IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING SILK FABRICS MADE ON BOBBIN NET AND WARP FRAMES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Ellis, of St. Ann's Well Road, Nottingham,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING SILK FABRICS MADE ON
BOBBIN NET AND WARP FRAMES."
Scaled the 4th November 1859, and dated the 31st August 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
August 1859:
I, EDWIN ELLIS, of St. Ann's Well Road, Nottingham, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING SILK FABRICS
MADE ON BOBBIN NET AND WARP FRAMES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in finishing silk fabrics made
on bobbin net and warp frames. For this purpose the fabric is wound tightly
on a roller or other instrument, and is then placed in a suitable chamber and
steamed. The fabric is afterwards dried and cooled while it is still on the
roller or instrument. When the fabric is removed from the roller or instru-
ment, after being treated as above described, it will be found that the threads
have become set in the positions they should occupy, and the fabric will bear
handling and wear without the threads becoming displaced. In the manu-
facture of fabrics to be dressed in the manner above described, it is preferred
to employ some or all of the silk threads in the state known as "in the gum;"
and it is also preferred to subject the fabric to the action of steam when on the
work beam" of the frame on which it was manufactured.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th February 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
ELLIS, of St. Ann's Well Road, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edwin Ellis, Her special licence that I, the said Edwin
Ellis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edwin Ellis, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING SILK FABRICS MADE ON BOBBIN NET AND WARP
FRAMES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Ellis, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edwin Ellis, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in finishing silk fabrics made
on bobbin net and warp frames. For this purpose the fabric is wound tightly
on a roller or other instrument, and is then placed in a suitable chamber and
steamed. The fabric is afterwards dried and cooled while it is still on the
roller or instrument. When the fabric is removed from the roller or instru-
ment, after having been treated as above described; it will be found that the
threads have become set in the positions they should occupy, and the fabric
will bear handling and wear without the threads becoming displaced. In
the manufacture of fabrics to be dressed in the manner above described,
it is preferred to employ some or all of the silk threads in the state known as

page_text: "in the gum;" and it is also preferred to subject the fabric to the action
of steam when on the "work beam" of the frame on which it was manufactured.
The annexed Drawing shows a side view partly in section of the apparatus
I prefer to employ for finishing silk fabrics made on bobbin net and warp
frames. It consists of two cylinders of sheet iron or other metal a and b,
placed one within the other, leaving a space between them, which is closed in
at each end; and one end of the inner cylinder 6 is also permanently closed
by an end rivetted into it, and the other end of this cylinder is furnished with a
moveable cover c, which when in its place is held tightly against the end of
the cylinder. The cover, having lugs fixed to it which pass down behind,
inclines on the side of the exterior cylinder, as is shown, or it may be in any
other convenient manner, and the cover is made to fit tightly by a packing of
india-rubber or other suitable material. d is a pipe entering the space between
the cylinders a and b, and which is employed to admit steam to this spaco
when it is desired to heat the apparatus. e is another pipe communicating
with this space, and which serves for the escape from it of the water formed
by the condensation of the steam. The pipes d and e are both furnished with
cocks or valves, so that they may be closed when desired. f is a pipe passing
into the interior of the cylinder b; it is preferred to connect it at its other end
with a chimney or flue; through this pipe when it is opened vapour can
escape from the interior of the cylinder b. g is a pipe by which any water
which settles in the cylinder 6 may run away. h is a pipe for admitting steam
to the interior of the cylinder b. The pipes f, g and h are also furnished with
suitable cocks or valves.
b
The operation of finishing is conducted in the following manner :-High-
pressure steam is admitted at d to heat the apparatus, the stop cock on the
pipe e being open to let out condesed water. The silk fabric made on the
bobbin net or warp frame while wound tightly on a roller, or by preference the
work beam, is then placed in the cylinder b, the axes or ends of the beam being
suitably supported to keep the work out of contact with the bottom or other
part of the cylinder. The cover c is then put on, and high-pressure steam is
admitted to the interior of the cylinder 6 by the pipe h, the stop cock in the
pipe being closed, and the cock on the pipe g left open to run off the con-
densed water. The steaming of the fabric should continue for about twenty
minutes, and at the end of that time the pipe h is closed, and the pipe f, or
chimney, and also the door, is thrown open to allow the vapour to escape, and
the admission of high-pressure steam at d to the jacket or space between a and
b is continued, and in this manner the fabric on the beam is dried, and the
process rendered complete.

page_text: By thus steaming silk fabrics made on bobbin net and warp frames, the
threads become set in the position in which they lay in the fabric, and are not
liable to be subsequently deranged; the appearance of the fabric is also
improved.
The setting of the threads will be more complete if some or all of the threads
employed in the manufacture of the fabric be, as before recommended, in the
state known as "in the gum."
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Ellis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.