IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OPEN- WORK FABRICS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES, BUT PRINCIPALLY FOR GARMENTS TO BE WORN NEXT THE SKIN
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of Harris
and Mills, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OPEN-
WORK FABRICS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES, BUT PRINCIPALLY FOR
GARMENTS TO BE WORN NEXT THE SKIN." A communication from abroad
by Madame Courmont, Widow, nóc Mario Bérenger, of Lyons, in the Republic
of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th February
1880..
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23,
" IMPROVE-
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OPENWORK FABRICS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS
A
PURPOSES, BUT PRINCIPALLY FOR GARMENTS TO BE WORN NEXT THE SKIN."
communication from abroad by Madame Courmont, Widow, née Marie Bérenger, of
Lyons, in the Republic of France.
Fabrics made according to this Invention are employed in the manufacture of
garments to be worn next the skin, with which they prevent the direct contact of
all other clothing, they maintain around the body a constantly equable temperature,
they fulfil by hygienic conditions the most favorable to the functions of the skin,
and enable changes of temperature to be better avoided than all close fabrics of
flannel or other material hitherto employed.
These new fabrics woven of textile materials of various kinds and size possess all
the qualities of the hand made net, except that they have not the apparent knots
which are disagrecable by their friction on the skin.
They may be made either of the special size of each article, or in lengths
or pieces which are afterwards cut into the various forms required for each
application.
Amongst these applications the most important is that of garments to be worn
directly on the skin, shirts, drawers, vests, coverings for the knees, and other
articles; but these fabrics have the property of being very bad conductors of
electricity, and at the same time very light; they can be employed as bed coverings

page_text: in lieu of eider-down quilts, as coverings for horses, either under or over the harness,
and lastly, in all cases where, requiring to maintain the heat of the human or
animal body without preventing its contact with the air, knotted nets have
heretofore been employed, the price of which is very high.
The same fabrics can also be employed to replace linen employed in the dressing
of wounds.
These fabrics can be made in laco machines slightly modified, or oven in looms
for weaving gauze and other articles of a like kind, and lastly, in looms specially
constructed for this purpose.
It is composed of warp threads united at equal distances by several turns of a
finer thread which then twists around one of the sides of the mesh on its course to
unite the next knot.
The most simple kind of fabric has only one knot to cach mesh; the warp threads
are in pairs accompanied by a lighter thread which unites them by a certain number
of turns at the points where two warp threads meet, and between each knot
follows always the same thread by twisting around it.
The second kind of fabric differs only from the first in that all the warp threads
are furnished with a fine thread, and that consequently each knot is double, the first
fine thread following the course of the first warp thread and twisting around it and
its neighbouring warp threads at the knots, the second fine thread following the
course of the second warp thread, and also twisting around it and its neighbouring
warp threads as described with the first, and so on.
I would remark that the word "knot " here used only signifies a ligature made
by a fine thread which is not very apparent, and which forms no perceptible
projection, in which consists the superiority of this kind of fabric for the uses
named.
The warp threads can be of any suitable kind, either twisted or not, they can be
simply formed of spun fibres united without torsion in variable number, the twisting
of the fine thread completing their connection after manufacture.
These latter fabrics are softer and more flexible than those with twisted
warp.
Further, the number of turns of the fine thread may be increased or diminished
as desired, according to the kind of fabrics it is desired to produce.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th August 1880.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF OPENWORK FABRICS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS
PURPOSES, BUT PRINCIPALLY FOR GARMENTS TO BE WORN NEXT THE SKIN."
communication from abroad by Madame Courmont, Widow, née Marie Bérenger, of
Lyons, in the Republic of France.
A
Fabrics made according to this Invention are employed in the manufacture of
garments to be worn next the skin, with which they prevent the direct contact of
all other clothing, they maintain around the body a constantly equable temperature,
they fulfil hygienic conditions the most favorable to the functions of the skin, and
enable changes of temperature to be better avoided than all close fabrics of flannel
or other material hitherto employed.
These new fabrics, woven of textile materials the threads of which are of various
kinds and size, possess all the qualities of the hand made net, except that they have
not the apparent knots of the latter, which are disagreeable by their friction on the
skin.
They may be made either of the special size of each article, or in lengths
or pieces which are afterwards cut into the various forms required for each
application.
Amongst these applications the most important is that of garments to be worn
directly on the skin, shirts, drawers, vests, coverings for the knees, and other
articles, but these fabrics, having the property of being very bad conductors of
heat, and at the same time very light, can be employed as bed coverings in lieu of
eider down quilts, as coverings for horses, either under or over the harness, and
lastly, in all cases where, requiring to maintain the heat of the human or animal
body without preventing its contact with the air, knotted nets have heretofore been
employed, the price of which is very high.
The same fabrics can also be employed to replace linen employed in the dressing
of wounds.
These fabrics can be made in lace machines slightly modified, or even in looms
for weaving gauze and other articles of a like kind, and lastly, in looms specially
constructed for this purpose.
It is composed of warp threads united at equal distances by several turns of a
finer thread which then twists around one of the sides of the mesh on its course to
unite the next knot.
The Drawing annexed shows to an enlarged scale two kinds of manufacture
obtained in the following manner; the thick lines represent the warp threads, and
the thin lines the additional threads:-
The most simple kind of fabric, Figure 1, has only one knot to each mesh, the
warp threads a, a, are in pairs accompanied by a lighter thread which unites them
by a certain number of turns at the points 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, where two warp
threads meet, and between each knot follows always the same warp thread by
twisting around it.
The second kind of fabric, Figure 2, differs only from the first in that all the
warp threads are furnished with a fine thread, and that consequently cach knot is
double, the first fine thread following the course 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on, of the first
warp thread, and twisting around it and its neighbouring warp threads at the knots,
the second fine thread following the course 9, 2, 11, 4, 13, and so on, of the second
warp thread, and also twisting around it and its neighbouring warp threads
as described with the first, and so an.

page_text: I would remark that the word "knot" here used in describing the present
Invention only significs a ligature made by a fine thread which is not very apparent
and which forms no perceptible projection, in which consists the superiority of this
kind of fabric for the uses named.
The warp threads can be of any suitable kind, either twisted or not, they can be
simply formed of spun fibres united without torsion in variable number, the twisting
of the fine thread completing their connection after manufacture. These latter
fabrics are softer and moro flexible than those with twisted warp.
Further, the number of turns of the fine thread may be increased or diminished
as desired, according to the kind of fabrics it is desired to produce.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the mode in which
the same is carried into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim for
the purposes stated is the kind of fabric above described, the distinguishing feature
of which is the tying of the warp threads at regular intervals by means of an
additional continuous thread twisting around the warp in the spaces between the
knots or ties, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.