A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE FOR TEXTILE AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick George Vedova, of Smyrna, in the Empire of
Turkey, temporarily at the Office for Patents, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, for
the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE FOR
TEXTILE AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 21st January 1879, and dated the 24th July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick George Vedova at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th July 1878..
"
FREDERICK GEORGE VEDOVA, of Smyrna, in the Empire of Turkey, temporarily
at the Office for Patents, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool. A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE FOR TEXTILE AND OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention consists in the manufacture of fibres for textile and other goods
from certain species of that genus of plants known as spartium, of which the
spartium scoparium or the common broom is an English example. The plant I prefer
is a species with very long stems, but in other respects extremely similar to this
English one, if indeed it be not the same species, growing nearly all over Turkey
and in the Archipelago.
The fibre is separable from the plant in the usual manner; by steeping it in water'
and fermenting and working the material to detach the non-fibrous material. The
fibre when separated is useful for almost all purposes for which flax, hemp, and jute
are employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said Frederick George Vedova
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th February 1879.
FREDERICK GEORGE VEDOVA, of Smyrna, in the Empire of Turkey, temporarily
at the Office for Patents, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool. "A NEW OR IMPROVED
MANUFACTURE OF FIBRE FOR TEXTILE OR OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention consists in the production of a new fibrous material resembling
flax, extracted from a certain species of that genus of plants known as spartium, of
which the spartium scoparium or common broom is an English example. This
plant grows wild in great abundance all over Turkey and the Levant generally.
The stalks or single stems consist of lengths of ten to thirty inches, the short ones
preponderating, but when the plant is cut down it shoots in single stems of thirty
to forty inches; it bears a yellow flower, and is known all over the Levant by the
name of "sparto."
I separate the fibre from the plant in the following manner :-The stems of stalks
are steeped in water for twenty or thirty days, according to the weather and quality
of water; when taken out, the bark, so to say, of these slender stalks, that is, the
part containing the fibre, separates very easily from the stalks.
I do not however bind myself to this exact mode of manipulation, as there are
other modes of rotting off or separating the bark or brittle matter of flax, hemp,
and ramie, several of which can be substituted without injury for the simple process
I have described. This simple mode however I find most preferable in the countries
and with the comparatively unskilled labour to be obtained where this plant grows.
I now take the fibrous matter and boil it for about ten minutes in a solution of
about five parts by weight of washing soda to twenty of water;. heat it well, 'wash,
dry, and comb it. The result is a most beautiful fibre of a light yellow. or. straw
colour, of great strength and durability.
The above is a description of the process as worked by hand. If machinery be used
after the plant has gone through the steeping process it is dried, passed through a
scutching machine, and when the woody part has been separated, it is then subjected
for about ten minutes to a jet of moist steam, or is boiled in water with soda as in
the hand process, and then passed between cylinders to separate the remaining
foreign matter adhering to. the fibre; it. is then combed and treated in the same
manner as flax or other kindred fibres. Owing to its strong resemblance to the
finest qualities of flax, and being found in the East, I have given this fibre the name
of "Cyprus flax."
Having now described my Invention and the best mode known to me of carrying
it into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not bind myself to these exact
details of manufacture, as the fibre having some resemblance to those of hemp, flax,
and ramie, in being the fibre of a stem of a plant, processes, and machinery that
can be used indifferently, for all these fibres are also as a rule useful for the Cyprus
flax, or could readily be adapted to its manufacture, but what I claim as new and
desire to secure as my Invention under the herein-before in part, recited Letters
Patent is, the manufacture of fibre herein-before described from the aforesaid sparto
or spartium of the East, for textile or manufacturing purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick George Vedova, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.