IMPROVED PLAITS AND CURLS OR RINGLETS, FOR HEAD DRESSES OR ORNAMENTS, OR ADDITIONS TO THE NATURAL HAIR, AND AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CURLS OR RINGLETS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Speight, of 19, Woodbridge Street, Clerken-
well, in the County of Middlesex, Artist in Hair, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED PLAITS AND CURLS OR RINGLETS, FOR HEAD DRESSES OR ORNAMENTS,
OR ADDITIONS TO THE NATURAL HAIR, AND AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF CURLS OR RINGLETS."
Sealed the 21st April 1859, and dated the 27th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Speight at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
October 1858.
I, GEORGE SPEIGHT, of 19, Woodbridge Street, Clerkenwell, in the County
of Middlesex, Artist in Hair, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED PLAITS AND CURLS OR RINGLETS, FOR HEAD DRESSES OB
ORNAMENTS OR ADDITIONS TO THE NATURAL HAIR, AND AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CURLS OR RINGLETS," to be as follows:--
My Invention relates to plaits and curls intended for head dresses, or as
additions or ornaments to the natural hair, to be worn on the head by ladies
(and which have been commonly composed of human hair), and my Invention
firstly consists in employing for the purpose instead of human hair, dyed
American, English, Italian, French, or Russian hemp, dyed flax, dyed aloe,
plantain or rhea fibre, or dyed China grass. The hemp, flax, fibre, or grass.

page_text: having been first dyed of the required color, is combed or heckled, receives a
gloss, and is plaited or worked up for the purpose stated.
To manufacture curls I prefer to proceed by employing an apparatus con-
structed as follows:-Into a fixed holder or hollow support I insert a rod
(slotted at one extremity), on which I place a tube slotted at one end, and
having a pin through it at the other, which pin taking in the slot in the rod
keeps the tube steady. The fibres in a damp state are attached to the slots in
the tube, and tube and rod being caused to turn, the threads assume a curled
form, and are then attached to the ends of the pin. The tube is then removed
from the rod, and a heater inserted therein to fix the curl in the desired form.
It has next the grease or similar material applied, and is then subjected to a
proper drying process.
Head dresses or head ornaments, &c., produced according to my Invention
are less expensive, less heavy, and less liable to derangement than those in
human hair; they may be made up of a combination of plaits and curls, if
desired, and ornamented with ribbons, flowers, &c.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Speight in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SPEIGHT, of 19, Woodbridge Street, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex,
Artist in Hair, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said George Speight, Her special licence that I, the said
George Speight, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Speight, my executors, administrators, 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
"IMPROVED PLAITS AND CURLS OR RINGLETS, FOR HEAD DRESSES OR ORNAMENTS OR
ADDITIONS TO THE NATURAL HAIR, AND AN IMPROVED APPARATUS, FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF CURLS Oв RINGыте," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said George Speight, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Speight, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
:-
My Invention relates to plaits and curls intended for head dresses, or as
additions or ornaments to the natural hair, to be worn on the head by ladies,
and which have been commonly composed of human hair. And my Invention
firstly consists in employing for the purpose, instead of human hair, dyed
American, English, Italian, French, or Russian hemp, dyed flax, dyed aloe,
plantain or rhea fibre, or dyed China grass. The hemp, flax, fibre, or grass
having been first dyed of the required color, is combed or heckled, receives a
gloss, and is plaited or worked up for the purpose stated.
To manufacture curls I prefer to proceed by employing an apparatus con-
structed in the following manner :-Into a fixed holder or hollow support I
insert a rod slotted at one extremity, on which I place a tube slotted at one
end, and having a pin through it at the other, which pin taking in the slot in
the rod keeps the tube steady; the fibres in a damp state are attached to the
slots in the tube, and the tube and rod being caused to turn, the threads
assume a curled form, and are attached to the ends of the pin; the tube is
then removed from the rod, and a heater inserted therein to fix the curl in the
desired form; grease or similar material is next applied to the curl, which is
then subjected to a proper drying process.
Head dresses or head ornaments produced according to my Invention are
less expensive, less heavy, and less liable to derangement than those in human
hair; they may be made up of a combination of plaits and curls, if desired,
and ornamented with ribbands, flowers, &c. If their gloss should wear off,
the application of heat, as by warming them before a fire for example, will
reproduce or restore the glossy appearance.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim as new in
respect of my improved plaits and curls, is the employment in or for manu-
facturing the same of dyed American, English, Italian, French, or Russian
hemp, of dyed flax, of dyed aloe, plantain or rhea fibre, or of dyed China grass.

page_text: And what I claim as new in respect of my apparatus for manufacturing curls
or ringlets, is the combination of parts herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Speight, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
GEORGE SPEIGHT. (L.S.)
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME.