A MODE OF MANUFACTURING OR PRE- PARING A NEW VEGETABLE PREPARATION, APPLICABLE TO DYEING BLUE AND OTHER COLOURS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
METCALF, of Leeds, in the County of York, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of November, in the eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Metcalf, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said David Metcalf, my executors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said David Metcalf, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
nake, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MODE OF MANUFACTURING OR PRE-
PARING A NEW VEGETABLE PREPARATION, APPLICABLE TO DYEING BLUE AND OTHER
COLOURS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me,

page_text: the said David Metcalf, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
David Metcalf, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "A Mode of Manufacturing or Preparing a New Vegetable
Preparation, applicable to Dyeing Blue and other Colours," consists in subject-
ing the leaves of a certain plant hereafter to be described to the same process
of manufacture or preparation as has been heretofore applied to the leaves of
the woad plant, in order to fit them for the dyer's use. The plant thus to be
substituted for woad is that which is sometimes called "succory," but is more
commonly known in commerce by the name of "chicory." In order to
obtain the said new vegetable preparation, applicable to dyeing blue and other
colours, I manufacture or prepare the leaves of the chicory plant in manner
following I first grind or crush them in a mill just such as is ordinarily
employed in the preparation of woad. I then form the granulated mass into
balls, which, when sufficiently dried, are broken into small pieces and subjected
to the fermenting process called couching, after which the article is ready for
the dyer. In some cases the leaves of the chicory plant are sufficiently dry
after the first grinding to be subjected at once to the couching process; in such
cases I proceed without the delay occasioned by the preparatory drying. In
this way I obtain a new vegetable preparation, applicable to the dyeing of blue
and of all other colours to which woad is applicable. I would here remark, that
I have not found it necessary to set forth any more in detail the precise nature of
the apparatus and process used in the manufacture or preparation of the leaves
of the chicory plant, because I employ the same apparatus and subject them
to the same process as are well known in the manufacture or preparation of
the leaves of the woad plant.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that
what I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the manu-
facture or preparation of the leaves of the chicory plant in the manner above

page_text: described for the purpose of obtaining a new vegetable preparation, applicable
to the dyeing of blue and of all other colours to which woad is applicable.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Metcalf, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.