AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF CLOTHS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CLARK, Power Loom Cloth Manufacturer, in Glasgow, in that part of Great
Britain called Scotland, send greeting.
any
"
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of February, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Clark, Iler especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Clark, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CERTAIN
DESCRIPTIONS OF CLOTHS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said James Clark, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Clark, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following instrument in writing (reference being had to the letters
and figures therein contained, and to the Drawings thereunto annexed) :-
:-
My said Invention consists in producing a fabric composed of cotton, wool,
or silk, or other fibrous material, or one or more of these materials, and an
adhesive composition. The manner in which I produce this fabric is as
follows; and although cotton alone is mentioned in the description hereafter
given, yet the same process is followed by me when using waste silk, or wool,
or other fibres, separately or combined, which can be produced into slivers by
carding engines:-Two or more common carding engines A are placed in a
straight line one after the other, as shewn in the Drawing, Figure 1. Cotton
prepared in the usual manuer for carding is placed to the feeding rollers. The
slivers the whole breadth of the card on the engine come from each doffing
cylinder, and passing between two delivering rollers E, descend, conducted by
boards C, to the endless travelling table D. This table is placed under and in
a line with the carding engines, and receives the slivers as they descend, and
by its continuous motion carries them along till they are united into one thick
body or fleece. This fleece E passes between the large metal or calendar
roller G¹ and a sinall wooden or metal roller F, which presses against the
roller G', and is driven by its friction thereon. It then enters between the
large rollers G¹ and G', and receives a coating of the composition which, by
the pressure of the rollers, is pressed through the body of the fleece and con-
verts it into a fabric or cloth. If the fleece be very thick, and it be found
that the first coating does not penetrate through the body of the fleece, it may
be carried on between the rollers G2 and G³, where it receives another coating
on the opposite side; the rollers G', G, G³, G', being caused to move with
the same surface speed. The composition is applied to the rollers in the
following manner:-An iron bar II, about four inches broad and one inch
thick, is placed along the face of the roller G³, with a slight inclination down-
wards towards the roller, thus making an angular trough; along this bar the
composition is placed, and the revolution of the roller G carries it to the
fleece. The quantity to be carried round by the rollers is regulated by this
bar, which is fixed to the framework of the rollers, and which can be screwed
more or less near thereto. When two coatings are applied, as before mentioned
a similar bar is placed in a similar situation close to roller G³. The fleece E,
thus converted into a fabric which will be waterproof, leaves the rollers and
passes over and under the revolving steam cans or hollow cylinders I, heated

page_text: by steam, where the fabric is dried. It then passes through two smooth metal
rollers K, where it is pressed; and in this completed state it is wound on to a
friction beam L, the action of which is similar to that used in. yarn-dressing
machines. Figure 1 shews only two carding engines, but the number to be
used will be regulated by the thickness of the fleece that may be required.
A greater or less number of steam cans or cylinders may also be used,
according to the amount of heat required to dry the fabric. The metal rollers
are made of cast iron an1 turned smooth on the surface; they are carried by
a cast metal frame. The endless travelling table, (which consists of a series
of bars of wood hinged together, so as to produce an endless surface, or an
endless apron may be use:l,) is driven at a speed so as to receive exactly the
slivers delivered by the doffers; and the rollers G, steam cans I, metal
rollers K, and friction beam I, are driven so as to receive the quantity of
fleece delivered by the endless table; and I drive all these from the main shaft
that drives the rollers G, but they may be driven in any way that
may be
suitable, so that the several parts of the machinery may receive and deliver
exactly the quantity of slivers or fleece produced from the carding engines.
M is a shaft which drives the feeding rollers and doffing cylinders of all the
carding engines, by means of bevil wheels, at a uniform speed. Figure 2 is a
perspective view of part of Figure 1, commencing at the endless table D.
I will now proceed to describe another arrangement for producing the said
fabric, and which I find to produce fully as strong a cloth:-One or more
carding engines are placed as shewn in Figure 3, so as to produce two separate
fleeces E, E. These fleeces, after being co..ted at G, G, travel onward to each
other and unite at the two rollers W, W, through which they pass, and being
pressed together form one fabric or cloth. By introducing cotton into the
carding engine or engines on one side and waste silk or wool into the carding
engine or engines on the other side, I produce a fabric or cloth having fibres of
wool or silk on one side and on the other side fibres of cotton. The adhesive
composition which I use is india-rubber cement (india-rubber dissolved, as is
well understood).
I would remark that I am aware that cloths or fabrics have before been
made by causing a layer of loose fibres to be cemented together by pitch, tar,
or other cementing materials; I do not, therefore, claim the combining of
fibres into fabrics by cementing materials generally, nor do I claim the use
of india-rubber for cementing loose fibres if the sheet or fleece be not produced
and cemented in a continuous length. And I would have it understood that
I do not claim any of the machinery herein described, nor do I confine
myself thereto for obtaining a continuous fleece or layer of fibres to be

page_text: operated upon. But what I claim is, the mode of making cloths of the
descriptions herein explained, by applying india-rubber cement (dissolved
india-rubber) by pressure to a continuous or fleece of fibres.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jamies Clark, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One.
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.