AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TREATING AGAVA AMERICANA, OR MEXICAN GRASS, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW FABRIC THEREFROM
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Werner Staufen, of Baker Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF TREATING AGAVA AMERICANA, OR MEXICAN GRASS, AND THE MANUFACTURE
OF A NEW FABRIC THEREFROM."
Sealed the 23rd February 1858, and dated the 25th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Werner Staufen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th August 1857.
I, Werner StaufEN, of Baker Street, in the County of Middlesex, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF TREATING AGAVA AMERICANA, OR MEXICAN GRASS, AND THE MANU-
FACTURE OF A NEW FABRIC THEREFROM," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to an improvement upon an Inven-
tion secured to me by Letters Patent for Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date 2nd November 1855, and consists in treating the fibres, after having been
prepared with an alkali or with alkalies, and before or after being baked
with gum or gummy matters, size, or glue, in order to impart additional
stiffness to the fibres.
I manufacture my new fabric wholly or partially with fibres of the agava
Americana, after having been prepared with alkali and baked, by weaving or

page_text: knitting, and the weft and warp may both be composed of the prepared fibres,
or the weft or warp may be wholly or partially of some other textile material.
And before or after weaving or knitting the fibres may or may not be sized,
gummed, or glued, according to circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Werner Staufen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WERNER
STAUFEN, of Baker Street, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, 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 Werner Staufen, Her special licence that I, the said Werner Staufen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Werner Staufen, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
TREATING AGAVA AMERICANA, OR MEXICAN GRASS, AND THE MANUFACTURE OF A
NEW FABRIC THEREFROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Werner Staufen, 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 Werner Staufen, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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:-
The first part of my Invention relates to an improvement upon an Inven-
tion secured to me by Letters Patent for Great Britain and Ireland, bearing
date Second November One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and

page_text: consists in treating the fibres, after having been prepared with an alkali or
with alkalies and before or after being baked, with gum or gummy matters,
size, or glue, in order to impart additional stiffness and elasticity to the fibres.
The proportion of gum, gummy matters, size, or glue, will vary according to
the uses to which the prepared fibre is to be applied.
I manufacture my new fabric wholly or partially with fibres of the agava
Americana after having been prepared with alkali and baked, by weaving or
knitting by any of the well-known methods of weaving or knitting. The weft
and warp may both be composed of the prepared fibres, or the weft or warp
may be wholly or partially of some other textile material. And before or after
weaving or knitting the fibres may or may not be sized, gummed, or glued,
according to circumstances.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the treating of the fibres of the agava Americana after having been
prepared with an alkali or with alkalies, and before or after being baked with
gum, gummy matters, size, or glue.
And, second, the manufacture, by weaving or knitting, of a new fabric,
composed wholly of the fibres of the agava Americana, or of the said fibres and
some other textile material, whether the said fibres have been only prepared
with an alkali or alkalies and baked, or whether they have been so prepared,
baked, and subsequently sized, gummed, or glued.
In witness whereof, I, the said Werner Staufen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
WERNER SIAUFEN. (L.S.)