AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF SILK
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
JAMES HENDRIE, junior, of Blossom Street, Norton Falgate, in the County of
Middlesex, 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 Eleventh day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her licirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert James Hendric, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Robert James Hendric, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Robert James Hendrie, my
executors, administrators, or assigus, 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 make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE PREPARATION OF SILK;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said Robert James Hendrie, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE,, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert James Hendrie, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):-
My improvements in the preparation of silk apply to that article in the form
of hanks or skeins, dyed or undyed, and consist in a novel mode of treatment
or preparation, intended to improve the appearance of the silk by. producing
upon the surface of its fibres a beautiful lustre. The manner of effecting this
improvement is by submitting the silk in the hank or skein, when damp, to
the action of currents of air, whilst the fibres of the,silk are held in tension.
There may be various contrivances employed for carrying out this object. One
of these I will explain in reference to the accompanying Drawing, which
exhibits such an apparatus as I have found to answer the purpose, though I
do not intend to confine myself to the employment of such a construction alone.
Fig. 1 represents in elevation a peculiar form of machine or rack, upon which
I hang and stretch the hanks of silk in a damp state, to be acted upon by
heated air or air of the ordinary temperature; Fig. 2 is a vertical section
taken through the middle of the said machine, showing its internal parts and
the means of working it A broad horizontal platform a, a, a, constitutes
the base of the machine; it is made of plates of iron connected together
round their outer edges, and forms a hollow chamber, intended to be used as
a hot air, hot water, or steam chest. Upon this base the perpendicular hollow
shaft b, b, is firmly fixed by a flange with bracket arms securely bolted
to the platform. To the shaft ba series of arms c, c, c, are permanently
fixed, extending radially in a horizontal plane. On the upper part of
the shaft ba socket d, d, is fitted, which is capable of sliding up and
down in a vertical direction, but prevented from turning round by a key or
pin let into a groove c, cut perpendicularly in the shaft. From the lower
part of the sliding socket d a series of radial arms f. f. f. extend in a
horizontal plane, parallel to and corresponding in number and position
with the radial arms.c, c, c. The socket d, with its arms f. f. f, are made
to ascend or descend upon the shaft b, by means of a vertical screw g, work-
ing in a screw box h, h, fixed in the upper part of the hollow shaft, which
screw g is turned by a capstan or lever i, i, attached to its top. This con-
struction of machine I have found to answer the object I have in view, which
I use in the following manner:-1 take any convenient number of hanks or
skeins of silk, and extend several of them over each of the pairs of parallel

page_text: arms c, f, as represented at k, k, k, in Fig. 2. All the radial arms c, c, c, and
fff, being then charged with the skeins or hanks of silk, I then, by means
of the capstan or levers i, i, turn the screw g, for the purpose of raising the
socket d, with its arms f, f, f, by which rising of the arms f.f.f, the skeins or
hanks of silk will become stretched and held in tension; I then introduce into
the hollow base or chamber a, hot air, hot water, or steam, by means of the
pipe and cock l, and, if necessary, cause a continual current to pass through
the chamber a, by opening the discharge cock and pipe m. The chamber a
being heated, a warın atmosphere will be produced about the lower parts of
the machine, and the temperature of the air being thus raised, it will gradually
ascend between the radial arms, and in passing through the hanks or skeins
will act upon the silk in its distended state, so as to dry it. It must be
obvious that skeins or hanks of silk may be distended by various contrivances;
I therefore do not intend to confine myself solely to the use of the machine
above described, though I consider it to be perfectly effective, as I claim under
the above in part recited Letters Patent,-
Firstly, preparing silk by submitting it in tightly distended skeins or hanks,
when damp, to the action of heated air or air of the ordinary temperature, in
which it must remain until dry, for the purpose of producing upon its surface
a lustre or gloss.
And, secondly, the machine above described for effecting that object.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert James Hendrie, junior, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our
send oight hundred and forty-six
ROBERT JAMES (L.S.) HENDRIE, JUNE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Eighth day of May, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Robert James Hendrie, junior, came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of May, in the year above written.