AN IMPROVED SILK THREAD, AND A NEW FABRIC MADE ENTIRELY OR PARTIALLY FROM THE SAME
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED SILK THREAD, AND A NEW FABRIC MADE ENTIRELY OR PARTIALLY
FROM THE SAME."-A communication from C. Depoully, senior, residing
at Paris.
Sealed the 15th July 1859, and dated the 18th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th January 1859.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C., Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED SILK THREAD, AND A NEW FABRIC MADE ENTIRELY
OR PARTIALLY FROM THE SAME," (a communication from C. Depoully, senior,
residing at Paris,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining in one thread floss silk or silk waste
(soie fantaisie), which consists or is composed of the waste arising or resulting
from the spinning of silk with raw silk or any other silk.
The combination
is effected either by twisting or by coating or covering. These threads may
be used as warp or weft, or both, and the resulting fabric is new in appearance
and style.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E.C.,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my
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 "AN IMPROVED SILK THREAD,
AND A NEW FABRIC MADE ENTIRELY OR PARTIALLY FROM THE SAME," (a communi-
cation from C. Depoully, senior, residing at Paris,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exc-
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,. or their,
or one of their 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 I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Heretofore silk has been employed in the art of weaving either in its raw
state, or under the form of "poile," or "gauzine," grenadine," &c., that is
to say, as it is obtained by winding it from, the cocoon, or in a more or less
twisted or spun state. For less extensive fabrics that portion has also
been used which is left as waste from the winding and spinning processes.
This waste, when operated upon by suitable machinery, has been generally

page_text: designated (in France) "soie fantasie;" it has neither the substance nor the
gloss, nor the purity of ordinary silk.
Now, this Invention consists in combining in one thread this silk waste
("soie fantaisie") with raw silk or with any other silk. I combine the two
descriptions of silk in one thread in various ways, according to the nature of
the thread desired, sometimes twisting them simultaneously, more or less, by
the ordinary process of silk throwing, and sometimes covering a thread of
silk waste with a thread of raw or spun silk by means of the ordinary
machinery used for covering threads in making lace trimmings, &c., or by
means of the machinery used for covering threads of india-rubber with cotton
or silk threads.
Threads manufactured as before described may be used either as the warp
or as the weft of a fabric, or as part of the warp or weft, or as both, the
resulting fabrics being in all cases new in appearance and style. The varieties
of the fabrics which may be so produced are evidently innumerable.
The improved mixed thread possesses in certain cases advantageous pro-
perties or qualities which are sought in vain in ordinary silk threads. The
porosity of the silk waste contained in it gives it, for example, an affinity
for color or capacity for receiving color beyond that possessed by ordinary
threads.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the manufacture of an improved silk thread, by combining silk waste
("soie fantaisie") with raw or other silk by any suitable means.
Secondly, the manufacture of a new fabric, by forming a fabric having the
said improved silk thread either in whole or in part as a warp or as a weft, or
as both, by any suitable means.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.