IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FINISHING OF COTTON FABRICS AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1885

page_text: I GEORGE WILLIAM CHAMBERS KIRKHAM of 2 Cecil Villas, Victoria Road, New
Barnet in the County of Hertford, Warehouseman do hereby declare the nature of
the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FINISHING OF COTTON FABRICS
AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR" to be as follows:-
:-
The object of this invention is to produce upon textile fabrics a silky effect.
This I obtain by the finishing, process which consists in forming lines or ribs
along or across the fabric which practically represent the weft and warp of the silk,
the silky effect being produced apparently by the light striking upon the tops of
the ribs or raised portions.
This finish is produced by means of rollers grooved to the required fineness and
in the necessary direction, Where the cross lines are used I prefer to employ two
rollers one grooved say in the direction of its axis and the other grooved at right
angles thereto, the fabric being first impressed by one roller and then by the next.
However the same effect may be produced by a single roller having both sets of
grooves upon it so that both lines are formed at one operation.
Where the lines are formed in one direction only a suitable roller may be
employed for the purpose.

page_text: i
I GEORGE WILLIAM CHAMBERS KIRKHAM of 2 Cecil Villas Victoria Road New
Barnet in the County of Hertford Warehouseman do hereby declare the nature of
my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE FINISHING OF COTTON FABRICS AND IN
APPARATUS THEREFOR" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to produce upon textile fabrics a silky effect.
This I obtain by the finishing process which consists in forming lines or ribs
along or across the fabric or both along and across which practically represent the
weft and warp of the silk, the silky effect being produced apparently by the light
striking upon the tops of the ribs or raised portions.
Where single lines only are used running parallel to each other I prefer that
they should run at right angles to the selvedge of the material as the effect
obtained appears to be rather-more silky than if the lines run parallel to the
selvedge. In no case however should they be diagonal as the silky effect is then
almost entirely lost.
The " lines are really minute ribs or ridges with extremely fine spaces between
them and it is by reason of their fineness that the silky effect is produced-I find
a distance of 1/45th or 1/46th of an inch from the centre of one rib to the centre
of the next gives excellent results, and though I cannot tie myself to an exact size
for the ribs they must be small and even. Probably if they were made as large as
1/16 of an inch from centre to centre the effect would be lost.
This finish is produced by ineans of rollers grooved to the required fineness and
in the necessary direction-Where the cross lines are used I prefer to employ two
rollers one grooved say in the direction of its axis and the other grooved at right
angles thereto the fabric being first impressed by one roller and then by the next.
However the same effect may be produced by a single roller having both sets of
grooves upon it so that both lines are formed at one operation.
Where the lines are formed in one direction only a single roller may be employed
for the purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it to be
understood that although the rolls herein described are of the same description as
the ordinary embossing rolls and are also grooved they nevertheless differ from
these rolls insomuch that while my rolls would be unsuitable for ordinary
embossing purposes the ordinary embossing rolls would be quite useless for my
purpose. I declare that what I claim is
1. The herein described finish for cotton fabrics which consist of a number of
minute ribs or ridges running parallel to each other in the direction of the length

page_text: of the fabric or across the same or both across and in the direction of the length
for the purpose of imparting a "silky" effect substantially as specified.
2. As a means for producing a silky effect upon cotton fabrics a roller grooved
in fine parallel lines in a direction parallel to its axis or around its periphery or
both parallel to its axis and around its periphery substantially in the manner and
for the purpose specified.