the direction of the warp
threads so that each groove corresponds with one of the aforesaid groups of
warp threads.
When each group of warp thread is composed of one white thread, one blue
thread and one red thread for example brought together on the same groove or
ridge the fabric appears blue when viewed at right angles and either red or white
according as it is viewed from one side or the other in an oblique direction. An
effect of iridescence is consequently produced by the folds formed with such fabric.
This effect is obtained as stated by the aid of warp threads previously dyed and by
weaving with a very thin weft in order to avoid covering the warp.
When manufactured according to the present invention the fabric does not
require to be woven in a special or peculiar manner with a view to being made
iridescent. Fabrics of any ordinary or suitable manufacture can be employed being
subjected to a special treatment hereinafter described which is likewise applicable
to paper for the purpose of rendering it iridescent.
With this object the fabrics or paper are printed with narrow stripes or lines of
different colours arranged in the same order in groups (usually three or more in
each group) and directed in any suitable direction such as lengthwise transversely
or obliquely to the length of the material.
After being thus printed on the fabric or paper is creased or goffered preferably
by means of grooved or fluted rollers having grooves arranged in such a manner
that the width of each groove corresponds with that of one group of differently
coloured lines. These grooves may be arranged longitudinally transversely or
obliquely in accordance with the direction of the lines on the fabric or paper.
The iridescent effect obtained by the combination of these printed lines with
the creasing or goffering produced by the action of the rollers is superior to that
obtained by the employment of differently colored warp threads owing to the latter
being necessarily partially concealed by the weft threads.
Moreover the iridescent material manufactured according to this invention can
be produced much more economically than the fabrics heretofore obtained as they
can be woven in the usual manner and they are stronger because they admit of the
use of a weft thread of the same strength as the warp.
In place of producing the iridescence over the entire surface of the material it
may be limited to any desired part so as to produce patterns of any desired design
such as squares, ovals, flowers and the like the lines being printed on the material
in any suitable direction and being limited to those parts on which the pattern is
to be produced the flutings or goffering being likewise produced in a corresponding
direction in order to obtain the desired effect.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
:-
Manufacturing iridescent fabrics and papers by printing lines of different colours
upon the fabrics or papers (in a transverse longitudinal or oblique direction) and
goffering the material by means of fluted or grooved rollers or equivalent apparatus
so as to produce flutes or ridges each containing one group of differently coloured
lines substantially as hereinbefore described.
Deted thie 14th day of March 1893
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Agents.