AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PRO- DUCING IMITATIONS OF LEATHER AND TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William. Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PRO-
DUCING IMITATIONS OF LEATHER AND TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR
MATERIALS." -A. communication from abroad by Charles Herman
Knelles, of the City and State of New York, United States of
America.
Sealed the 3rd August 1875, and dated the 9th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th February 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS
FOR PRODUCING IMITATIONS OF LEATHER AND TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR
MATERIALS," a communication, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a process for preparing the moulds to be
› used in producing imitation leather, Morocco, damask, and such other

page_text: fabrics as are referred to in the Specification of Letters Patent granted
to William Bell, the Sixteenth day of December, 1874, No. 4343, and
for producing the fabric from such moulds.
It also consists in an apparatus to be used in the carrying out of the
said process.
In the surface of a table or other proper structure, which is level and
sufficiently long to contain the mould, I form grooves, in which I insert
two guide rails, the said rails running lengthwise of the table. Between
these rails, and at right angles thereto, is suspended a steel blade with a
round bottom or dull edge. This blade is attached to a frame extending 1
This frame
across the table, and composed of ends connected by rods.
runs in grooves made in the edges of the table that are parallel to the
guide rails.
At the points the ends of the blade are secured by set screws, such
ends being slotted to permit the blade to be moved up or down as
required for adjustment. At the top of the said frame and nearly above
the blade is placed a collar, on which is wound the article used as a
backing to the fabric to be manufactured. The said frame is moved
back and forth over the table by means of an endless cord or its
equivalent, attached to an arm at one of the sides of the frame, and i
running over pulleys. To one of the latter is attached a hand wheel by
which the frame is operated in either direction.
The mould is prepared as follows:-I first oil a piece of leather or
figured silk, or paper, or other article from which it is desired to obtain
a mould, and then take a reverse therefrom in the following manner,
that is to say, I pour the compound of which it is desired to make the
mould, upon the article so oiled, the same being placed on the table with
the oiled side uppermost in front of the blade, the said blade being at
one end of the table and gauged above the article to be covered the
thickness it is required to have the mould; I then move after the
compound as it is being so applied the frame containing such blade; this
movement will cause the said blade to spread the compound evenly over
the face of the article and to the required thickness, and also to move
forward out of the way the surplus compound until the whole of the
article on the table is covered, which operation is completed as soon as
the blade has reached the opposite end of the table. As soon as the
compound has had sufficient time to set, it can be drawn back from

page_text: the article so covered with it, thus producing a mould with the reverse
of the pattern contained on the article from which it is made. This
mould so obtained, or one which has been engraved or otherwise specially
prepared for the purpose, is then used for the production of the imitation
fabric in the following manner :-I remove the piece of silk or leather,
or other article from the table, and lay thereon instead the mould with
the pattern side uppermost. The said mould has its surface rubbed with
oil or other suitable material. The frame containing the blade is removed
to the end of the table, so that the mould will be wholly in front of the
blade. There is placed on the roller of the frame the muslin, silk,
paper, or other fabric desired to be used as a backing for the imitation
fabric about to be produced. The blade is adjusted by the set screws,
so that the space between the edge and the face of the mould will be
equal to the combined thickness of the backing of the fabric and coating
of the compound desired to be placed on such backing. The end of the
backing for the fabric is then brought down underneath the edge of the
blade and fastened or clamped to the rear end of the table. The operator
then commences to pour the composition upon the face of the mould,
and in front of the blade containing the backing on its edge, and the
blade is then moved slowly forward over the table, the backing for the
fabric slowly unwinds, and comes in contact with the composition and
the blade operates on such composition with the backing between,
levelling the surface of the compound so as to completely fill up the
face of the mould therewith, until the said blade reaches the other end
of the table, at the same time laying the backing evenly on the com-
position. The backing is cut at or near the edge of the table so reached,
and after allowing time for the composition to set, the piece of imitation.
fabric thus formed is stripped from the face of the mould. Thus there
is produced a fabric with a backing on one side and a surface on the
other, such surface being the reverse in design of that in the mould,
and the facsimile of the piece of leather, silk, or other article originally
operated upon to obtain such mould if a mould made from an article as
berein-before described has been employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake,
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 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING IMITATIONS OF LEATHER
AND TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS," a communication to me
from abroad by Charles Herman Knelles, of the City and State of New
York, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 William Robert Lake, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-
This Invention consists partly in a process for preparing the moulds
to be used in producing imitation leather, Morocco, damask, and such

page_text: other fabrics as are referred to in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to William Bell, the 16th day of December, A.D. 1874, No. 4343,
and for producing the fahnie from such moulds
Figure 1 is a side view of the said apparatus; Figure 2 is a longi-
tudinal central section; and Figure 3 is an end view of the same.
A is the surface of a table or other structure, which is level and
sufficiently long to contain the mould; B, B, are two guide rails
inserted in grooves made in such surface and running lengthwise of the
table. Between these rails and at right angles thereto, is suspended a
steel blade C with a rounded bottom or dull edge. This blade is
attached to a frame extending across the table, composed of the ends D, D,
connected together by the rods E, E, E, E. This frame runs in grooves
F, F, made in the edges of the table that are parallel to the guide
rails.
At the points G, G, the ends of the blade O are secured by set screws,
such ends being slotted to permit the blade to be moved up or down
as required for adjustment. At the top of the frame and nearly above
the blade C is placed a roller H, on which is wound the article used as
a backing to the fabric proposed to be manufactured. The frame is
moved back and forth over the table by means of an endless cord I or
its equivalent attached to an arm J at one of the sides of the frame,
'and running over pulleys K, K¹, K. To the latter pulley is attached a
hand wheel L, by which the frame is operated in either direction.
The mould is prepared as follows:-I first oil a piece of leather or
figured silk, or paper, or other article from which it is desired to obtain
a mould, and then take a reverse therefrom in the following manner,
that is to say, I pour the compound of which it is desired to make the
mould upon the article so oiled and placed on the table with the oiled side
uppermost in front of the blade, said blade being at one end of the
table and gauged above the article to be covered the thickness it is
required to have the mould. I then move after the compound as it is
being so applied the frame containing such blade; this movement will

page_text: cause the blade to spread the compound evenly over the face of the
article, and to the required thickness, and also to move forward out of
the way the surplus compound, until the whole of the article on the
table is covered, which operation is completed as soon as the blade has
reached the opposite end of the table. As soon as the compound
has had sufficient time to set, it can be drawn back from the article
so covered with it, thus producing a mould with the reverse of the
pattern contained on the article from which it is made. This mould
.so obtained, or one which has been engraved or otherwise specially
prepared for the purpose, is then used for the production of the imitation
fabric in the following manner :-I remove the piece of silk, or leather,
or other articles from the table, and lay thereon instead the mould with
the pattern side uppermost. This mould has its surface rubbed with the
oil or equivalent material. The frame containing the blade is removed
to the end of the table, so that the mould will be wholly in front of the
blade. I place on the roller of the frame the muslin, silk, paper, or
other fabric desired to be used as a backing for the imitation fabric
about to be produced. The blade is adjusted by the set screws, so that
'the space between its edge and the face of the mould will be equal to the
combined thickness of the backing of the fabric and coating of the
compound desired to be placed on such backing. The end of the
backing for the fabric is then brought down underneath the edge of
the blade, and fastened or clamped to the rear end of the table. The
operator then commences to pour the composition on the face of the
mould, and in front of the blade containing the backing on its edge, and
the blade is then moved slowly forward over the table. The backing for
the fabric slowly unwinds and comes in contact with the composition,
and the blade operates on such composition with the backing between,
levelling the surface of the compound so as to completely fill up the
face of the mould therewith until said blade reaches the other end of
the table, at the same time laying the backing evenly on to the com-
position. The backing is cut at or near the edge of the table so reached,
and after allowing time for the composition to set, the piece of imitation
fabric thus formed is stripped from the face of the mould. Thus there
is produced a fabric with a backing on one side and a surface on the
other, such surface being the reverse in design of that in the mould, and
the facsimile of the piece of leather, silk, or other article originally
operated upon to obtain such mould if a mould made from an article as
herein-before described has been employed..

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,-
First. The process of producing a fabric from a mould in the manner
described, so that the compound and the backing shall be applied to the
face of the mould at the same time as above set forth.
Second. The combination of a blade suspended in a frame above a
table, the distance of the thickness of a mould, and the compound and
backing composing the fabric, in combination with a roller for carrying
the backing, and with the said table, such frame being capable of motion
across the table as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
Witness,
HENRY L. BAILEY.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)