IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNICATING A SHAPE OR CONFIGURATION TO FELTED CLOTHS AND OTHER MANUFACTURED FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilkinson the elder and John Wilkinson the
younger, both of Leeds, in the County of York, Felted Cloth and Carpet
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNICATING
A SHAPE OR CONFIGURATION TO FELTED CLOTHS AND OTHER MANUFACTURED
FABRICS."
younger, both of Leeds, in the County of York, Felted Cloth and Carpet
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNICATING
A SHAPE OR CONFIGURATION TO FELTED CLOTHS AND OTHER MANUFACTURED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 25th April 1856, and dated the 13th November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilkinson the elder
and John Wilkinson the younger at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th November 1855.
We, JOHN WILKINSON the elder and JOHN WILKINSON the younger, both
of Leeds, in the County of York, Felted Cloth and Carpet Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
COMMUNICATING A SHAPE OR CONFIGURATION TO FELTED CLOTHS AND
MANUFACTURED FABRICS, to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in constructing a frame or model so formed as to
give the shape or configuration required to different parts of the fabric at the
same time, to which any felted fabric may be attached. The fabric is then
submitted (whilst so attached) to the process of tentering or other drying
process, by which the shape or configuration of the fabric is rendered.

page_text: permanent. The fabric is then cut or subdivided into the number of articles
into which it is to be made up, each of which will have the requisite shape
or configuration.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wilkinson the elder and John Wilkinson the younger
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WILKINSON the elder and JOHN WILKINSON the younger, both of Leeds, in the
County of York, Felted Cloth and Carpet Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Wilkinson the elder and John Wilkinson the younger, Her especial
licence that we, the said John Wilkinson the elder and John Wilkinson the
younger, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said John Wilkinson the elder and John Wilkinson the younger, our execu-
tors, 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 COMMUNICATING A SHAPE OR CONFIGU
RATION TO FELTED CLOTHS AND OTHER MANUFACTURED FABRICS," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that we, the said John Wilkinson the elder and John
Wilkinson the younger, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Wilkinson the elder and John
Wilkinson the younger, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto. annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say).

page_text: This Invention relates to an improved mode of imparting permanent shapes
to felted and other manufactured fabrics, and thus of rendering them
applicable to the manufacture of a variety of useful and well-known articles.
For this purpose, instead of operating (by means of dies or moulds) upon
pieces of cloth or fabric cut to a suitable size to form one given article, we
greatly expedite the moulding or shaping operation by straining a length
of cloth while saturated with moisture over a shape of equal length, and
presenting several repeats of the counterpart of the figure which it is desired
to impart to the cloth. The drying of the cloth being effected while it is
under tension, it will take a permanent set, and may then be cut up into
pieces to be used as desired.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents, in side elevation, the
arrangement of tentering apparatus which we employ in carrying out the
object of our Invention, and Figs. 2 and 3 are end elevations of the same.
A, A, are the uprights of an ordinary tenter frame; and B, B, the ordinary
moveable bars, with the tenter hooks fixed inwardly upon them. For the
purposes of our Invention we employ two tentering frames, placed opposite
each other, as shewn in the Figures. C is the shape or former, which is
intended to mould the fabric to the required figure. This former contains
several repeats of the figure designed to be moulded. Thus, Figure 4 is the
profile of a saddle cloth (which is one of the articles designed to be made by
this system of moulding), and the profile of the former C it will be seen is
made up of repeats of this figure. It will be obvious that the profile figure of
the former will vary according to the requirements of the manufacturer. This
mould or former C rests in triangular bearings D, D, which are fixed to the
uprights of the tentering frames or tenter posts. The felted or other fabric to
be moulded into shape is placed upon the former C, and it is secured at its
opposite edges to the hooks of the moveable tenter bars B. It is then
stretched tightly over the former by means of the moveable bars, and held at
tension in that position (as shewn in Figure 3) until dry, when the fabric will
be found to have taken a permanent set, corresponding exactly to the profile
of the former C. The fabric may then be removed from the tenter frame
and cut up into pieces, as shewn at Figure 5 (which represents a piece
intended for a felt saddle).
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of improvements in
communicating a shape or configuration to felted cloths and other
manufactured fabrics, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, we wish it to be understood that we claim drying felted and other

page_text: manufactured fabrics at tension on a "former" containing repeats of the
figure intended to be imparted to such fabrics, whereby the moulding or
shaping of a variety of articles may be effected with great economy and
despatch.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Wilkinson the elder and John
Wilkinson the younger, have hereto set our hands and seals, this
Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN WILKINSON, J*.
(LS.)
Signed by the said John Wilkinson the elder
and John Wilkinson the younger, in the
presence of
J. B. WILKINSON,
11, Albion Street, Leeds.