IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATTED FABRICS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTOINE
MERTENS, of the London Coffee-house, in the City of London, Publisher, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of December, in the fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Antoine Mertens, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Antoine Mertens, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Antoine Mertens, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF PLATTED FABRICS," communicated from abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Antoine Mertens, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said 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
Antoine Mertens, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to

page_text: the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say-
The Invention relates to a mode of manufacturing plaited fabrics, by means
of strands or threads of india rubber, used at distant intervals, worked into
the fabric when being produced into a loom, such india-rubber threads acting
as the warp or the weft, as hereafter explained; and it should be stated, that
the fabrics may be woven of silk, cotton, wool, flax, or other fibres; or the
fabrics which are to be plaited by the india-rubber strands produced therein
may be woven of mixtures of yarns, of two or more different fibres, according
to the judgment of the manufacturer, the Invention not relating to the
materials of which the woven plaited fabrics may be composed, so long as they
are plaited by the contracting properties of india-rubber strands, introduced at
intervals, when weaving the fabrics. It should be stated, that I am aware that
in manufacturing elastic fabrics by weaving, it has been common, in some
cases, to compose the warp partly of strands of india rubber and partly of non-
elastic yarn of cotton, silk, wool, or other yarn, or mixtures thereof. I
wish it, therefore, to be understood that the Invention secured under the
present Letters Patent is strictly confined to the use of india rubber
at such intervals in the fabric woven of other yarn that the fabric pro-
duced by such other yarn shall be of a width to form complete plaitings or
folds.
In order that the Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to give some examples of the means of
manufacturing plaited fabrics according to the improvements. Figuro 1
represents a portion of fabric which is manufactured according to my
improvements, the weaving being performed when the india-rubber strands
or yarns are in the extended and non-clastic state, and they may be used in the
covered or uncovered state produced by braiding or by winding round the
surface of each strand yarn of silk or other fibre, as is well understood; but
when uncovered india-rubber threads or strands are used, the weaver should
cover the strands of india rubber in the act of weaving, as is well understood
and practised heretofore.
The fabric, Figure 1, has several strands of india rubber introduced into
the warp at the parts a, b, c, the fabric, as is indicated by the dotted lines; and
it will be evident that when the india-rubber strands are elasticated the
fabric between a and b, and b and c, will be brought into plaits, as is indi-
cated at Figure 2; and it will be evident that the spaces of fabric betwen
the points a, b, and b, c, must have width sufficient to produce folds, and
therefore the width of the fabric between those parts where the india-rubber

page_text: threads are introduced should never be less than one eighth of an inch; the
extent, however, of the fabric between the points where the india-rubber
strands are introduced, may be varied according to the effect desired to be
obtained. Thus, fabrics for frills may be made by weaving the fabric as is
shown at Figure 3; where the india-rubber is introduced at only one selvage,
the consequence will be, that when the india-rubber threads or yarns are
rendered elastic by heat, as well understood, the fabric will be plaited into the
form shown in Figure 4. In some cases, in place of producing the inter-
weaving of the india-rubber threads by placing them in the warp, I produce
fabrics by the ordinary weaving, and at intervals I introduce india-rubber
threads or yarn as weft for a short or longer length of weaving, so that when
the india-rubber strands or threads are contracted by heat, the intervals of
fabric between the places where india rubber is introduced, will be drawn up
into plaits; and in some cases I apply india rubber in the warp, and also in
the weft, leaving square intervals of fabric where there is no india rubber, the
consequence of which will be, that the fabric will be plaited in squares. In
weaving the fabrics, they may be plain or ornamental, and may be produced
in one or more colors, as fabrics have heretofore been made; the Invention, as
above stated, not being any improvement in the act of weaving the fabrics
which are to be plaited by having india rubber introduced at distant intervals,
in order to produce such fabrics in a plaited form.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim
to the weaving of fabrics of wool, cotton, silk, flax, or other fibrous
matters, when separately considered; nor do I claim generally the weaving
fabrics with india-rubber thread separately, nor when combined in the
same fabric with non-clastic yarns or threads, so long as the non-elastic
threads of the warp and weft are not so combined as to produce a fabric suit-
able to be plaited by the india-rubber threads or yarns introduced at distant
intervals. And I wish it to be understood that what I claim is, the mode of
manufacturing plaited fabrics by causing india-rubber strands or yarns to be
interwoven at distant intervals in the fabrics, and in such manner that the
fabric will become plaited when the elasticity is restored to the india rubber
by heat.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antoine Mertens, have hereunto set my
ANTOINE (1..8.) MERTENS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Antoine Mertens came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the !
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-two.