CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE CUTTING OUT OF GARMENTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Osbourn, of Aldersgate Street, in the City
of London, Tailor, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE
TO THE CUTTING OUT OF GARMENTS."
Sealed the 21st April 1854, and dated the 21st February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Osbourn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st February 1854.
1, FREDERICK OSBOURN, of Aldersgate Street, in the City of London, Tailor,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS APPLICABLE TO THE CUTTING OUT OF GARMENTS" to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to facilitate the cutting up of cloth to
form garments therefrom. In carrying out this Invention I pile up the cloth
to be operated upon layer upon layer, in lengths, say from two to twenty yards,
and having marked upon the top layer the lines which the cutting edge is
intended to follow, I draw the pile of cloth (for the purpose of severing it into
manageable lengths) over an open box containing some permeable granular
substance which is calculated to form a. bed for its support without injuring
the cloth, and I then by means of a knife held in a vertical position commence
cutting through the pile, the permeable bed which sustains the cloth permitting
the end of the knife to pass down below the cloth, and thereby operate upon it
in the same inauner as if it were working through a grooved table. When the.

page_text: pile is thus severed into lengths, I either pass it under the operation of the
machines at present in use for cutting out garments, or I place the cloth upon
the permeable bed, and follow the lines marked upon the top layer of cloth with
the knife, and thus cut up the cloth entirely by hand without the aid of
machinery. When cutting up the cloth by the pressure of irregular cutting
edges, as is now sometimes practised, instead of employing a hard metal bed
to meet the downward thrust of the cutting edges, I employ the permeable
bed to support the cloth, and thus I am enabled to obtain a clean cut, not-
withstanding the irregularities that may exist in the level of the cutting
edges. The bed which I prefer to use is composed of pipeclay mixed with
grease to the consistence of putty or dough; but grain or other permeable
matter having the like supporting property, and not liable to injure the cloth
or the knife edge, may be employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Osbourn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
OSBOURN, of Aldersgate Street, in the City of London, Tailor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Osbourn, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Osbourn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Frederick Osbourn, 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 "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE CUTTING OUT OF GARMENTS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Osbourn, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Osbourn, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
The chief object of this Invention is to facilitate the cutting up of cloth to
form garments therefrom without the aid of machinery, but it may also be
applied as a useful adjunct to the mechanical processes at present in use. In
carrying out this Invention I take lengths of cloth measuring, say, from two to
twenty yards, and pile them up layer upon layer until I form a pile of from
three to six inches high, more or less, and having marked upon the top layer,
which the cutting edge is intended to follow, I cut up the pile into manageable
lengths. For this purpose I draw the pile of cloth over an open box containing
some permeable granular substance which is calculated to form a bed for its
support without injuring the cloth, and then by means of a straight blade or
knife (which may be serrated or not as thought desirable) held in a vertical
position, I make a cross cut through the pile, following the course of a line or
lines marked until I cut from selvage to selvage. The permeable bed which
sustains the cloth will permit the end of the knife to pass down below the pile
of cloth, and thereby operate upon it in the same manner as if it were working
through a grooved table or between two rigid supports. When the pile is
severed into lengths which permit of being handled with facility and turned
about by the workmen in the manner adopted when presenting the cloth to the
action of the machines at present in use for cutting out garments, it may be
passed to the grooved table of such machines, and further subdivided, according
to the markings, by mechanical means; but when the cutting out of garments
is required to be completed by this my present Invention, I place the cloth
upon the permeable bed before mentioned, and follow with the knife the lines
marked on the top layer of cloth, giving the knife an up and down motion
like a saw, and thus I cut up the cloth entirely by hand without the aid of
machinery.
This permeable bed I propose to employ in conjunction with the machinery
described in the Specification of Thomas Dawson's Patent, dated October
Eighteenth, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, whereby cloth is cut
up to form garments by the pressure of irregular cutting edges, which per-
meable bed will be a very efficient substitute for the hard metal bed employed
by the patentee to meet the downward thrust of the cutting edges. By the use
of the permeable bed to support the cloth I am enabled to obtain a clean cut,
notwithstanding the irregularities that may exist in the level of the cutting
edges. The permeable bed which I prefer to use for supporting the cloth is

page_text: composed of pipeclay mixed with grease to the consistence of putty or dough;
but grain or other permeable matter having the like supporting property, and
not liable to injure the cloth or the knife edge, may be employed.
Having now set forth the nature and object of my Invention of " Improve-
ments applicable to the Cutting out of Garments," and explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the use of, a permeable bed for sup-
porting the cloth while being subjected to the cutting operation, whether such
operation be performed by a reciprocating knife or by the pressure of dies.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Osbourn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
F. OSBOURN.
(L.S.)