IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOHAIR AND SIMILAR FABRICS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Robinson, of Dalton, near Huddersfield, for.
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MOHAIR AND
SIMILAR FABRICS."
Sealed the 5th June 1868, and dated the 12th December 1867.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said James Robinson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th December 1867.
I, JAMES ROBINSON, of Dalton, near Huddersfield, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
MOHAIR AND SIMILAR FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
mohair and similar fabrics. At the present time in producing mohair fabrics
the warp of mobair yarn is curled by passing the warp round a number of
wooden spindles and steaming it whilst so held upon the spindles. The
spindles are laid side by side and the warp passes once around each of
them.
According to my Invention I take the warp so curled, and having spread
it on a table I draw the spindles and print a black or any desired color on to
the top of the curls, so that when the warp is woven a variegated, striped, or
spotted fabric is obtained. The curled warp may be printed with the spindles

page_text: in, but it is preferable to draw them and secure the curls by means of pack-
thread. The fabric is woven in the usual way, the mobair warps being taken
up over wires or rods and cut to form a pile. After weaving it is customary
to tip the ends of the pile with black or dark color, and in this way a close
imitation of sealskin and of moleskin may be obtained. This tipping is
effected by applying the color stiffened with gum to the surface of the fabric
by means of a brush, taking care not to allow it to penetrate much beyond
the tips of the pile, as otherwise the effect would be injured. The fabric is
afterwards steamed to fix the color.
Now according to my Invention when these darkened tips are not required
I apply uncolored gum to the pile, and then subject the fabric to the action of
steam. The gum which I prefer to employ is that known as British gum, it
is applied in the same way as the color has heretofore been applied except
that it may advantageously be allowed to penetrate deeper. After steaming the
fabric is well washed. In this way I obtain a very bright lustre on the face
of the fabric and the process admits of the fabric being maintained as light
in color as may be desired. It will be understood that this process of
brightening and giving lustre to the face of the fabric is applicable whether
the warp has been printed in the curled state or otherwise. Fabrics of which
the pile warp is of worsted may be similarly manufactured.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Robinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ROBINSON, of Dalston, near Huddersfield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight bundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Robinson, Her special license that 1, the said James Robinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Robinson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: THE MANUFACTURE OF MOHAIR AND SIMILAR FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Robinson, 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 James Robinson, do hereby declure
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of mohair
and similar fabrics. At the present time in producing mohair fabrics the
warp of mohair yarn is curled by passing the warp round a number of wooden
spindles and steaming it whilst so held upon the spindles. The spindles are
laid side by side and the warp passes once around each of them. According
to my Invention I take the warp so curled and steamed, and having spread
it ou a table, I draw the spindles and print a black or any desired color on to
the top of the curls so that when the warp is woven a variegated, striped, or
spotted fabric is obtained. The curled warp may be printed with the spindles
in, but it is preferable to draw them and secure the curls by means of
packthread.
The following is the manner in which I prefer to operate :-I curl the
yarns on the spindles in the usual way, dividing the warp up into convenient
sections, say of about 30 threads each, and wrapping them upon the
spindles in the manner indicated at Figure 1 which is a transverse section
through the spindles with the threads upon them. In this way, section by
section, I lap the entire warp upon the spindles; or, in order to obtain a
bolder pattern from the subsequent printing on of the color, I float the
yarns over the spindles at intervals on the face to which the color is afterwards
to be applied as is shown in Figure 2, which is also a transverse section
through the spindles with the yarn upon them.
Figure 3 is a plan of a length of the warp as it appears thus curled on the
spindles. In this state the warp is placed in a close case to which steam is
then admitted to a pressure of about ten pounds to the inch, and the warp is
so arranged in the steam case that the steam may have free access to every
part of it. I employ to hold the warp during the steamic ..tion wire-
work trays or shelves, which are arranged one above the other; one end of
the curled warp is laid along on the first tray, a second tray is then placed

page_text: above it, and the warp is turned back and laid along this tray, and so over a
number of other trays, one over the other, until the entire warp is thus packed.
It should be understood that the trays are open at their ends and that their
sides where they rest the one on the other are sufficiently deep to keep the
several layers of the warp out of contact so that the steam may pass freely
between them. The warp should remain in the steam for about 6 hours to
set the curl; it is then taken out and the spindles are drawn; a packthread
being run in with a needle so as to take the place of the spindles and keep the
warp in form, the packthread passing through the passago formed for it by
drawing the spindles. The warp is now placed on a table to be printed;
it is laid between ledges at a distance apart equal to its width so that it may
not be pressed out of shape in the printing operation which would lead to the
color being irregularly applied at the edges. Then with an ordinary printing
block, with a plain surface, and of a width just to fit in between the ledges on
the table, the color is freely printed on to the curled warp so as to stain the
whole of the upper surface. 1 generally uso a black color such as is sold by
printers' color makers for printing on wool or animal fibre; other colors as,
for example, a deep brown, may however be similarly used. The warp whon
printed or colored on one side is again laid on the wirework trays as before,
and is again steamed to set the color, one hour will be suflicient for this
purpose. Afterwards when the warp has come out of the steam chamber and
his cooled and set and the pack thread withdrawn, it is wound on a warp
beam and the fabric is woven in the usual way, the mohair warps being taken
up over wires or rods and cut to form a pile. The fabric is thoroughly washed
to remove from the yarns the excess of color and stiffening. It
may afterwards
be finished or brightened by my gum process herein-after described, which
process however is also applicable to mohair and other similar cut pile fabrics of
which the yarns have not been printed in the curled state. Heretofore it has
been customary in finishing such fabrics to tip the ends of the pilo with black
or dark color, and in this way a closer imitation of sealskin and of moleskin
may be obtained. This tipping has been effected by applying the color
stiffened with gum to the surface of the fabric by means of a brush, taking
care not to allow it to penetrate much beyond the tips of the pile, as otherwiso
the effect would be injured. The fabric is afterwards steamed to fix the color.
This tipping process has only heretofore been resorted to in order to give a
black or dark colored tip to the pile, and the color employed has been such
that this end has been attained; gum has been mixed with the color simply
as a means of conveying it from the sieve to the fabric and to prevent it pene-
tiating too freely amongst the pile."

page_text: Now according to this, the second part of my Invention, when these darkened
tips are not required, I apply uncolored gum to the pile and then subject the
fabric to the action of steam. The gum which I prefer to employ is that
known as British gum, it is applied in the same way as the color has heretofore
been applied except that it may advantageously be allowed to penetrate
deeper. After steaming the fabric is well washed. I prefer to use a solution
of one and a half to two pounds to the gallon of water and to apply it to the
fabric with a soft hand brush like a clothes brush, the fabric being spread out
on a table. When the gum is dry the fabric is hung up in a steam chamber
so that the steam may have free access to every part of it; the chamber is
then closed and steam at ten pounds pressure is admitted and the steaming is
maintained for about one hour. At the end of this time the fabric is removed
and washed with cold water and the required brightening will be found to
have been obtained, but no stain or additional color will have been communi-
cated to the tips of the pile, whereas heretofore where color has been applied by
a similar operation the pile has been strongly stained or colored, indeed the
obtaining of such stain or color was the object of the process, and it should be
understood that in speaking of uncolored gum I mean gum which is not so
colored as to communicate a perceptible tinge to the fabric under treatment.
Other gums soluble in water may be employed in place of the British gum;
thus the gum known in the shops as Irish moss may be used in the proportion
of two and a half to three pounds to the gallon of water; other gums may
also be used but the price is usually too great, but in any case British gum is
preferred. In this way I obtain a very bright lustre on the face of the fabric
and the process admits of the fabric being maintained as light in color as may
be desired. It will be understood that this process of brightening and giving
lustre to the face of the fabric is applicable whether the warp has been printed
in the curled state or otherwise. Fabrics of which the pile warp is of worsted
may be similarly manufactured.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Robinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.