IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS TO RENDER THE SAME REPELLENT TO WATER AND DAMP
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arnold James Cooley, of Parliament Street,
in the City of Westminster, Consulting Chemist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS TO
RENDER THE SAME REPELLENT TO WATER AND DAMP."
Sealed the 28th March 1858, and dated the 29th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arnold James
Cooley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 29th October 1852.
I, ARNOLD JAMES COOLEY, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS
TO RENDER THE SAME REPELLENT TO WATER AND DAMP" to be as fol-
lows:-
In carrying out this Invention I stretch out the fabric which is to be
operated upon, and cover either one or both of its sides with a compo-
sition formed of bee's wax combined with either boiled or drying oil, or
the material known as "printer's varnish," and used in the preparation
of printer's ink, and with lytharge, amber, and coloring substances, the
whole being combined by agitation and heat, and afterwards I add
small quantities of gum benzoin, styrax, balsam of Peru, camphor,
essence of ambergrise, essenco of musk, or any fragrant essential oil,

page_text: (either one or more of them,) and reduce the mixture, if necessary,
with pure oil of turpentine. I next dry the covered fabric, and give
it a face resembling leather by pressure against polished, figured, or
grained surfaces, after which I expose it to the heat of a stove room,
gradually raised to a considerable temperature. After this I smear
the fabric over with a very thin coating of bee's wax, dissolved in
essence of lemons or oil of turpentine, or a mixture of the two, to
which I sometimes add some one or more of the fragrant substances
before named, and, after subjecting it to a second drying action, I finally
finish it off by gentle friction with a brush or rubber.
When the fabric or material is desired to be stronger and of a more
durable and thoroughly water repellent character. previously to the above
processes I saturate, or partially saturate, the pores of the fabric with
melted wax, or with a composition of wax, boiled or drying oil, or
varnish and lytharge. when, after drying. I proceed as above last
Jazavibod
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arnold James Cooley in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 29th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ARNOLD JAMES COOLEY, of Parliament Street, in the City of West-
minster, Consulting Chemist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in
the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Arnold James Cooley,
Her special license that I, the said Arnold James Cooley, my exceu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Arnold
James Cooley, my exccutors, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,

page_text: an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING WOVEN AND FELTED
FABRICS TO RENDER THE SAME REPELLENT TO WATER AND DAMP," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Arnold James Cooley.
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 Arnold James Cooley, 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 (that is to say):
In carrying out my improvements in the preparation and finishing off
of felted and woven fabrics I take the fabric or material to be operated
upon, and having rendered it perfectly sinooth and flat in any ordinary
way, I spread over one of its surfaces, by means of suitable brushes,
spatulas, or spreading irons, or by an ordinary spreading machine, the
composition described in Appendix A, attached hereto, after which I
hang it up to dry and harden, either in the air at ordinary temperatures
or in a stove room in the manner hercin-after described.
For those articles requiring greater durability or waterproof qualities
to be imparted to them, and which require both surfaces to be prepared
or finished off in the same manner and color, I give them, as soon as
the first coat or surface is dry, a coat of the composition (already
referred to) on the other side also, after which I proceed as before.
When I desire still further to carry out the same intention I pass
the fabric or material under preparation through the before-named
composition or mixture, gently heated in any suitable cistern or vessel,
and I then pass it under a scraper or scrapers, or between rollers loosely
set and so constructed that they may be adjusted by means of screws
at any desired distance apart, so that they may remove the superfluous
portion of the composition, and reduce the adhering coating of the
same to any required thickness, or so press the body of the textile
fabric as to leave it more or less saturated with the composition.
When one of the surfaces (commonly the inner or wrong side) of
the fabric under preparation is required to be of a different color to

page_text: the other, I adopt the same process as before described, but employ
the composition described in Appendix B, attached hereto.
For the preparation of fabrics requiring to be more durable and more
thoroughly repellent to water and damp than either of the preceding,
and particularly for fabrics of considerable thickness or of a loose or
spongy texture, before submitting them to either of the before-described
processes for coating their surfaces, I pass them, in the manner just
mentioned, through a cistern or vessel containing the composition
described in Appendix C, attached hereto, and thence between rollers,
or under a scraper or scrapers, to remove or press out the superfluous
composition absorbed by or adhering to the fabric or material. The
partly prepared fabric is then exposed to dry and harden, before being
further submitted to any of the before-described methods for preparing
one or both of the surfaces thereof.
For drying and hardening the surfaces given as aforesaid, or the
composition absorbed by or pressed into the pores of the said felted or
woven fabrics, I expose them to the action of warm dry air until the
requisite degree of dryness and hardness is obtained, and for this
purpose I prefer the heat of a stove room, hot room, or drying closet,
or a current of hot air, obtained in any convenient way, observing
that the temperature be kept low at first, commencing at, say, seventy
degrees to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, and afterwards gradually
raised, as the process of hardening progresses, to, say, one hundred
and eighty degrees or two hundred degrees, or thereabouts, more
or less.
For the purpose of imparting a smooth, polished, figured, or grained
appearance to the surface or surfaces of the felted or woven fabrics
coated or prepared as before described, I pass them, when just suffi-
ciently dry and hard to bear strong pressure without becoming sticky
or adhesive, between polished, engraved, grained, or chased cylinders of
wood, metal, or paper, or a combination of them, or between a pair of
rollers or cylinders of any desired surface, driven at unequal speeds, so
that the motion of the one being always a little faster than the other, a
crimping effect will be produced on the surface of the fabrics, after
which I submit them further to the action of air and warmth, as before
described.

page_text: I also give another description of surface to felted and woven fabrics
by sprinkling on their surfaces, coated as aforesaid, and whilst still
adhesive or only partly dry, powdered or ground silk, wool, woollen
cloth, cotton, or floss, either of their natural colors or dyed and stained
artificially; and I use in the same way the various metallic bronzes in
powder, powdered talc, finely powdered oxide of copper, gold, silver,
copper, and other metal dust or powder, and gold and silver leaf and
other metals in the form of leaves or foil; I then apply gentle pressure,
and after exposure again to air and heat, to further and increased
pressure, I submit them to air and heat until the desired degree of
hardness is obtained.
I also sometimes prepare one of the surfaces of the woven or felted
fabrics, coated as before described, by attaching thereto, either for use
or ornament, a surface of some thin linen, cotton, woollen, or silk fabric.
This I effect by applying either of the last-named materials to the
coated surface of the woven or felted fabric under preparation, before it
has become quite dry, and applying pressure by passing the combined
materials between a pair of rollers or cylinders.. I also effect the same
purpose, when the composition is hard and fully dry, by heating, the
cylinder next the said silk, woollen, cotton, or linen fabrics so to be
applied. When I desire to attach any one of the last-named fabrics to
the wrong or unprepared side of any woven or felted fabric having the
other coated in the manner herein-before described, I use any cheap
and simple cement, very sparingly applied, and promote adhesion
between the two surfaces by pressure between rollers or cylinders, as
before described.
I further finish off the surface or surfaces of the woven or felted
fabrics, prepared as before described, with wool, silk, cotton, or flax dust,
or floss, by lightly brushing them with an ordinary cloth brush; those
whose surfaces have been prepared with bronze, metallic, and other
like powders, and with metallic leaf or foil, by simple brushing, and
sometimes by further passing them between polished or chased rollers
as aforesaid; and those prepared with smooth or grained surfaces,
without any of the last herein-before named articles or substances.
by lightly moistening them, by means of a dabber or brush, with
a thin solution of pure bees' wax dissolved in oil of turpentine, and

page_text: and when dry polishing the surface by means of a brush or rubber of
woollen cloth or leather. I also finish off the prepared surface of the
coated fabrics, before described, by applying thereto a coat of varnish,
and drying the same in the usual way, merely selecting a varnish that
combines moderate hardness with flexibility.
Sometimes I employ one only of the before-described processes for
preparing felted and woven fabrics, at other times two or more of them,
according to the purposes required, as already explained.
APPENDIX A.
The composition referred to under this head I make by melting bees'
wax (perfectly free from admixture with tallow or grease) with from
two to ten per cent. of good litharge or oxide of lead, and while the
mixture is still fluid I add thereto good drying or boiled linseed oil, or
the composition forming the basis of printing ink, known as printer's
varnish, or mixtures of the two, in the proportion of from twice to six
times the weight of the wax employed, together with sufficient lamp
black, wool, or cotton dust, or any of the common pigments or coloring
substances (not being of a greasy nature), to impart the desired color,
and after thoroughly incorporating the mixture by heat and cooling, I
thin it down, if too thick, with rectified oil of turpentine, or any other
like fluid, according to whether it be intended to use it warm or cold.
When I desire to give a superior degree of hardness to the composition
(when dry), and to render it better able to resist the action of heat, J
add thereto, and mix in the way before described, a portion of amber,
copal, or asphaltum, previously dissolved or softened by means of
rectified oil of turpentine or some other similar solvent, or I add
varnishes prepared of those substances for the same purpose, taking
care to add such resinous substances so sparingly that they shall not
impart a brittleness to the composition. I also commonly add to the
composition small quantities of benzoin, balsam of Peru, camphor,
essential oil of lemons, ambergris, civet, musk, or other like substances,
or mixtures of two or more of them, for the purpose of imparting a
slight odour to the prepared fabric, or of displacing that which arises
from the substances employed in its preparation.

page_text: APPENDIX B.
The basis of the composition here referred to is similar to that
described in Appendix A, but being less liable to be exposed to friction
and heat, I generally employ a larger proportion of wax, and seldom
add either amber or copal or asphaltum to harden the same. The
use of this composition being commonly to imitate the wrong side of
leather, I usually employ yellow ochre, or Oxford ochre, or a mixture of
the two, to which I sometimes add a little burnt umber, to produce the
desired shade of yellow, yellowish brown, or brown, in the imitation of
the color of the undressed side of animal leather.
APPENDIX C.
The composition here referred to I make by boiling together equal
parts of pure bees' wax and boiled oil, with about five or six per cent.
of litharge, and sometimes a little printer's varnish, or oil of turpentine,
without any coloring matter, and sometimes, and for rough purposes,
I employ a mixture of about ninety parts of boiled oil and five parts
cach of soap and bees' wax, united by agitation and heat. For very
thin fabrics I sometimes employ bees' wax boiled with five per cent. of
litharge, and thinned down to the consistence of a thick varnish (when
cold) with rectified oil of turpentine.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim the preparation of
woven and felted fabrics in the manner herein described, so as to render
them repellent to water and damp.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arnold James Cooley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-ninth day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
0 Witness, J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. J. COOLEY. (LS.)