IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FLOSS SILK AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Grey Hill, of Alfred Street, Nottingham,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FLOSS
SILK AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES."
Sealed the 17th April 1868, and dated the 31st December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Grey Hill at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st December 1867.
I, CHARLES GREY HILL, of Alfred Street, Nottingham, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF
FLOSS SILK AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF RUCHES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the preparation of floss
silk and in the manufacture of ruches. In the preparation of floss silk for
the manufacture of baby ruches and other similar uses I pass it through water
and then through heated rollers: I só press it out into a broad thin band;
and in this form the natural gum or cement of the silk serves to retain it, so
that the floss silk after this treatment has the appearance of a woven ribbon
with a satin-like face. In making ruches I combine a floss silk ribbon thus
prepared with net or gauze fabric, and set them together either with or
without a band by hand or by mechanism acting as is usual in making such
ruches.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Grey Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
GREY HILL, of Alfred Street, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Grey Hill, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Grey Hill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Grey Hill, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF FLOSS SILK AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
RUCHES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Grey
Hill, 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 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 Charles Grey Hill, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the preparation of floss
silk and in the manufacture of ruches. In the preparation of floss silk
for the manufacture of baby ruches and other similar uses I pass it through
water and then through heated rollers. I so press it out into a broad thin
band, and in this form the natural gum or cement of the silk serves to retain
it, so that the floss silk after this treatment has the appearance of a woven
ribbon with a satin-like face. I prefer to employ for this purpose a pair of
small metal rollers; they may be conveniently of brass, polished on the face;
about four inches in diameter and one inch wide on the face is a convenient
size. In order to heat the rollers a small flame of gas and air is brought in

page_text: contact with each of them.. The rollers should be heated somewhat above the
temperature of boiling water, but care should be taken that the heat is not
sufficient to injure the color of the silk. The rollers should be pressed
towards each other by a strong spring and they should revolve at a surface
of about thirty feet per minute. The rollers are geared together and
are made to draw a heavy thread of floss silk from a reel or bobbin under-
neath a guide placed beneath the surface of water contained in a cup, so that
the silk may be well moistened before it comes to the nip of the rollers. The
rollers then press and set the silk to the required ribbon like form. The
rollers may if desired be engraved so as to emboss a pattern upon the ribbon.
Such ribbons may be used in making rosettes and for other purposes; thius
they may be used to form the head of a fringe, and in this case I prefer that
the same pressure which flattens out the silk into a ribbon should also make
it adhere to the other parts of the fringe.
Also according to my Invention in making ruches I combine a floss silk
ribbon thus prepared with net or gauze fabric, and set them together either
with or without a band by hand or by mechanism acting as is usual in making
such ruches. A portion of a ruche so made is shown in the annexed
Drawing.
Figure 1 is an end view. a, a, are the floss silk ribbons arranged spirally
around goffered net or gauze fabrics b, b; c is a band into which the floss
silk ribbons and the net or gauze are both set. The form or pattern of the
ruche may be varied so long as it is composed of a floss silk ribbon combined
with net or gauze fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Grey Hill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness to the above signature,
JOHN WIGHTMAN.
CHARLES GREY HILL. (L.S.)