CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING, ORNAMENTING, AND DRESSING WOVEN AND TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Stanislas Vigoureux, Manufacturer, of Rheims, a Town
in the French Empire, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRINTING, ORNAMENTING, AND DRESSING WOVEN AND TEXTILE FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Stanislas Vigoureux at
the Office of tho Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st March 1855.
I, STANISLAS VIGOUREUX, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING, ORNAMENTING, AND DRESSING WOVEN
AND TEXTILE FABRICS," to be as follows:-
I place the fabric upon a hollow table or box, the upper surface of which is
perforated with a multitude of small holes. A plate of metal or other suitable
material engraved, or perforated, or embossed, or corrugated with any required
pattern or design is laid upon the fabric and covered by another plate.
Several thicknesses of cloth are laid upon the last plate, so as to form a sort
of cushion, and a strong plate is placed upon the whole and forced down upon
it by screws, or a hydraulic press, or other suitable means. Steam is then
admitted into the hollow table, and the fabric is thus moistened and heated,
and forced into the cavities or perforations in the pattern plate. After the
steam has acted for a sufficient time it is shut off, and the pressure is continued
or increased for a time. The fabric thus prepared or dressed by the action of
the steam and pressure may be afterwards dyed, or it may be dyed before the
pressing and steaming. The fabric may be printed at the same time that it is

page_text: being operated upon as above described, by charging the surface or the cavities
of the plate with colour.
In lieu of steam hot water may be employed, or the fabric may be moistened
and exposed to the action of heated air, or the plates may be heated and the
pressure may also he given by a roller or rollers, so that in all cases the
pattern may be produced on the fabric by the combined action of heat and
pressure. The fabric may be rendered more lustrous by afterwards passing it
round cylinders heated by steam or otherwise. The pattern plates and the
table may be made of the same length as the piece of fabric to be operated
upon, or they may be of less length and the pattern may be repeated at
several successive operations. Two or more pattern plates and plies of fabric
may be placed one above another in the press, and operated upon at the
same time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Stanislas Vigoureux in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STANISLAS
VIGOUREUX, Manufacturer, of Rheims, a Town in the French Empire, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Stanislas Vigoureux, Her special licence that I, the said Stanislas
Vigoureux, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Stanislas Vigoureux, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING, ORNAMENTING, AND DRESSING WOVEN AND TEXTILE
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Stanislas
Vigoureux, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Stanislas Vigoureux, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention relates to the printing, ornamenting, and dressing woven and
textile fabrics with the aid of steam and pressure as herein-after described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a vertical section of an apparatus
adapted for carrying out my Invention. e is a hollow table or box, having its
upper surface & perforated with a multitude of small holes. The fabric c is
laid upon this table and covered by a plate a of metal, or other suitable
material, perforated with holes in the form of the pattern required. The plate a
is covered with a smooth plate b, and with a pad or cushion g formed of
several layers of cloth, and covered with a strong plate h, which is pressed
down by a hydraulic press i, or screws l, or otherwise. Steam is admitted by
a pipe m into the table e, and as it passes through the perforated top dit
swells or forces up the fabric into the perforations or cavities in the plate a, as
shewn on a larger scale in the section Figure 2. The fabric is thus ornamented
and dressed by the action of the steam; the full pressure may be applied by
means of the press before admitting the steam, or a slight pressure may be
first applied and the steam admitted, and the pressure afterwards increased.
Figure 3 shows a section of the fabric when removed from the apparatus.
The plates a may be engraved, or corrugated, or grooved on the surface in
lieu of being perforated. When it is required to print the fabric at the same
time, the surfaces or the cavities of the plates are charged with colour before
placing them on the fabric, which is thus printed, ornamented, and dressed at
one operation. The plates a may be made of the same dimensions as the
piece of fabric to be operated upon, or they may be of smaller dimensions and
the pattern may be repeated at several operations. The plate may also be in
one or more pieces. Thus, if the pattern consist of a series of stripes the
plate may be replaced by a series of flat strips or bars of metal or other
suitable material; and if a shaded effect be required the edges of the bars
may be bevilled or rounded, or round bars or wires may be employed. In a
similar manner when plates are employed the edges of the cavities may be
bevilled or rounded when a shaded effect is required. The plates may also
be engraved so as to produce a "moiré" or "watered" effect.
In lieu of employing the steam table e the effect may be produced (although
in a less perfect manner) by somewhat simpler means as shewn in Figure 4.
The fabric c is folded backwards and forwards between the pattern plates a, a,

page_text: and smooth plates b, b, placed alternately. It is exposed, with the plates, to
an atmosphere of steam which heats and moistens the fabric, and the whole is
then pressed for some time in a hydraulic or other press. Figure 5 is a
section, and Figure 6 is a plan of one of the pattern plates a, and Figure 7 is
a plan of one of the smooth plates b.
The fabric may be dyed or printed before or after treating it as herein-before
described. When dyed after the aforesaid treatment various effects are pro-
duced by differences of tint in the dye on the parts which correspond to the
cavities of the pattern plates. By placing the fabric in contact with another
fabric dyed or printed with colours which are not fixed upon it, and submitting
them together to the aforesaid treatment, the colour will be partially trans-
ferred from the one fabric to the other. Acid, or other vapours capable of
colouring, or changing, or discharging the colour of the fabric, may be
introduced with the steam. In lieu of pressing the fabric in a hydraulic or
screw press, or similar press, it may be pressed by means of rollers as in a
copper plate press, or otherwise.
The fabric may have additional lustre given to it after the aforesaid
treatment by passing it round rollers or cylinders heated by steam. For this
purpose it is preferable to bring the back or wrong side of the fabric into
contact with the steam cylinders, as shewn in Figure 8, in which c is the
fabric, and p and q the steam cylinders.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,―
The mode or modes of printing, ornamenting, and dressing woven or textile
fabrics with the aid of steam and pressure as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stanislas Vigoureux, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
STANISLAS VIGOUREUX. (L.S.)
CHARLES FRANÇOIS ARMENGAUD,
Ing* Civil,
6, Filles du Calvaire, á Paris.