IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO. THE MANU- FACTURE OF BUOYANT FABRICS AND GARMENTS
Year: 1885

page_text: тарттеу али старшец.
I, FRANCIS WENTWORTH BREWSTER, of St Stephen's Club, Westminster, in the
County of Middlesex, Patentee of Life-Saving Appliances, do hereby declare the
nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO. THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BUOYANT FABRICS AND GARMENTS," and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained, in and by the following
statement:
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of buoyant fabrics
and garments or linings for garments, and consists, essentially, in manufacturing
such fabrics, and garments or linings therefor, from wool, cotton, and other textile
or fibrous materials of suitable nature, which has or have been so treated prior to
its or their manufacture into garments or into fabrics suitable as linings to
garments or from which garments may be made, as to be rendered non-absorbent
or repellent of water and capable of retaining the air naturally within its or their
substance, and which materials when thus treated may be used either separately
or in any useful combination in the manufacture of such fabrics garments or linings;
an especial object of the present Invention being to render garments of an ordinary
formation made from such materials or fabrics or provided with such linings
serviceable and available as sufficient and reliable buoyant or life-preserving
garments, capable of floating or supporting the wearer thereof when immersed in
the water without needing or requiring any separate or independent means of
obtaining or imparting the required buoyant quality.
The Invention also consists in manufacturing such fabrics or garments or linings
therefor from such materials or any of them which have or has been so treated as'
aforesaid, when woven or knitted or used in combination with fine strips, shreds.
or threads, or strands, lines or cords of cork.
I am aware that it has been proposed to manufacture buoyant fabrics by weaving'
or knitting textile materials in the condition in which they are ordinarily prepared
for weaving or knitting with strips or threads of cork which are twisted or
combined therewith; but, having had considerable experience in the manufacture
of buoyant garments, I know that the aggregate amount of cork which cau be
conveniently combined with textile materials in such condition in producing
fabrics or garments of any reasonable thickness of substance is not sufficient

page_text: (considering the total quantity of fabric or material which would ordinarily be
used in making an ordinary garment) to float or sufficiently support the wearer
thereof when immersed in water, and it is one of the objects of the present
improvements to provide the means by which the buoyancy of such fabrics and
garments or linings made therefrom, may be increased to a degree sufficient
for their intended use, without increasing the thickness or substance of the fabric
or garment or lining therefor, or the quantity of the contained cork.
In carrying the Invention into effect according to the modification herein firstly
referred to, I subject the raw materials intended to be spun or made into yarns or
threads intended to be knitted woven or made into fabrics or garments or linings
therefor, or such yarns or threads, in both cases prior to their being knitted woven
or manufactured into fabrics or garments or linings therefor, to any suitable treat-
ment which will render them non-absorbent or repellent of water and capable of
retaining the air naturally within their substance.
Ordinary formations "of garments for womens' mens' and childrens' use, which
may be subsequently woven knitted or made up from such materials yarns or
threads, or made from fabrics woven knitted or made up from such materials
yarns or threads, have an appearance like to those of an ordinary make made of
such materials not thus treated, and permit of the same degree of ventilation, but
possess the further inestimable advantage of being capable of keeping the wearer
afloat and well supported should he or she become immersed in the water.
The said raw materials yarns or threads may be treated in a great variety of
ways, and with a great variety of means to attain the desired object, and I therefore
wish it to be understood that I do not confine my Invention to the use of any
particular means of treating the said materials yarns or threads to attain the
desired object, but I would remark that processes which would be suitable for the
purpose of the Invention have been hitherto practised in rendering cotton-wool
non-absorbent, and in producing what is known as elastic cotton and elastic felt,
and which materials have been used in the bulk in rendering such articles as
cushions buoyant and available as life-saving appliances.
As hereinbefore referred to, any of such materials yarns or threads which has or
have been treated as, for the purpose, and at the time (prior to their manufacture
into fabrics or garments) aforesaid, may be used in combination with fine strips,
shreds, threads or strands of cork, or with lines or cords of such material formed
by such strips shreds threads or strands being spun twisted or otherwise suitably
united bound or joined together, and may be woven, knitted or otherwise used in
combination therewith; and such materials may be used in combination in various
ways, for instance, the yarns used in knitting or the warp or weft in weaving may
be respectively composed of wool or other fibrous material or materials which has
or have been treated as aforesaid, and of the cork strips shreds threads or strands
or of lines or cords spun twisted or otherwise prepared from such strips shreds
threads or strands of cork, or may be all or both composed of the wool or other
fibrous material treated as aforesaid and of the cork strips shreds threads or
strands spun twisted or otherwise suitably combined together before being woven
or knitted into a fabric or garment or lining therefor, and when fabrics and
garments or linings therefor are made from such materials when used in combi-
nation, they will be rendered more buoyant than fabrics or garments or linings
therefor made from strips or threads of cork combined with textile materials in
the condition in which the latter are ordinarily prepared for knitting or weaving,
and sufficient for their intended use, without increasing the thickness or substance
of the fabric or garment or lining therefor, or the quantity of the contained cork,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, is
1. The manufacture of buoyant fabrics, and buoyant garments for womens', mens'
and childrens' use, or linings for such garments, from wool cotton or other textile

page_text: or fibrous materials yarns or threads of suitable nature, which,. previous to their
manufacture into such fabrics or garments or linings therefor, have been so treated
as to be rendered non-absorbent or repellent of water and capable of retaining
the air naturally within their substance, as hereinbefore set forth.
2. The manufacture of buoyant fabrics, and buoyant garments or linings for
such garments, from such materials yarns or threads which have been so treated,
when woven or knitted or used in combination with fine strips shreds threads
strands or lines or cords of cork, as hereinbefore set forth.
11005
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.
Agents for the Applicant.