IMPROVEMENTS IN OR SUBSTITUTES FOR LACED STOCKINGS OR.. BANDAGES FOR THE LEG
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN.
SPARKS, of Conduit Street, Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex, Surgical
Bandage Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great.
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Jonathan Sparks, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Jonathan
Sparks, my exors, admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jonathan.
Sparks, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, should at any 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR SUBSTITUTES FOR LACED STOCKINGS OR..
BANDAGES FOR THE LEG;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said Jonathan Sparks, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonathan Sparks, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of improvements in weaving elastic shaped stockings,
knee caps, and such like elastic bandages for parts of the leg, and this for the
most part without scams. The india-rubber thread employed as weft, being
covered and in the elastic state, and I prefer for this purpose what is called
vulcanized india-rubber thread, by which the shaped article is at once woven
to the size and shape desired, requiring no subsequent application of heat to
obtain elasticty to the india-rubber, which, as is well known, is necessary when
india-rubber is used in an inclastic state. And in order that my Invention
may be most fully understood and readily carried into practice, I will proceed
to describe the means pursued by me.
1 employ a jacquard loom for the purpose of my manufacture, and I
introduce a warp of silk or other yarn to a width equal to the greatest width
of the finished articles to be produced, and I arrange the loom so that it will
produce a tubular fabric without seam to that width, using a tabby or other
tic, according to the wish of parties, all which is well understood, and
separately is not claimed by me; and in order that the successive sheds opened
in the warp may only be from time to time of tlie width desired, I cause the
cards employed to be punctured in sucli manner that parts of the warp may
for a time be out of action, when any part of the article is of less width
than the use of the whole of the warp would produce, and the other portions
of the warp are only called into action, and sheds opened therein as the form
of the article becomes wider and wider till it arrives at the widest, and when
the form of the article is such as to require it, then the parts of the warp are
to be again left out by the jacquard cards not opening a shed therein; by this
means and by using india-rubber thread in the elastic state, tubular fabrics
suitably shaped to parts of the leg inay at once be woven with
great exactness
to the size and shape desired. Thus supposing a stocking to be made
according to my Invention, I commence to weave a portion of tubular fabric
which would only take part (say at the right band) of the whole width of the
warp, and having woven the tubular fabric to the length required to cover the
instep, I cease to weave that part and proceed to weave another portion of the
warp move towards the left hand for a length suitable for covering the beel,
which part being completed and which is afterwards to be cut and sewed to

page_text: the part for the instep. These parts being made, I then pin or fasten the heel
part down in the instep part so as to bring the edge of the work of the two
parts on a line, and go on weaving a portion of tubular weaving to cover the
ankles and calf of the leg, encreasing the width of warp brought into use or in
which the sheds are successively opened as the parts of the stocking encreases
in size. And it is not necessary that the warp threads should all reach and be
fastened to the work beam when commencing by weaving the narrower part of
an article, as those parts of the warp which will not be called into use till a
considerable part of the narrower portions of the stockings are woven, may be
tied to strings or cords, and the strings or cords fastened to the work beam.
In the weaving of elastic bands, according to my Invention for covering only
portions of the leg, a similar course will be pursued, but in regard to knee
caps, in addition to leaving out and taking in parts of the warp on one side,
find it desirable in order to obtain a protruding portion on the other side (for
the knee) to employ an enlargement which I place on the work beam for a
time, by which in winding up the work more warp will be drawn off the
bobbins at the right hand of the tubular fabric than at the left hand, as I
prefer when shaping by and decreasing the extent of warp, to do so on the
left hand, though this is not absolutely necessary. The effect of this for a time
enlarging the diameter of the work beam towards the right hand will be to
produce a longer fabric at that side than the other, which when taken out
of the loom will cause there to be an enlargement or protruberance on
that side.
Another mode by which I can weave shaped elastic tubular articles suitable
for covering the leg or parts of the leg, is by employing a reed which shall be
wider at one part than another, so that when the warp is in the widest part
the fabric will be widest, and as the warp is moved into a narrower part of the
reed, the work produced will be narrower; thus, supposing dents of the reed to
be set wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, it will be evident that the
same warp will be capable of being worked at one time of greater width than
at another, and thus by simply raising the warp, or lowering the reed as the
work progresses (and this a workman will readily arrange), the work will
decrease in width. And he will in other respects arrange his loom with a
warp suitable for working a tubular fabric of the width of the widest part of
the article when the warp is in the widest set part of the reed, and he will
raise the warp or lower the reed as he wishes to narrow the work, or he will
commence with the narrowest part of the reed and expand the width as the
shape of the article requires it. In thus weaving, the weft of india-rubber
should be in its elastic state and covered, as before mentioned.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim are the
means herein described of manufacturing improvements in or substitutes for
laced stockings or bandages.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jonathan Sparks, have hereunto set 5
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One 1
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.