IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLE OR TAPESTRY WORK AND COLOURED EMBROIDERINGS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, of Paris, France, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLE OR TAPESTRY
WORK AND COLOURED EMBROIDERINGS."
Sealed the 26th September 1861, and dated the 2nd July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
2nd July 1861.
I, SOPHIA HELBRONNER-GERSTLE, of Paris, France, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
NEEDLE OR TAPESTRY WORK AND COLOURED EMBROIDERINGS," to be as follows:-
These improvements in the manufacture of needle or tapestry work and
coloured embroiderings relate to a mode of working, allowing any ordinary
needlewoman to produce any number of copies of tapestry work or embroider-
ings with as much accuracy as could only hitherto be done by a first-rate hand,
and whether the tapestry or embroidery is to be made in worsted, silk, or
other yarn, in any required pattern, and any number of colours, this method
being applicable as well to the mode of working in high or low warp (haute
ou basse lisse). For this purpose the design or outlines of the pattern to be
obtained in tapestry work or embroidery is printed or delineated in any other
suitable manner on the canvass which is to serve as groundwork for the

page_text: embroidery or tapestry work; a copy of the same design is printed on paper,
and the various colours or shades marked thereon by numbers, each colour or
shade being indicated all over the design by its own number; along one of the
sides of the canvass is fixed a strip of paper, provided with the same series of
numbers as are inscribed on the design paper, and close to each number is
fixed a small sample or tuft of that colour of the coloured worsted or other
yarn to be made use of to which the number refers; by this means for
executing the tapestry or embroidery on the canvass the workman will only
require to look at the number inscribed on that part of the design paper to be
imitated, and will thus find at once the colour of yarn to be made use of,
which is then to be stitched or worked up into the canvass in the ordinary
well-known manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SOPHIA
HELBRONNER-GERSTLE, of Paris, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and
in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, Her special licence that I, the said Sophia
Helbronner-Gerstle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, my executors, ádministrators, 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 MANUFACTURE OF NEEDLE OR TAPESTRY WORK AND
COLOURED EMBROIDERINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
These improvements in the manufacture of needle or tapestry work, and
coloured embroiderings, relate to a mode of working which allows any ordi-
nary needlewoman to produce any number of copies of tapestry work or
embroiderings with as much accuracy as would have been possible hitherto
only to perfectly trained operatives, and whether the tapestry or embroidery is
to be made in worsted, silk, or other yarn, in any required pattern, and in any
suitable number of colours, this method being applicable as well to the mode
of working in high as in low warp (haute and basse lisse). For this purpose
the design or outlines of the pattern to be obtained in tapestry work or coloured
embroidery is printed or delineated in any other suitable manner on the
canvass or other suitable material, that is to serve as a ground or back for
the embroidery or tapestry work; a copy of the same design is printed on
paper, parchment, or other suitable material, and the various colours or shades
indicated thereon by means of numbers, letters, or other marks, each colour
or shade being indicated all over the design by its own mark. Along one of
the sides of the canvass or other material is fixed a strip of paper, provided
with the same series of numbers, letters, or other marks as are inscribed on
the design paper, and close to each number is fixed a small sample or tuft of
yarn of the colour to which this number or other mark refers; by this means
for executing the tapestry or coloured embroidery on the canvass or other
material, the operative will only be required to look at the number inscribed
in that part of the design paper which is to be imitated, and will thus find at
once the colour of yarn to be made use of for that part, which yarn is then
stitched or worked up on the canvass ground or back in the ordinary well-
known manner. Instead of employing canvass for the ground or back, silk,
woollen, or other suitable cloth, tissue, fabric, or material might be taken, in
which case a suitable number or series of squares imitating those of a piece
of canvass are to be delineated, imprinted, or in any other suitable manner
marked thereon, so as to replace the squares or meshes of the canvass.
In order to make the Invention better understood, and the advantages the
same offers over the ordinary modes of manufacturing tapestry or coloured
embroiderings, I will enter into some more details referring thereby to the
annexed Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a piece of paper, cardboard,
parchment, or other suitable material, on which has been printed, delineated,

page_text: or marked in any other conspicuous manner the outlines of the figure or
pattern to be produced in tapestry work or coloured embroidering on the
canvass, cloth, leather, or other suitable tissue, fabric, or material, that is to
serve as back or ground for the embroidery or tapestry; but instead of having
the various colours or shades on this pattern or design paper, as on those
hitherto made use of for that purpose by means of colours, the same are indicated
thereon by corresponding numbers, letters, or other suitable distinguishing
marks or characters, viz., in such manner that each colour or shade having its
own distinguishing number or other mark, the same mark indicates all over
the design the same colour, whilst a tuft or sample of each colour of the the
worsted, or other yarn or thread to be made use of, is fixed close to its cor-
responding number or other mark on a sort of shade or colour scale A, Fig. 2,
at one of the sides of the canvass or other fabric serving as ground or back
for the embroidery or tapestry work; Fig. 2 represents a piece of such fabric
or canvass, part of which is represented as provided with a coloured embroidery.
As has been mentioned above, this ground or back may consist either of
canvass, woollen silk, or other suitable cloth or fabric, leather or other suit-
able material; that surface of which cloth, fabric, or other material on which
the tapestry or embroidery is to be worked, is to be provided by printing,
delineating, or other suitable means, with a series of squares imitating
the meshes of the canvass, on which surface is further to be printed,
delineated, or marked in any other conspicuous manner, the outlines of the
figure or pattern to be made thereon by tapestry or coloured embroidery.
The ground or back thus being arranged for allowing to be worked on in
embroidery or tapestry, the operative only requires to look on the design
paper, Fig. 1, what number or other distinguishing mark is inscribed thereon
in the part she wishes to represent on the ground, Fig. 2; she then turns to
the colour scale A, Fig. 2, and observing the colour of the tuft fixed thereon
close to this number or distinguishing mark, she only requires to choose that
colour of worsted or other yarn that corresponds exactly with that of the tuft,
which yarn or thread she then works up on the said ground or back in the
manner as is commonly practised by stitchings of various kinds; she next
proceeds in the same manner as I have just described to another part of the
ground, and continues in this manner to find with the greatest facility the
various colours of yarn or thread required for the various parts of the figure
or pattern, and will thus be enabled also of reproducing if required any number
of copies of the same embroidery or tapestry work with the utmost exactness
and great rapidity, whereas by the ordinary hitherto practised mode of working

page_text: it was nearly impossible, or at least very difficult, to obtain with the required
exactness a certain number of copies of the same pattern. My mode of
working also allows of a suitable number of operatives working after the same
design, and producing all uniform copies thereof, which is of very great importance
in the art of embroidering or tapestry work, as it allows an entire set of furni-
ture or other similar objects, on which the same pattern is to be reproduced,
a great many times to be produced much cheaper, quicker, and more beautiful
by this mode of working in tapestry or embroidery as was possible hitherto.
Thus, for instance, in the coloured part of the rose bud of Fig. 1, the Number 7
is marked twice, which Number 7 corresponds with a dark red colour of the
colour scale A; consequently to form on the ground (Fig. 2), this part of the
bud the operative only requires to make use of yarn corresponding in colour
with that of the coloured tuft fixed close to this No. 7 on the said scale A,
and which the least accustomed eye will soon be enabled to distinguish. Thus,
for instance, in Fig. 1, Number 8 represents all over the design another shade
of red different from that of Number 7; the operative having found the worsted
or yarn corresponding with this colour, she may stitch on at once this yarn
at the various spots of the design, where is inscribed this Number 8 on the
design paper, Fig. 1; it will be readily understood with what hitherto unknown
quickness the work will proceed by this manner of acting, whilst at the same
time a perfect regularity of colour is obtained at the various spots marked
with the same number.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be effected, I wish it to be
understood that I do not intend to restrain or restrict myself to the use of any
particular description, colour, or size of canvass, woollen, silk, or other cloth or
fabric, leather, or other material, which is to serve as ground or back for the
coloured embroidery or tapestry work, neither to any particular description or
colour of worsted, silk, or other yarn or thread, such for instance, as gold or
silver thread or wire, to be made use of for producing the embroidery or
tapestry work, nor to the manner in which the outlines of the pattern are to
be imprinted, delineated, or marked in any other suitable conspicuous manner
on the canvass, fabric, or other material that is to serve as a ground or back
for the embroidery or tapestry work; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim, as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the general features of the mode of
acting here-above described, whereby ordinary needlewomen or operatives are
enabled to produce with greater facility and exactness, as was possible by the

page_text: hitherto practised methods of manufacturing coloured embroiderings or
tapestry work, or any suitable number of similar copies thereof, the Invention
being applicable to modes of working in high as in low warps.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sophia Helbronner-Gerstle, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
DREYFOUS, Eng. Civil.
S. HELBRONNER-GERSTLE. (L.S.)