IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR CRIMPING, CREASING, OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS, LACE, LEATHER, OR OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1874

page_text: Scaled the 19th March 1875, and dated the 24th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sarah Ann Senier
and Edward Harwood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th September 1874.
We, SARAH ANN SENIER and EDWARD HARWOOD, of the Firm of
S. Senier and Company, of Charles Street, Berners Street, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR CRIMPING, CREASING,
OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS, LACE, LEATHER, OR OTHER MATERIALS," to be as
follows:-
:-
numanto in the means and

page_text: apparatus employed for the purpose of crimping, creasing, or folding
woven fabrics, lace, leather, or other materials suitable for frills, trim-
mings, and other like purposes. For this purpose blocks of wood or other
material are formed with raised surfaces or strips of metal arranged in
lines or projections corresponding with the creases or design it is desired
to impart to the fabric to be crimped or creased. A strip of cartridge or
other suitable paper or material is laid upon the block, which is placed
in a press, an impression being made upon the paper by pressing it into
the raised design on the block, one, two, or more creasing blocks may be
employed for impressing the paper when complex designs are to be
produced.
In place of blocks rollers having the pattern surfaces thereon may be
employed for impressing the paper or other material. The strip of paper
or other material thus impressed with lines from end to end is then
creased up either by hand or otherwise so as to fold or crease it up where
the lines are impressed upon it. The strips of paper or other material
thus prepared constitute the moulds in which the strips or lengths of
fabric to be crimped or creased is laid.
Two of such corresponding paper moulds are pulled out straight and
flat, and a strip or length of material to be creased, folded, or crimped
is laid between them, and the three parts thus combined are gathered up
in the creased or indented lines formed in the two surfaces of paper
forming the mould. In this condition it is placed or conducted under
bars or holders arranged upon a table, the surface of which under the
holder is formed with a steam chamber, to which steam is admitted so
as to act upon the paper moulds having the fabric folded therein.
By this means the creased design upon the paper mould is permanently
transmitted to the fabric when removed from between the two corre-
sponding creased surfaces constituting the paper mould. By this means
creased, crimped, or folded fabrics of very novel and original designs in
great variety may be produced suitable for trimmings for ladies' dresses
and other purposes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sarah Ann Senier and Edward Harwood in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SARAH
ANN SENIER and EDWARD HARWOOD, of the Firm of S. Senier and.
Company, of Charles Street, Berners Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four,
in the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs.
and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Sarah Ann Senicr
and Edward Harwood, Her special license that we, the said Sarah
Ann Senier and Edward Harwood, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Sarah Ann Senier and Edward
Harwood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-.
after 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 MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR CRIMPING,
CREASING, OR FOLDING WOVEN FABRICS, LACE, LEATHER, OR OTHER MATERIALS," ;
a communication to us from abroad by Louis Desterbecq, of Paris,
France, upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Sarah
Ann Senier and Edward Harwood, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 1, the said Sarah Ann Senier, on behalf of
myself and the said Edward Harwood, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the means and

page_text: apparatus employed for the purpose of crimping, creasing, or folding
woven fabrics, lace, leather, or other materials suitable for making frills,.
trimmings, and for other like purposes.
And in order that the Invention may be clearly understood and
readily carried into practice, we will proceed to describe the same,
reference being made to the Drawing hereunto annexed and to the
figures and letters marked thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 show part plans and sections of blocks of wood or
other suitable material, which are formed with raised surfaces or.have
strips of metal arranged in lines or projections upon their surfaces corre-
sponding with the creases or design it is desired to impart to the fabric
to be crimped or creased; Figures 1* and 2* show perspective views of
parts of the said blocks, and Figures 3 and 4 show impressions upon
cartridge paper or other material taken from cach block.
A strip of cartridge or other suitable paper or material is laid upon.
the block, Figure 1, which is then placed in a press, an impression being
made by means of a pad upon the paper by pressing it into the hollows
of the raised design. The paper is then placed upon the block, Figure 2,
and further impressed with the raised design thereon, after which the
strip of paper or other material thus impressed with lines from end to
end is creased by the fingers of the operator or by other convenient
means, so as to fold or crease it up where the lines are impressed upon
it, causing it to appear as represented in Figure 5, which represents part
of a strip of paper creased and folded up into the design required.
One, two, or more creasing blocks may be employed for producing
various designs, according to the character thereof, successive impressions
for complex designs being necessary to avoid injury to the paper or
material so impressed.
In place of blocks, rollers having the pattern surfaces thereon may be
employed for pressing the paper or other material. The strips of paper
or other material (which may be of any length required) thus prepared
constitute the flexible moulds or patterns, in or between which the strips
or lengths of fabric to be crimped or creased are laid.
In order to transfer the design represented by the mould or pattern.
surfaces produced as above described to a strip or length of fabric or

page_text: material required for a trimming or other purpose, two of such corre-
sponding moulds or patterns are pulled or drawn out straight and flat
upon a table, and the strip or length of fabric or material to be creased,
folded, or crimped is laid between them, and the three parts thus com-
bined and laid together are gathered up in the creased or indented lines
previously made in the paper moulds or patterns. In this condition the
gathered up moulds with the material to be creased between them aro
subjected to a steaming process in the following manner in order to
impart a set" or creasing to the fabric or material corresponding with
that of the moulds or pattern surfaces employed.
"
Figure 6 shows an elevation; Figure 7, a longitudinal section;
Figure 8, a plan; Figure 9, an end view; and Figure 10, a transverse
section of apparatus suitable for steaming and thus permanently setting
the creases in or upon the fabric or material so as to correspond with
those of the moulds or pattern surfaces employed.
a, a, are bars or holders supported by the standards or brackets bat a.
short distance above the table or surface c. The gathered up moulds and
material are conducted under the bars or holders a, a, and placed over
the steam chamber d, to which steam is conducted by the pipe from
a steam boiler. By turning the cock a steam is, admitted to the
chamber d, from which it escapes through small perforations in the
upper surface thereof, so as to penetrate and act upon the moulds and
fabric or material folded up therein, thus in a short time causing the
latter to retain the impression of the moulds or pattern surfaces,
between which it is placed and held. After a certain portion of the
folded up materials have been subjected to the steaming process for a
sufficient time it is pushed forward, and a further portion brought forward
over the steam chamber d, to be acted upon in like manner, and so on
until the whole length of the gathered up moulds and material have
been thus treated. The creased up fabric or material is then removed
from between the moulds or pattern surfaces, and is ready for use as a
trimming or otherwise, the pattern surfaces being used over and over
again for creasing or crimping fabrics as previously described. ³ is a
receptacle for receiving the condensed water from the steam chamber d.
It will be evident that the arrangement of apparatus and process for
heating and steaming the gathered up moulds or pattern surfaces may
be greatly varied without departing from the true character of this
Invention,

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention as communicated
to us from abroad, and the manner of performing or carrying the same
into practice, what we claim is,—
First. The means of producing flexible moulds or pattern surfaces for
the purpose of crimping, creasing, or folding woven fabrics, lace, leather,
or other materials, substantially in the manner herein-before described
and shown in Figures 1 to 5 inclusive of the Drawings hereto annexed.
Secondly. We claim the improved means and apparatus combined for
crimping, creasing, or folding woven fabrics, lace, leather, or other
materials, substantially in the manner herein-before described and shown
with reference to Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Thirdly. We claim the improved manufacture of crimped, creased, or
folded fabrics produced, substantially in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sarah Ann Senier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the
vook of Lord One thonsond aight hundund
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
W.C.
S. A. SENIER. (L.S.)