An Improved Shower Proof Fabric.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 19th Mar., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Shower Proof Fabric.
I, EDWARD BRIGGS of Briggella Mills, Bradford, in the County of York,
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 the production of an improved material of the kind
commonly known as shower proof materials, that is to say, materials which possess
the property of warding off showers and being to a great extent impervious
thereto.
Hitherto such materials have depended for their qualities sometimes upon the
mode in which the material was woven, sometimes upon the manner in which the
fibres were laid and sometimes upon the subsequent application to the fabric of a
waterproofing solution. The heavier goods have often depended upon a compara-
tively thick and heavy warp and weft for their rain resisting powers, and the
lighter goods upon some waterproofing process applied to the fabric.
My new or improved shower proof material consists of silk and depends for its
rain resisting qualities upon the natural gum or glutinous substance which exists
in the silk fibre as it comes from the cocoon and which according to my invention
is carefully preserved.
The warp and weft consist of silk threads or fibres which are so wound and
prepared at a considerably lower temperature than hitherto so as to preserve the
natural gum.
Such threads or fibres are woven into a fabric of suitable texture and in any
subsequent operation of dyeing or the like, the temperature and other circumstances
of the operation must be so regulated as not to remove the natural gum but to
preserve it in the finished state.
For the warp and weft I may use "organzine" that is thrown silk having two
or more threads folded together or single silk.
For the object of this my invention I prefer both warp and weft to be double
silk. The number of warp threads per inch and the number of picks will vary in
the ordinary way with the quality of the material required to be produced. I
find that in order to give the best results the material should be made from silk
of 10,000 yards to the ounce, and that there should be about 130 threads to the
inch for the warp threads and about 130 picks to the inch for the weft threads,
more rather than less. If smaller silk be used than that named the threads per
inch will vary accordingly.
The material is woven in an ordinary loom and may be dyed in any suitable
colour and manner i.e. either in the skein before weaving or in the piece when
woven, care being taken to dye at a temperature so low as not to disturb the
natural gum left in the fibre.
A temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit may be reached with impunity in the
process of dyeing.
The cloth when so produced is what is known in the trade as "firm" that is to
say, the
warp threads do not readily slip aside over the weft threads and vice versa,
and on this fact the durability and wearing properties of the cloth depend. Both
the quality and the shower proof quality of the material thus depend upon the
utilization and preservation of the natural gum contained in the silk fibre.
In a piece woven as hitherto, that is to say, with the natural gum extracted from
the fibre composing the warp and the weft, the material would be more lustrous,
but the character of firmness, durability and the water proof properties would be
absent.

page_text: The material made as above described is shower proof without being subject to
any further process. It may also be woven of such light texture as to be trans-
lucent and yet sufficiently impervious to rain for many purposes such for instance
as umbrellas. The uses to which such material may be applied with advantage
are too numerous to mention, but I may instance ladies' waterproofs, dust covers,
umbrellas and parasols. Its resistance to rain, its non-absorbent properties, its
lightness, its transparency and its durability render it extremely useful for many
purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The manufacture of a shower proof material by a process substantially such
as is hereinbefore described in which silk containing the natural gum is woven
into a fabric of suitable texture; the silk being treated in the preliminary opera-
tion of preparing the thread of fibre, and in any subsequent operations of dyeing, 1
finishing or the like in such a manner and at such temperature as not to remove
the natural gum but to preserve it in the finished fabric.
2. A non absorbent shower proof translucent and light material made sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described.
3. A non absorbent shower proof translucent material made substantially as
herein before described.
Dated this 13th day of February 1892.
JOHN WAUGH,
Agent.