IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OILCLOTH AND IMITATION LEATHER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Julius Cléro de Clerville, of Newman Street,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF OILCLOTH AND IMITATION LEATHER."-A communication
Sealed the 5th January 1858, and dated the 9th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Julius Cléro de
Clerville at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
on the 9th July 1857.
1, JOHN JULIUS CLÉRO DE CLERVILLE, of Newman Street, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OILCLOTH AND IMITATION LEATHER." to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of oil-
cloth and imitation leather. For these purposes I make a new kind of oil-
cloth by applying a transparent coating upon a fabric of any description,
previously dyed or printed of any colour or design according to the system
used by calico printers.. I prefer to make this said transparent coating with
purified linseed oil, made drying and thick like a paste by boiling it with
some oxide or salt of lead or of manganese. This coating is perfectly trans-
parent, as no colour whatever is mixed with the oil it therefore shows the
colour or the design on the stuff, and lastly I varnish the article with oil,
[Price 8d.]

page_text: copal varnish, or any other hard oily varnish. I also apply the above process
to make an imitation of varnished leather upon any thick fabric, such as
moleskin..
I also make an imitation of the grain of leather on fabrics coated in this
way by pressing the coated stuff between hot engraved rollers or plates, and
then 1 varnish as before, I proceed in this last manner also to produce
embossed or figured stuffs to imitate embossed and figured leather.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Julius Cléro de Clerville in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th January, 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
JULIUS CLERO DE CLERVILLE. of Newman Street, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Julius Cléro de Clerville, Her special licence that I, the said John
Julius Cléro de Clerville, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as J, the said John Julius Cléro de Clerville, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OLLCLOTH AND
IMITATION LEATHER," a communication from Felix Abate, of Paris, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Julius Cléro de Clerville, 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 per-
formed, 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 John Julius Cléro de Clerville, 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 -

page_text: My Invention consists in the manufacture of colored oilcloths and imita-
tion leather by a new process, different from the processes at present in use.
Instead of painting and printing with oil colours upon a ground made on a
white fabric, as oilcloths are now generally made on a white ground I
employ a fabric of any design and material, previously dyed or printed by any
of the processes used in dyeing and printing woven stuffs. On this fabric
I make a transparent oily ground by applying upon it successively three or
four coatings of clarified linseed oil, previously made drying in the usual way
by boiling it with metallic oxides, leaving of course each coating to dry either
in the opening or drying room before applying a subsequent coating. I then
make the surface of the article smooth by rubbing it with pumicestone,.nз
is generally done in oilcloth manufactories; and lastly I apply upon it a hard
varnish such as asphalt varnish, to which I sometimes add a small quantity
of prussian blue for black articles, and copal varnish for all colored articles.
When I want the above coating to remain entirely on the surface of the
fabric or cloth without penetrating it, which is preferable to make superior
articles, prepare the cloth by applying upon it before the oily coating one
or two coatings of mucilage, and then when dry I apply the oily coating as
above.
I
Another part of my Invention consists in making ornamental oilcloth to
imitate damask and figured and watered stuffs, and also to imitate woyen
straw for ladies' bonnets and for children's hats. I do this by different processes.
The first process consists in passing the oilcloth between a pair of rollers, one
of them having engraved negatively on its surface the design of the stuff
which I intend to imitate, this design will appear positively on the oilcloth.
By the second process I firstly make through galvanoplastic a copper plate
from the stuff itself which I intend to imitate, and I then employ such plate
to emboss the oilcloth through the medium of an ordinary press. By a third
process I lay upon the oilcloth which I wish to ornament a piece of the stuff
which I intend to imitate, and I pass the two pieces together between a pair
of rollers.
Another part of my Invention consists in making oilcloths with damask
or figured stuffs. I do this exactly in the same way as for manufacturing
commou oilcloth, by applying upon the stuff three or four coatings of
drying linseed oil, either pure or coloured, as above described. Lastly. 1
varnish the article.
Another part of my Invention consists in the manner of preparing the stuff
before the application of the oily coating, and in the manner of finishing the
article after such an application. This improvement consists in burning off

page_text: the surface wool or nap of the cloth or stuff as is done by calico printers, then
I calender the cloth, then I apply upon it the oily coating by either of the
above described processes, then I varnish the article, and lastly, I calender
it again with hot rollers. In this manner I can suppress altogether the
operation of smoothing the surface of the article by means of pumicestone,
which is expensive and injurious to the strength of the article itself.
Another part of my Invention consists in colouring the oilcloth by means of
dry powders of any kind. For such purpose I spread with a sieve upon the
last coating before it is quite dry the colouring, and when this last is quite dry
I cylinder the article as above. Sometimes Japply as colouring powderground
wool or silk to give to the article the appearance of woollen or silk stuffs. In
this case after having spread upon the article the powder as above described, I
brush it with a soft brush to lay down the hair in the same direction. Some-
times I apply upon the oilcloth made in the last described way all the above
described processes for ornamentally embossing the article, and sometimes I
print upon it with dyeing or oil colours. Sometimes I apply this part of my
Invention to imitations of articles made of cloth or any other material, such
as hats, bonnets, caps. I apply upon the shapes of such articles an oily
coating, such as that described for the oilcloth, and then I cover it with
ground silk, wool, &c.
upon
Another part of my Invention consists in making the oily coating upon a
surface different from that on which it is required, and then to transfer it and
fix it upon the latter surface. For such purpose I make the said coating
a cloth stretched on a frame, having previously covered this cloth with a
paste coating. When the oily coating is dry I wet the cloth from underneath
which causes the said coating to separate in the form of a thin sheet, I then
lay this sheet on the surface on which it is to remain, and I fix it to that
surface by keeping the article for a little while in a stove, and by rolling
it between moderately hot rollers. I apply the oilcloth made by all the
above described processes forall purposes connected with decoration, furniture,
and clothing to which they may be usefully employed. I may specify more
particularly its application as a substitute for paper hangings, table covers,
chair covers, bookbinding, for making bonnets, caps, waterproof gaiters,
umbrellas, parasols, imitation of leather for boots and shoes, for truuks,boxes,
and travelling portmanteaus, for shakos and other military accoutrements,
and generally for all articles combining the qualities of impermeability and
cheapness. I also make a special application of some of the above described
improvements to the manufacture of awnings and carriage tops. In such
manufacture, as well as in that of the article for umbrellas and parasols, I

page_text: also make use of another improvement, which consists in dipping the cloth
before coating it in an infusion or decoction of taunin, in order to increase
the strength of the cloth, and to make it more impervious to atmospheric
influences.
What I claim as my Invention are the above described processes for
making oilcloths and imitation leather.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Julius Cléro de Clerville, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
0
Witness,
G. CARPMAEL.
J. J. C. DE CLERVILLE. (L.S.)