A CERTAIN NEW MANUFACTURE POR COVERING THE FLOORS OF ROOMS, ALSO FOR COVERING AND PACKING GOODS, MER- CHANDIZES, AND FIT TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES OF THE LIKE KIND
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WINTER, of Shacklewell, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day.
of June, in the forty-first year of His reign, give and and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Winter, His special licence, that I, the said Thomas Winter,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,"
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN NEW MANUFACTURE POR
COVERING THE FLOORS OF ROOMS, ALSO FOR COVERING AND PACKING GOODS, MER-
CHANDIZES, AND FIT TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES OF THE LIKE KIND;"
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Thomas Winter, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
particular described of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said
recited Letter Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had,
may-more fully and at large appear."

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said Letters Patent, and
the proviso or condition therein contained, I, the said Thomas Winter, do, by
this instrument under my hand and seal, particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, which are as follows:-
First, I procure from the tanners' yards the waste tan or bark after it has
been used for the purposes of tanning. This I cause to be well washed and
freed from dirt, and the fibrous parts picked and separated from those which
are more brittle. The tan or bark so prepared I cause to be boiled for a con-
siderable time, until the fibres are so softened as readily to separate, and be
buried. I then bruise this softened tan or bark either by passing it through
large iron or wooden rollers after the manner of flattening mills, except that
the rollers are placed by the side of each other in a horizontal position (in order
to their being fed), instead of being placed one above the other, or by large
wooden stampers or mallets shod with iron. When it has been thus bruised, I
cause to be again well washed in large sieves, through which pass the remain-
ing brittle particles, and leave the fibres fit for use. Secondly, I procure from
the different manufacturers of leather the shreds, or scrapings, or parings of
leather of any description, which are the refuse or sweepings of their shops or
work-houses, which pieces of leather I cause to undergo the same operations
of picking, washing, and bruising, as before mentioned with respect to the tan
or bark, until it becomes a pulp; but I do not wash it again after it is reduced
into that state. Thirdly, I procure the short hair of animals of any descrip-
tion, which I cause to be also well washed, and (when it is dry) separated by
Being beaten with sticks, so that it may the more completely interweave, and
unite with the other before-mentioned ingredients of the fibres of the tan or bark
and pulp of the leather. My principal ingredients being so prepared, I take a
proportionate quantity of each (according as I want any manufacture to be
firm or flexible, fit to be used in the sheathing of ships, covering of floors, for
liutton boards, or the common packages of merchandizes), but generally in the
proportion of one hundred weight of the fibres of the tan or balk to half a
hundred weight of the pulp of the leather, and one quarter of a hundred weight
of the hair, the whole of which I cause to be well mixed together, adding
thereto, and strewing as equally as possible amongst the whole mass a small
quantity (that is, in the proportion of five pounds to one hundred weight of the
principal mixture) of refuse tow or wadding, or the sweepings or refuse of
wool chambers, previously cut short and separated. This mixture. is then
Beaten all together, with hammers or stampers in large mortars, and a little
water added to it as occasion may require, to keep as much as possible any
1.

page_text: particular ingredient from adhering together. After being thus beaten 'until
the ingredients are fully blended and intermixed, the whole is conveyed into.
receivers or vats, and warm water (previously made a little glutinous by boiling
in it a few pounds of the pieces of pelts or skins from which glue is made, or of
the glue itself, in quantity according as I want my water to be of a stronger or
weaker gluten, but generally in the proportion of four pounds of the skins or
two pounds of glue to ten gallons of water, skimming off the fat which arises on
the boiling of the pieces of pelts added by degrees, the whole of the mass being
kept constantly stirred until the particles float in the water; in this state it is
moulded in frames similar to those commonly used in manufactures of paper,
from which frames it is turned out and pressed between flannels till the water
has drained from it; and when nearly dry, it is taken from the flannels and
again put into a press without the flannels, from whence it is taken out and
hung up to dry; when dryed it is fit for use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Winter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and one
Inrolled the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and one.