Improvements in and connected with Cork Fabrics, Garments, and similar Articles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Jan., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 15th Oct., 1896-Accepted, 2nd Jan.. 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Cork Fabrics, Garments, and
similar Articles.
I, JOHN EDWARD THURMAN of Forth Bridge Mills, Stirling, North Britain,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to fabrics into the composition of which cork enters, and
to other articles of personal wear, ornament or utility in the manufacture of which
cork is employed in combination with textile materials. The fabric, garments and
other articles in the manufacture of which the cork is employed, are destined to
aid in the flotation of persons immersed in water, as rugs, and as bandages, belts,
pads, chest protectors, and the like in personal wear for hygienic purposes.
For the purpose of my invention I may employ solid, hollow, straight, twisted
or spiral threads of cork or consisting principally of cork, which threads may be
used alone or in combination with any suitable textile yarns or threads in the
manufacture or construction of the fabrics and other articles.
The cork threads may, by way of example, be cut out of a composite sheet composed
of thin layers of cork cemented together so as to form a sufficiently large sheet, or
out of such a sheet composed of one or more layers of cork and one or more layers
of tissue, textile fabric, indiarubber, gutta percha or the like, cemented together.
Such threads may or may not be laid, braided or surrounded with suitable threads
or yarn.
In knitted fabrics these cork threads if strengthened as before described with a
stronger material, may be used alone, but in woven fabrics it is preferred in all
cases to employ them in conjunction with suitable yarns, either as part or the whole
of the weft, or as part of the warp.
In the manufacture of such articles as pads, belts, chest-protectors and the like
articles for personal wear, I may employ the composite cork sheets without cutting
them into threads, but if they are of such a nature as to be impervious to air,
I perforate them with small holes in sufficient number to permit free ventilation.
Dated this 14th day of January A D 1896
Improvements in and connected with Cork Fabrics, Garments, and
similar Articles.
I, JOHN EDWARD THURMAN, of Forth Bridge Mills, Stirling, North Britain,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, 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 fabrics into the composition of which cork enters, and

page_text: to other articles of personal wear, ornament or utility, in the manufacture of
which cork is employed in combination with textile materials. The fabrics,
garments and other articles in the manufacture of which cork is employed
according to this invention, are destined to aid in the flotation of persons immersed
in water; as rugs, and as bandages, belts, pads, chest protectors and the like in
personal wear for hygienic purposes.
For the purpose of my invention I may employ straight, twisted or spiral
threads, consisting entirely or principally of cork, which threads may be used
alone or in combination with any suitable textile yarns or threads in the
manufacture or construction of the fabrics or other articles.
I will further describe my invention with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
The cork threads may, by way of example, be cut out of a composite sheet as
represented by Figure 1 in plan. In this case, a number of rectangular sheets of
thin cork C C, are arranged side by side in two or more layers, and are secured
together by means of indiarubber cement or other insoluble adhesive compound of
a suitable character. The joints in one layer should break pitch with the joints in
the contiguous layer as indicated by the figure, where the joints in the top layer
are shown by full lines and those in the lower layer by dotted lines.
The
composite cork sheet should be dried under pressure so as to ensure their close
and uniform adhesion. Usually it is better, in order to facilitate the subsequent
manipulation of the composite cork sheet, to combine with it one or more layers of
woven fabric as illustrated by the sections Figures 2, 3, and 4. Thus, in the form
represented by Figure 2 a layer of cork sheets is cemented upon a piece of cloth F,
and a second layer of cork upon the first. In the modification shown by Figure 3
the cork sheets are supposed to be cemented upon cloth and another piece of cloth
upon the cork, thus forming a composite fabric consisting of a layer of cork C, and
two surface layers of cloth F, F. In the further modification Figure 4, there is
a central layer of cloth F between two external layers of cork C, C. Various
other modifications may be employed, as will be obvious. Instead of cloth in the
example above described, there may be used in the construction of the composite
cork shects, any equivalent tissue or fabric, such as sheet indiarubber, gutta.percha,
tough waterproofed paper and the like. The threads, when required, may be cut
from the composite sheets by rotary cutters, such as are at present used for cutting
paper webs, or by other known means. Such threads may or may not be laid,
braided or surrounded by suitable yarn or textile threads, and if so covered, are
more applicable for use in the production of knitted and like fabrics.
In woven fabrics, the composite cork threads are employed in conjunction with
suitable yarns, either as part or the whole of the weft, or as part of the warp.
A longitudinal section of a woven fabric containing the composite cork threads is
shown, ou an enlarged scale, by Figure 5. Here the cork threads are woven
between two face cloths F, F, consisting of textile warp and weft. These face
cloths are bound together at suitable intervals by suitable binders B, which may
be either warp or welt as may be more convenient. If warp, the binding threads
must of course be wound upon a separate beam. I have found it most convenient
in practice to use the composite cork threads weftwise, and to introduce them by
known means such for example as are used for introducing horse hairs into the
fabric in a horse hair loom.
In the manufacture of such articles as pads, belts, chest protectors and the like
articles of personal wear, I may employ the composite cork sheets without cutting
them into threads, but if they are then impervious to air, as will generally be the
case, I perforate them with small holes in sufficient number to permit free ventila-
tion. If however the threads are used in the construction of such articles they
may be woven or cemented between two textile fabrics, with sufficient spaces
between the threads to permit the ventilation.
Figure 6 represents in elevation and cross section, a chest protector made with
two layers of cloth having between them a layer of cork sheet, the whole surface

page_text: being perforated as indicated. In such cases the layers may be sewn or quilted
together, and if the quilting is fairly close, the perforations may be omitted, as the
needle holes suffice to provide ventilation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of any said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is-
1. Woven and kuitted fabrics and garments composed wholly or in considerable
part of composite cork threads constructed substantially as and for the purpose
hereinbefore described.
2. Pads, belts, protectors and the like for personal wear principally composed
of cork and ventilated, constructed substantially as herein before described.
3. Composite cork threads constructed substantially as and for the purpose
hereinbefore described.
4. Composite cork sheets constructed substantially as and for the purpose
hereinbefore described.
Dated this 14th day of October 1896.
W. E. HEYS & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.