AN IMPROVED MODE OF TREATING CERTAIN FLOATED WARP OR WEFT, OR BOTH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
MILLIGAN, of Harden, near Bingley, in the County of York, Manufacturer,
send greeting,
WHEREAS Her present most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighteenth day of March, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Milligan, Her especial licence that I, the said Robert Milligan, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Milligan,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
TREATING CERTAIN FLOATED WARP OR WEFT, OR BOTH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF
PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS;" and whereas in the said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Robert Milligan, 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 said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Milligan, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in printing in bright and clear or delicate colors, on warp or weft which has
been floated on the coloured ground of any woven fabric for that purpose, in
order to ornament the said fabric more highly than could be done without
the aid of such floated warp or weft; and in further compliance with the
said proviso, I, the said Robert Milligan, do hereby describe the manner in
which my said Invention is to be performed; by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
Supposing it is my wish to ornament a dark grey alpaca mixture with a
bright rose flower; it is evident that the mere printing of a rose flower with
a bright rose color on the said dark grey alpaca mixture would not produce
even a marketable effect, by way of ornament; I, therefore, in the weaving of
the said dark grey alpaca mixture carefully float on the surface of the same
the figure of a rose wherever it is intended to print the same, always taking
care that the material so floated, whether warp or weft, shall be of a color and
texture suited to the dye or color with which the same is afterwards to be
printed; and I should here state, that by the term suited, I mean that will
give the brightest and best effect to the color printed upon it.
3
The foregoing serves generally to illustrate a very large class of fabrics, but
it is not necessary that the floated warp or weft should in all cases correspond
with the figure to be printed, for I may take the same dark grey alpaca
mixture, or any other fabric the ground of which is equally unsuited for the
reception or display of bright, clear, or delicate colors, and having floated,
either with warp or weft, any kind of stripe or design upon the same, (taking
care always that the material so floated is of a color and texture suited to the
dye or color with which the same is afterwards to be printed.) I next proceed
to print, anywhere within the limits of the said floated warp or weft, any
device in bright, clear, or delicate colours, and thus ornament the fabric
according to my said Invention.
And now having described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, it is only necessary to state that it is
equally applicable to grounds suited and unsuited for the reception and display
of bright, clear, and delicate colors; and that I claim as my Invention the
printing in bright, clear, or delicate colors (either or any such), on warp or weft,
suitable in texture and color for the reception and display of the same, and
floated on the ground of any fabric, on the ground of which such colours could

page_text: not have been displayed with so good an effect without such warp. or weft
floated purposely for the reception and display of such colours, in order to
ornament the said fabric.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her Dominion
of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, nor in any of Her Majesty's Colonies or
Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the
same, and that I do verily believe this, my said Specification, doth comply in
all respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore, I hereby
claim to maintain exclusive right and priviledge to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Milligan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of July, in year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.