Improvements in Producing Fabrics or Tissues from Liquid or Plastic Materials.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Aug., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 15th May, 1899-Accepted, 15th Sept., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Producing Fabrics or Tissues from Liquid or
Plastic Materials.
I, ADAM MILLAR, residing at Yew Bank, Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention consists in producing fabrics or tissues from threads or fila-
ments formed of materials while in a liquid or plastic condition, and which
threads are so placed as to be in contact with each other at short distances apart,
and made to adhere to each other at the points of contact.
In carrying out this invention, the following are examples of methods which
are applicable.
A travelling endless web of a flexible material, having a smooth and non-
adhesive surface, such as the fabric known as oil-cloth or wax-cloth is employed.
The web is of considerable length, say twelve yards or longer, and of suitable
breadth, say one yard, and is carried by drums or rollers which rotate on their
axes.
The liquid or plastic material from which the fabric is formed is contained in
a reservoir or cistern situated over the web and furnished with an air-tight
cover, the reservoir having a nozzle regulated by a small stop-cock.
The liquid material exudes from the nozzle in a fine thread-like stream and
falls upon the surface of the web. The flow of the material through the nozzle
is obtained by the pressure of compressed air or like means.
The cistern is carried by a frame in which it has a to-and-fro motion across
the web, and the web has a continuous forward movement, these movements
being produced by suitable gearing.
The machine, when put in motion, forms a thread of the material contained
in the cistern, which thread is laid upon the travelling web in the form of a
zig-zag line, and covering the whole length of the web.
The length of the web is so adjusted that, when the web has made one com-
plete passage, the thread laid down on the second passage of the web shall be a
little in advance or a little behind the thread previously laid down, so that the
continued working of the machine produces a tissue or fabric of a pattern com-
posed of overlapping zig-zag lines.
In order to ensure the adhesion of the threads to each other at their points of
contact, the tissue may be passed under a pressing roller, or a jet of air may be
blown upon the tissue, and the air may be charged with vapour or with a liquid
in the form of a fine spray, so as to cement the threads together.
The fabric may be removed from the web, when the threads have become
sufficiently tenacious, and completed by such subsequent treatment as may be
required.
:
66
The materials which may be used in producing fabrics or tissues by the process
described, include such substances as gutta-percha, india-rubber, the product
known to chemists as "nitro-cellulose,' the animal products known as gela-
ine" and "albumen," and generally any substance which can be made plastic
or liquid and which may subsequently be made non-plastic and tenacious, either

page_text: by the evaporation of the solvent employed to produce the liquid or plastic
condition, or by chemical treatment, or by other suitable methods.
The substances named are made liquid or plastic by suitable solvents, all
which solvents are well known to chemists and are in common use in various
industries.
In cases where heat is needed to produce the necessary fluidity, the reservoir
or cistern may have a hot water jacket or casing, the heat being maintained by
a gas burner attached to the frame which carries the cylinder, or by other con-
venient arrangement.
There are obviously a great variety of modifications of the method described,
as, for example, in regulating the speed of the forward movement of the web
so that, while the web makes a complete travel of its whole length, the cross
motion of the cistern shall be about one twentieth part of an inch. In this way
the thread produced is laid down in parallel lines upon the travelling web and
has the appearance of the warp yarns in the looms of ordinary construction.
To make the weft yarns, the speeds of the two parts are reversed'; the cistern
travels across the whole width of the web during the time in which the slow
movement of the web advances only one twentieth of an inch. In this way the
tissue will be formed of parallel warp threads crossed by slightly diagonal threads
of weft; but if the web stands still while the cistern travels across it, and the
small forward movement takes place before the return movement of the cistern
begins, the tissue will appear as an open calico or plain cloth.
Another modification consists in mounting the cistern upon an axis and
causing it to rotate continuously and placing the nozzle so that the thread is laid
down in circular lines. By this method a tissue is obtained of a pattern com-
posed of intersecting or interlacing circular lines.
In the processes just described, there has been only one cistern and one nozzle,
but it is obvious that several cisterns may be employed at one time, and that
each cistern may have several nozzles, in which case a very rapid production of
the fabric may be obtained, besides a great variety in the pattern of the fabric.
For example a pattern composed of intersecting sinuous lines or ovals may be
produced by two cisterns, each furnished with a number of nozzles, placed at
equal distances across the whole width of the tissue to be formed. The to-and-
fro movement of the two cisterns may be limited to a short distance so that the
thread is laid down in sinuous or serpentine lines parallel to each other.
nozzles of the one cistern are however so placed that the sinuosities of the one
set cut into the sinuous lines of the other and produce a pattern of intersecting
ovals.
The
This method of using more than one cistern or reservoir of liquid substance
allows tissues to be made with stripes and checks of different colours by using
differently coloured materials in the several cisterns, and the materials contained
in each cistern may also be different.
A further application of this method of producing tissues consists in covering
the travelling web with a light open fabric of cotton or other material woven
by the ordinary methods, and to which the threads of liquid material will adhere,
the calico becoming a permanent foundation for the tissue, and being removed
from the web when the tissue formed by the nozzles has been completed.
Fabrics may be produced, by the processes described, so as to be of considerable
thickness, and employed as a lining for giving extra warmth to quilts and other
articles; the thickness being regulated by the number of times which the travel-
ling web passes under the thread-producing nozzles.
Dated this 12th dow of August 1908

page_text: Improvements in Producing Fabrics or Tissues from Liquid or
Plastic Materials.
I, MARGARET NISBET CROSS, or MILLAR, residing at Yew Bank, Helensburgh,
Dumbartonshire, Executrix of the late ADAM MILLAR, of Yew Bank, Helens-
burgh, Dumbartonshire, Manufacturer, conform to Decree Dative by the Sheriff
of Stirling, Dumbarton and Clackmannan, dated at Dumbarton the Second day
of May, Eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, 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 consists in producing fabrics or tissues from threads or fila-
ments formed of materials while in a liquid or plastic condition, and which
threads are so placed as to be in contact with each other at short distances apart,
and made to adhere to each other at the points of contact.
The invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 being a
front elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of a convenient form of machine which
might be employed to produce the fabrics or tissues forming my invention.
Figures 3 to 8 inclusive show six different methods of producing fabrics.
A travelling endless web A of a flexible material, having a smooth and non-
adhesive surface, such as the fabric known as oil-cloth or wax-cloth is employed.
The web A is of considerable length, say twelve yard's or longer, and of suit-
able breadth, say one yard, and is carried by drums or rollers B, B¹, which rotate
on their axes C, C¹, one of the drums being driven by means of spur gear-
ing D, D¹, from the pulley shaft E.
The liquid or plastic material from which the fabric is formed is contained in a
reservoir or cistern F situated over the web A and furnished with an air-tight
cover F¹, the reservoir having a nozzle F2 regulated by a small stop-cock F³.
The liquid material exudes from the nozzle F in a fine thread-like stream
and falls upon the surface of the web A. The flow of the material through the
nozzle is obtained by the pressure of compressed air or like means, contained in
a reservoir and communicating by a flexible tube F with the cistern F.
The cistern F is carried by a frame X in which it has a to-and-fro motion
across the web A and the web has a continuous forward movement, these move-
ments being produced by suitable gearing, the former motion by means of the
cam G on the shaft G¹ the lever H actuated by said cam G and the link I, and
the latter motion by means of the gearing D, D¹, before referred to.
The machine, when put in motion, forms a thread of the material contained
in the cistern F, which thread is laid upon the travelling web A in the form of
a zig-zag line a, as shown at Fig. 3, and covering the whole length of the web.
The length of the web A is so adjusted that, when the web has made one com-
plete passage, the thread laid down on the second passage of the web A shall be a
little in advance or a little behind the thread previously laid down, so that the
continued working of the machine produces a tissue or fabric of a pattern such
as is illustrated by Figure 4, composed of overlapping zig-zag lines a.
In order to ensure the adhesion of the threads to each other at their points
of contact, the tissue may be passed under a pressing roller, or a jet of air may
be blown upon the tissue, and the air may be charged with vapour or with a
liquid in the form of a fine spray, so as to cement the threads together.
The fabric may be removed from the web A when the threads have become
sufficiently tenacious, and completed by such subsequent treatment as may be
required, such treatment being varied to suit the various materials employed.

page_text: 6.
The materials which may be used in producing fabrics or tissues by the process
described, include such substances as gutta-percha, india-rubber, the product
known to chemists as 66
nitro-cellulose," the animal products known as
tine" and "albumen," the gelatine found in the body of the silk worm, a
gela-
solution of silk in hydro-chloric acid, or other suitable solvent, and generally
any substance which can be made plastic or liquid and which may subsequently
be made non-plastic and tenacious, either by the evaporation of the solvent
employed to produce the liquid or plastic condition, or by chemical treatment,
or by other suitable methods.
The substances named are made liquid or plastic by suitable solvents, all
which solvents are well known to chemists and are in common use in various
industries.
In cases where heat is needed to produce the necessary fluidity, the reservoir
or cistern may have a hot water jacket or casing, the heat being maintained by
a gas burner attached to the frame which carries the cylinder, or by other con-
venient arrangement.
66
The subsequent processes referred to above may be varied to suit the several
materials employed, as for example when india rubber is used, the fabric may
be treated by the process known as vulcanizing" when nitro-cellulose is used,
a process to render the fabric less combustible, and when gelatine or albumen
is used, the fabric may be exposed to the vapour of the chemical product known
formic-aldehyde," also called "formaline," and so rendered insoluble in
water, or any other known method of rendering gelatine insoluble may be
employed.
as
The fabric may also be dyed and printed as one of the subsequent processes,
and a crape-like fabric may be produced by means of suitable rollers, much in
the same way as is in ordinary use with other fabrics.
There are obviously a great variety of modifications of the method described,
as, for example, in regulating the speed of the forward movement of the web A
so that, while the web makes a complete travel of its whole length, the cross
motion of the cistern F shall be about one twentieth part of an inch. In this
way the thread produced is laid down in parallel lines b as represented by the
vertical lines, Fig. 5, upon the travelling web A and has the appearance of the
warp yarns in the looms of ordinary construction.
To make the weft yarns, the speeds of the two parts are reversed; the cistern F
travels across the whole width of the web A during the time in which the slow
movement of the web advances only one twentieth of an inch. In this way the
tissue will be formed of parallel warp threads 6 crossed by slightly diagonal weft
threads c; but if the web A stands still while the cistern F travels across it, and
the small forward movement takes place before the return movement of the
cistern F begins, the tissue will appear as an open calico or plain cloth, as shown
at Fig. 6.
Another modification consists in mounting the cistern upon an axis and
imparting motion to it in a circular or other path and placing the nozzle so that
the thread is laid down in circular or other curved lines. By this method a
tissue is obtained of a pattern such as shown at Fig. 7, composed of intersecting
or interlacing circular lines d.
In the processes just described, there has been only one cistern and one nozzle,
but it is obvious that several cisterns may be employed at one time, and that
each cistern may have several nozzles, in which case a very rapid production of
the fabric may be obtained, besides a great variety in the pattern of the fabric.
For example a pattern composed of intersecting sinuous lines e, such as shown
at Fig. 8, may be produced by two cisterns, each furnished with a number of
nozzles, placed at equal distances across the whole width of the tissue to be
formed. The to-and-fro movement of the two cisterns may be limited to a short
distance so that the thread is laid down in sinuous or serpentine lines parallel
to each other. The nozzles of the one cistern are however so placed that the

page_text: sinuosities of the one set cut into the sinuous lines of the other and produce a
pattern of intersecting ovals.
This method of using more than one cistern or reservoir of liquid substance
allows tissues to be made with stripes and checks of different colours by using
differently coloured materials in the several cisterns, and the materials contained
in each cistern may also be different.
A further application of this method of producing tissues consists in covering
the travelling web A, with a light open fabric of cotton or other material woven
by the ordinary methods, and to which the threads of liquid material will adhere,
the calico becoming a permanent foundation for the tissue, and being removed
from the web A when the tissue formed by the nozzles has been completed.
Fabrics may be produced, by the processes described, so as to be of consider-
able thickness, and employed as a lining for giving extra warmth to quilts and
other articles; the thickness being regulated by the number of times which the
travelling web passes under the thread-producing nozzles.
It is not necessary that the reservoir containing the liquid material should
have a to-and-fro motion imparted to it, as transverse or lateral movement may
be given to the travelling band instead to obtain the same result, or the nipples
only may have notion imparted to them in which case they are connected to the
reservoir by means of a flexible pipe of india-rubber, or by metal pipes suitably
jointed.
When narrow fabrics are required, a number of such may be produced simul-
taneously by one travelling web and one pair of drums by simple methods of
arranging the position of the nipples so that each nipple or group of nipples has
only a limited distance for the to-and-fro motion, and these nozzles or group of
nozzles are so placed as to produce several separate bands or ribbons on the
breadth of the travelling web.
In some cases when such a foundation fabric is used it will not be necessary
to form weft threads in addition to the warp threads, as the adhesion of the warp
to the foundation fabric will be sufficient to keep threads in their proper position,
in such a fabric the warp threads not being crossed by the weft threads will
show a highly lustrous surface, and at the same time the fabric will be strong
and pliable.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is: -
The production of fabrics or tissues from threads or filaments formed of
materials while in a liquid or plastic condition, and which threads are so placed
as to be in contact with each other at short distances apart and made to adhere
to each other at the points of contact, substantially as described.
101
1
er
1000
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER,
Of the Firm of Cruikshank & Fairweather,
Chartered Patent Agents,
62, Saint Vincent Street, Glasgow, Agent for the Applicant.