AN IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTED, CRIMPED, AND PUFFED FABRICS, ADAPTED FOR USE AS TRIMMINGS AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Edwin King, of the City of New York,
and State of New York, in the United States of America, Merchant,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTED, CRIMPED, AND PUFFED
FABRICS, ADAPTED FOR USE AS TRIMMINGS AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 9th October 1869, and dated the 4th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Edwin King
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 4th June 1869.
I, GEORGE EDWIN KING, of the City of New York, and State of New
York, in the United States of America, Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTED, CRIMPED, AND
PUFFED FABRICS, ADAPTED FOR USE AS TRIMMINGS AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES," to
be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the production as a new article of manu-
facture of an improved fluted and crimped or puffed fabric, suitable as a
trimming or for insertion into or the manufacture of ladies' garments;

page_text: and similar purposes, and also applicable to shirt bosoms and like uses.
It is so made that in the completed article, whether formed in a single
row or in two or more parallel rows or courses, each row or course has
flattened borders with regularly fluted portions running along the inner
.edges of such flattened borders, and having centrally between such fluted
portions a puffed or gathered or crimped surface or a portion of a style or
pattern different from such fluted portions. Longitudinal rows of
stitching may afterwards be passed through the flattened parts centrally
or at their edges, and ribbons or tapes may be sewed along such flattened
borders. The manufactured article is generally formed in parallel rows,
each complete in itself, but altogether forming a single piece of trimming,
but it may be made in a single course. When in parallel rows it may
be divided into narrow or single courses by cutting along the flattened
portions.
One mode of making the fabric or article is by machinery described
in the Specification of a Patent granted to William Hardy Kent, as a
communication from me, the said George Edwin King, dated 25 May
1868, and numbered 1715. The article thus made is without necessity
for laundering to effect its conformation, and it can be put in the
market in a finished state and fresh condition such as washed goods
can be made to assume.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Edwin King in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd December 1869.
TO ALL. TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
EDWIN KING, of the City of New York, and State of New York, in the
United States of America, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the a
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Edwin King, Her
special licence that I, the said George Edwin King, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Edwin.
King, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time a

page_text: 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
IMPROVEMENT IN FLUTED, CRIMPED, AND PUFFED FABRICS, ADAPTED FOR USE AS
TRIMMINGS AND FOR SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Edwin King, my executors 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 George Edwin King,, 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:-
My Invention consists in the production as a new article of manu-
facture of an improved fluted and crimped or puffed fabric which is
suitable for use as a trimming or for an insertion, or for the manufacture
of ladies' and misses' garments and similar purposes, and which is also:
applicable to shirt bosoms and like uses. This fabric is so made that in
the completed article, whether formed or manufactured in a single row
or course or in two or more parallel rows or courses, each row or course
has flattened or smooth borders or edges with regularly fluted portions
extending along the inner sides or edges of such flattened or smoothed
borders and centrally between such fluted portions a puffed or gathered
or crimped surface or a portion of a style or pattern different from such
fluted portions. Longitudinal rows of stitching may afterwards be passed
through the flattened or smooth portions or borders either centrally or at
or near their edges to render permanent the conformation of the fabric
or article, and ribbons or tapes of patterns and colors as desired may
also be sewed upon or along such flattened or smooth borders. Such
fabric or article thus has and combines three different styles or patterns,
forming an article suitable for use for the purposes mentioned, truly
desirable and elegant. The manufactured article is produced, except as
to the sewing, by a single machine and by one and the same operation,
and is generally formed in a series of four, five, six, eight, or any number

page_text: of parallel rows or courses, each complete and perfect in itself, but all
together forming a single piece of trimming or insertion and adapted for
use as such. It may also be made in a single row or course, or when
made in parallel rows or courses it may be divided into narrow or single
courses by cutting or dividing it along the flattened or smooth portions.
One mode of making such fabric or article or of making it in one
style is by machinery such as is described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to William Hardy Kent, as a communication from me, the
said George Edwin King, dated 25th of May 1868, and numbered 1715,
and which is shown in the Drawings making a part of this Specification,
of which Figure 1 is a front elevation, Figure 2 an end elevation, and
Figure 3 a detached section of a portion thereof. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Supported by a frame A and situated longitudinally therein are two
rollers B and C, one above the other, their ends projecting through
vertical slots a formed in the frame. One roller B is supported in semi-
circular bearings in the lower ends of such slots a, and furnished with a
crank to revolve it, and the other roller C works in semicircular
bearings formed in sliding blocks c placed upon the ends thereof, and
pressed down upon the same by a spring d, the force of which may be
regulated by a screw e placed centrally in the top of the frame; or such
upper raller may
be held within the required distance of the lower roller
by vertical set screws f situated one at each end of the frame, and acting
upon the sliding bearings c. Each of the rollers B and C is formed with
as many annular or circumferential series A' of grooves and flutes or
cog-like as there are fluted portions g upon the fabric or article, with as
many narrow smooth annular faces B¹ as there are flattened or smoothed.
surfaces h, and with as many comparatively broad portions C' as there
are puffed or crimped portions i in the finished fabric, each of the said
parts of the rollers being of the same width as that portion of the com-
pleted article which it is designed to shape, and the faces or portions C¹
being of such diameter that when the two rollers are in proper position
those upon one roller will be situated at such a distance from those on
the other that no considerable pressure will be exerted upon the fabric or
material passing between them and the several series A' of grooves and
flutes upon one roller gearing into those upon the other. Pressers D of
a width corresponding with the portions B'.of the rollers are connected
with such rollers to form the flattened or smooth surfaces h, the rearmost

page_text: end of each of such pressers being curved downward and fitted upon the
rearmost part of each of the faces B' of the lower roller, and the forward
end curved upward in contact with the forward sides of the corresponding
faces B¹ upon the other or upper roller, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the
rearmost end of such pressers being forced against the roller B by set
screws passing through a horizontal bar or brace k on the rear of the
frame A. Upon the forward side of the frame, in front of the
roller B, is a horizontal supporting brace m, upon which is fixed an
inclined plate n, supporting an inclined guide E, which is composed of
two pieces of metal, one above the other, at such a distance apart as to
permit the passage of the fabric or material between them. Those parts
of such guides in front of the plain cylindrial portions C¹ of the rollers
are curved upward or arched transversely, as shown at a¹, so that the
width of the fabric passed between each pair of such plain portions C¹
will be greater if stretched out to its full extent than the width of such
plain portions, and so that the said fabric will be contracted laterally
or crinkled or puffed in passing between such portions C¹ of the rollers.
The extent to which the material will be thus contracted latterally will
be governed by the curvature of the guides a¹ or the excess in length
of such curved or arched portions of the guides over a straight line
connecting their bases, or over the width of the plain portions C¹ of the
rollers. The fabric is drawn lengthwise between the rollers, those
portions thereof which pass between the several opposite series A¹ of
grooves and flutes of the two rollers being fluted, as shown at 9 in
Figure 4, while those portions of the said fabric which pass between the
smooth narrow annular faces B¹ of the rollers being formed into gathers
by the fluting of the fabric at the sides or edges thereof are pressed flat
by passing under the pressers D as the fabric is drawn along, at the same
time that those portions of the fabric drawn through the curved or arched
parts a¹ of the guide E being, if stretched to their full extent, of a width
greater than that of the smooth cylindrical portions C¹, and being also
gathered by the fluting formed at their sides or edges, are caused to
assume a crinkled or puffed form as they are passed between the aforesaid
portions C¹, the distance between the opposite smooth portions C¹ afore-
said being such that no pressure is exerted upon the fabric passing
between them beyond that required to simply press the convex surfaces
thereof downward to a sufficient degree to insure the shaping thereof
into the puffed condition just herein described.

page_text: Figure 4 is a plan view of a piece of fabric formed in two rows or
courses by such a mechanism as above described, and Figure 5 is an
enlarged representation of a single row or course of the same fabric.
Figure 6 shows another construction or roller for forming substantially
the same style of article, the arched portion a" of the one roller C per-
forming substantially the same office as the arched guides a¹ and the
other roller B being cut away to receive such arched portion a" of the
other roller. When such a form of roller is used the central part i of
the article will be more puffed or less crinkled than when the rollers
are constructed as shown in Figure 1, and the arched guides a¹ are used
in connection therewith.
Other constructions of rollers may be used with different configurations
as to their portions C³ so as to give other patterns or styles to the central
portion of the article, thus securing various styles or configurations of
such central portion, but differing from the fluted portions g enclosing
such central portion.
What is claimed as new is, as a new article of manufacture the fabric
for trimmings and similar purposes, substantially as described, having
flattened or smooth borders with regularly fluted portions extending
along the inner edges of such flattened portions, and having centrally
between such fluted portions a surface gathered, crimped, or puffed, or of
a style or conformation different from such fluted portions.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Edwin King, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1869.
GEORGE EDWIN KING. (L.S.)