A NEW MODE OF ORNAMENTATION
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, of Paris (France),
Merchant, for the Invention of "A NEW MODE OF ORNAMENTATION."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Louis Frédéric
Bardin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th March 1857.
JEAN LOUIS FRÉDÉRIC BARDIN, of Paris (France), Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW MODE OF ORNAMENTATION,'
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in stripping off from natural feathers the outer
or elastic pellicle, cuticle, or coating, and in forming therewith ornaments for
the head, artificial flowers, embroidery, woven or other fabrics, or any other
article of ornament. The pellicles may be stripped off and shaped by any
suitable machinery, and coloured by any suitable colouring matter.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN LOUIS
FRÉDÉRIC BARDIN, of Paris (France), Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord One-
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, Her special licence that I, the said Jean Louis
Frédéric Bardin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, 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
"A NEW MODE OF ORNAMENTATION," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, 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 mouths next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, 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:-
The Invention consists in peeling or stripping off from natural feathers or
quills the outer or glossy elastic pellicle, cuticle, or coating that covers them,
so as to make the said pellicle serviceable for purposes of ornamentation or
utility. In respect to the said pellicle, quills offer two rather distinct parts'
viz., the stalk and the barrel; the pellicle covering the stalk is readily removed
by means of a pen or other knife, or any other suitable cutting instrument,
after which any horny or inner portion of the quill that might have remained
adhering to the pellicle is carefully scraped off, so as to leave only the thin
elastic or outer cuticle of the quill, which cuticle may be suitably divided
in more or less slender strips or threads. The barrel of the quill is coated on
the outside as well as on the inside with a thin cuticle, which must be

page_text: separated from the hard horny material that forms a layer between the said
cuticle; but as it would be extremely difficult to strip them off from the said
horny layer while the barrel is in its natural state, I divide this latter either
lengthwise or in a spiral direction, so as to form, in the first case, a number of
longitudinal strips or bands, or, in the second instance, a spiralorscrew-thread"
like band or strip, the length of which will depend upon the distance left
between the spires and the length of the barrel of the quill, and from which
strips or bands the pellicles are then easily removed, either by hand or by any
suitable machinery, and particularly if previous to the operations the quills
have been soaked for some time in water, or softened in any other suitable
manner. The pellicles obtained in this manner, either from the stalk or from
the barrel of the quill, are very flexible, and offer at the same time a brilliant
glossy appearance; if required they may be divided into more or less thin
threads, and be coloured in any suitable manner, and serve instead of or
simultaneously with other threads, bands, tapes, strips, wires, or other similar
articles for manufacturing women's head dresses or other attire, artificial
flowers, lace work, embroidery, plaited or woven fabrics, basket work, hatters'
articles, sieves, inlaid-work, etc.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would observe, in conclusion, that what I claim as my
Invention, and wish to secure by the present Letters Patent, consists in
applying to the manufacture of articles of ornament or of utility the thin
elastic skin, pellicle, or cuticle of natural feathers or quills.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Louis Frédéric Bardin, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
J. L. F. BARDIN. (L.S.)