IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oswald Brooke and Alfred William Read, both
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Brattice Cloth Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oswald Brooke and
Alfred William Read at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 22nd December 1870.
We, OSWALD BROOKE and ALFRED WILLIAM READ, both of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Brattice Cloth Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for ** IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NON-INFLAMMABLE BRATTICE CLOTHS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to the brattice cloths used more especially in
coal mines, and to means for rendering the said cloths non-inflammable
in order to enable the said cloths to be used with greater safety than
the ordinary brattice cloths.

page_text: To this end we, in the first place, saturate the cloth or the yarn of
which the warp and weft of the said cloth is to be composed in a solution
of carbonate, phosphate, arseniate, sulphate, or stannate of soda, or in a
solution of alum.
We prefer to employ a solution of carbonate of soda, that is to say,
of ordinary soda crystals as being less costly than the other materials or
substances named. The cloth or yarn after having been saturated in the
said solution, and afterwards dried or partly dried, is to be saturated
with or steeped in a solution, infusion, or decoction of oak bark, catechu,
sumach, or other substance containing a suitable proportion of tannin.
The cloth or yarn either after or before being dried or partly dried is
next to be placed in or passed through a mixture of solution of soda or
other herein-before mentioned salt of oxide of iron, or other metallic
oxide, starch, or flour containing fecula, and of catechu or other sub-
stance or material containing tannin. The cloth is then to be dried
and finished in a suitable manner for the market, or in the case of the
yarn being treated as aforesaid before being woven into cloth, the said
yarn is dried and suitably finished or prepared for the process of
weaving.
We would remark that we are aware that some chemical salts, as, for
example, borax and tungstate and silicate of soda have heretofore been
used for the same purpose, but without the herein-before mentioned
treatment of the cloth subsequent to the saturation thereof with a
solution of a chemical salt.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred William Read in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd June 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, OSWALD
BROOKE and ALFRED WILLIAM READ, both of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Brattice Cloth Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
3

page_text: give and grant unto us, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred William
Read, Her special license that we, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred
William Read, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred William Read, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF NON-INFLAMMABLE BRATTICE CLOTHS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that we, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred William Read, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred
William Read, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is
to say :-
Our Invention relates to the brattice cloths used more especially in
coal mines and to means for rendering the said cloths non-inflammable
in order to enable the said cloths to be used with greater safety than
the ordinary brattice cloths.
To this end we, in the first place, saturate the said cloth or the yarn of
which the warp and the weft of the said cloth is to be composed in a
solution of carbonate, phosphate, arseniate, sulphate, or stannate of soda,
or in a solution of alum.
We prefer to employ a saturated or nearly saturated solution of
carbonate of soda, that is to say, of ordinary soda crystals, the said car-
bonate of soda being less costly than the other materials or substances
herein-before named. The cloth or yarn after having been saturated in
the said solution, and afterwards dried or partly dried, is to be saturated
with or steeped in a solution, infusion, or decoction of oak bark, catechu,
sumach, or other substance containing a suitable proportion of tannin.
The strength of the said solution, infusion, or decoction may be such as
would be employed in the tanning of hides. The cloth or yarn, either

page_text: in a wet condition, or after having been dried or partly dried, is next
to be placed in or passed through a mixture of a saturated solution of
carbonate of soda, or of one of the herein-before mentioned salts, of
oxide of iron or other metallic oxide, of farinaceous flour or China clay,
and of catechu or other substance or material containing tannin.
The proportions of the said substances which we have found to be
suitable are about as follows, namely:-
Metallic oxide
Catechu
Flour or China clay
-
-
Solution of carbonate of soda
Three parts.
One part.
Two parts.
Four parts.
After being treated with this mixture the cloth is to be dried and
finished for the market in a suitable manner, or in the case of yarn
being treated as aforesaid the said yarn is to be dried and suitably
finished or prepared for weaving into cloth.
We would remark that we are aware that some chemical salts, as, for
example, borax and tungstate and silicate of soda, and also flour and
China clay have heretofore been used for the same purpose, but without
the herein-before mentioned treatment of the cloth subsequent to the
saturation thereof with a solution of a chemical salt.
Having now described the nature of our Invention we would have it
to be understood that we desire to claim the employment of the method
or methods of treating cloth or yarn, substantially as and for the
purpose herein-before described and set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Oswald Brooke and Alfred
William Read, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-one.
OSWALD BROOKE.
(L.S.)
ALFRED W. READ. (L.s.)