AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR MANUFACTURE, WHEREBY COTTON FABRICS ARE AIDED, AND MADE REPELLENT TÓ WATER AND MILDEW, AND ANY UNPLEASANT SMELL IS PREVENTED IN SUCH FABRICS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
TOWNEND, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Fustian Manufacturer,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Sixth
day of March, in the seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Townend, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles Townend, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves,
or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as
I, the said Charles Townend, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS OR
MANUFACTURE, WHEREBY COTTON FABRICS ARE AIDED, AND MADE REPELLENT TÓ
WATER AND MILDEW, AND ANY UNPLEASANT SMELL IS PREVENTED IN SUCH
FABRICS" within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Charles

page_text: Townend, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Townend, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained by the following explanation thereof, that is to
say:-
My improved process or manufacture, whereby cotton fabrics are aided and
made repellent to water and mildew, and any unpleasant smell is prevented in
such fabrics, consists in steeping the fabric which is intended to be aided and
made repellent to water, and to be preserved and protected from mildew, and
any unpleasant smell, in the solutions herein-after described, or in drawing or
passing the same fabric through such solutions, which I have found to aid the
cloth, and make it repellent to water, and prevent mildew and any unpleasant
smell in such fabric or cloth; and, since I believe and understand it to be the
general practice of dyers and others accustomed to use such like processes to
mix their solutions with reference to the weight of the manufactured material
to be steeped therein, or drawn or passed through the same, and without regard
to its length or width. I shall describe my process on this plan, which is
generally taken as the most accurate. The mixtures of ingredients which I
shall now proceed to describe will be found the best quantity in which to steep,
or through which to draw or pass fabrics of about the weight of forty
pounds for sixty yards in length, and about twenty-seven inches in width of
each fabric. The manner in which my said improved process or manufacture
is to be performed is by a mixture or new combination of the following ingre-
dients in the subjoined or any other relative proportions:-Take eight gallons
of cold water into a vessel or vat, and add thereto twenty pounds of calcined
British gum, and mix them well together until fine and pasty; then take
seven gallons of boiling water in another vessel or vat, and add thereto ten
pounds of palm or white soap, cut into small pieces, and when thoroughly dis-
solved, add this solution to the above gum mixture; then put in one pint of
logwood liquor, and boil them up together; then add thereto three pounds of
common or rock alum in its chrystalized state, and for the purpose of rapid
dissolution, I prefer that the alum should be previously ground or pulverized,

page_text: and well boiled or dissolved in one gallon of water; boil the whole up together
The cloth or
for a few minutes, and the mixture will then be ready for use.
fabric intended to be saturated (having been previously prepared and dyed),
is to le introduced into a suitable vessel, containing the above mixture, and to
be steeped in, or drawn, or passed through the same in the usual manner of
stiffening and drying cotton fabrics. It will be found that the cloth which has
been submitted to the above process will be aided, and will be entirely divested
of or free from any unpleasant smell, and have a non-absorbent property,―in
fact, be repellent to water, and will also have a preventive finish against
mildew, and the colour and feel of the cloth will be much improved.
I also wish it to be understood that I have found that the following combina-
tions of solution and of mixture will produce a similar result, namely, for the
solution boil six pounds of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol) in nine gallons of
water;
allow it to go cold and settle; then draw off the clear solution, leaving
the sediment; then take eight gallons of cold water, and add to it twenty
pounds of calcined British gum, and mix them well together until fine and
pasty; then take eight gallons of boiling water, and add to it ten pounds of
palm or white soap, cut into small pieces, and when thoroughly dissolved, add
it to the last-mentioned gum mixture; add also a quarter of an ounce of pearl-
ash, and bring them up to a boiling heat. The mixture is then ready for use.
The cloth or fabric intended to be saturated (having been previously prepared
and dyed in the usual way) is to be first steeped in, or drawn, or passed
through the zinc solution, and then immediately afterwards steeped in or
drawn or passed through the last-mentioned mixture in the usual manner
of stiffening and drying cotton fabrics.
Although this Invention is principally intended to be used for such goods
or fabrics as are manufactured from or with cotton, I wish it to be under-
stood that I chiefly intend to apply the said processes and new combinations
to fustian cloths, commonly called beaverteens. And I distinctly state that I
do not mean to confine my claim to the use of the precise quantities here
specified, as they are mentioned merely for illustration, and are such as I
have found in practice to be most convenient and beneficial.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Townend, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
CHAS (LS.)
(L.S.) TOWNEND.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of May, in the seventh
year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Charles Townend
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fourth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
forty-four.