IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A MATERIAL AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER
Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 13th October 1854, and dated the 18th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rowley at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th April
1854.
I, JOHN ROWLEY, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A
MATERIAL AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in combining pulp paper or other suitable pulp
material with a woven or felted fabric, the whole being dyed either separately
or together of the same shade of color, and then subjected to pressure, so that
the pulpy matter be forced through the fibrous material, thereby covering the
same on both sides, and forming one solid substance of the same color through-
out. This material, after being firmly compressed, is coated with a surface of
size color of the same shade as the material, for the purpose of fixing the color
thereof. The material thus manufactured may be embossed, gilded, or
otherwise ornamented.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions. of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rowley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ROWLEY, of Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Rowley, Her special licence that I, the said John Rowley, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Rowley, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A
MATERIAL AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Rowley, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 John Rowley, 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):-
My Invention consists in combining colored pulp paper or other suitable
colored pulp material with a woven or felted fabric, so as to fill up more com-
pletely than heretofore the interstices of the said fabric, and thereby produce a
surface similar to that of leather, such as is extensively used by bookbinders, and
well known in the trade as colored "roans" or "skivers," such said woven or felted
fabric being dyed of the same color as the paper pulp with which it is intended
to be combined; so that in using material thus manufactured as a substitute
for leather, in the event of the surface becoming either torn, rubbed, or cracked,
it will appear evident, that by having the before-mentioned woven or felted
fabric of the same color as the pulp material, it will present less disfigurement
to the eye than if the woven or felted fabric were of any color other than that
of the exposed surface of the pulpy material which covers the same; whereas,

page_text: with leather which is capable of being dyed (as it is the outer surface thereof
only which is dyed), it follows, therefore, that when such dyed leather becomes
either torn, rubbed, or cracked, that portion of the leather which is below the
surface thereof, and which has not imbibed the dye color, being of a different
and lighter color than the dyed surface of the leather, presents therefore an
unsightly and objectionable appearance.
And the object and intention of my
said Invention is to obviate the above objection, which I effect by combining
colored pulp paper or other suitable colored pulp material with a woven or felted
fabric, dyed of the same color as the paper pulp or other material with which it
is combined. And I would here remark that such combination of the materials
may be effected either by hand or by means of suitable machinery; and I cause
the two materials to be closely combined or connected together by subjecting
them to pressure, so that the pulpy matter may be forced through the inter-
stices of the woven or felted material, thereby forming it into one substance. I
do not, however, intend to limit or confine myself to the use of pulpy material,
as in some cases I employ colored paper instead of paper pulp, and when this
is the case I employ size or other suitable and elastic adhesive composition for
combining the two materials together. And I would here observe, that after
the material has been sufficiently compressed, I then cover the surface of the
material with colored size of the same tint as that of the material, and I
employ said size color for fixing or making fast the dye color of the material.
When it is desired to produce a cheaper material than that above described,
but with a surface of the same external appearance, the same may be effected
by coating the surface of the dyed woven fabric with size color, or colored
pulpy material alone, or a mixture of the two, of the same tint as the dyed
woven fabric, said size color or pulpy material being spread over the surface
of the woven fabric, either by hand with a brush, or by any other convenient
and suitable means; and materials thus manufactured may afterwards be
embossed, gilded, or otherwise ornamented by any of the means in known and
common use for ornamenting leather and cloth.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of "Improvements
in the Manufacture of a Material as a Substitute for Leather," I would remark,
in conclusion, that I do not claim any mechanical means by which I carry my
Invention into practical effect, but employ for such purpose any of the means
at present employed, and in known and common use, for performing the several
operations of preparing pulpy materials, exerting pressure, dyeing, sizing,
embossing, and gilding or otherwise ornamenting leather and cloth; neither do
I claim the combining of paper with a woven fabric, as I am aware-of-the-
same having already been done; but I do claim the combining of colored paper,

page_text: pulp paper, or other suitable colored pulp material with a woven or felted fabric,
when such woven or felted fabric is dyed of the same color as the paper or
pulp material with which it is covered, so as to produce a surface similar to
leather capable of being embossed or otherwise ornamented, as herein-before
particularly described and set förth as constituting "Improvements in the
Manufacture of a Material as a Substitute for Leather."
In witness whereof, I, the said John Rowley, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Patent Agent,
-4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.
J. ROWLEY. (L.S.)