IM- PROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Kennedy Crawford, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS."
Sealed the 28th October 1864, and dated the 30th April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Kennedy Crawford
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 30th April 1864.
I, JOHN KENNEDY CRAWFORD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS," to be as follows,
that is to say-
This Invention relates to the producing of ornamental fabrics in a novel
manner, capable of rendering designs of considerable richness and complexity,
such as shawl designs, at a comparatively small cost.
In practising the Invention according to one modification the design is in
part printed on the warps prior to weaving the fabric, and in the weaving
process weft of one or more colors is used, and by means of jacquard apparatus
is made to produce additional parts or details of the design, combining with
and enriching or modifying the portions of the design already produced on
the warps by the printing action.
According to another modification the fabric is printed after it is woven, but
in weaving it weft of one or more colors is used, and is made to produce

page_text: portions of the pattern details as in the first modification, but the weft or part
of it is treated by well-known means in such a way as to resist the subsequent
printing action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Kennedy Crawford in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KENNEDY CRAWFORD, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date, the Thirtieth. day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Kennedy Crawford, Her special licence that I, the said John
Kennedy Crawford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Kennedy Crawford, 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 PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Kennedy Crawford, 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 John Kennedy Crawford, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the producing of ornamental fabrics in a novel
manner, and is capable of rendering or yielding designs of considerable
richness and complexity, such as shawl designs, at a comparatively small
.

page_text: And my said Invention consists in producing the design by combining in
a novel and peculiar manner the printing of the warps with the employing of
differently colored wefts woven in according to-pattern.
Thus in practising my said Invention the design is in part printed on the
warps prior to the weaving of the fabric, and this may be effected by means
of any suitable known arrangements for printing warps, and in weaving the
fabric, weft of one or more colors in addition to the "ground" or cloth,
making weft is used, and by means of harness worked by jacquard or other
pattern mechanism is made to produce additional parts or details of the design,
combining with and enriching or modifying the portions of the design already
produced on the warps by the printing action. Printed devices in general
when applied to some textile materials, and more particularly when applied to
warps, are apt to have badly defined outlines or edges, and one color is apt
to run into the adjacent color, in consequence of which patterns or designs so
produced are generally wanting in the distinctness and in the separation of
the several component devices which belong to patterns such as shawl patterns,
the devices of which are produced by weaving.
Now it is a principal object of my present Invention to make warp printed
fabrics more nearly resemble ornamental fabrics of or similar to the "Paisley
shawl" class, the figuring of which is produced entirely. by weaving, and with
this object I cause the pattern designer to arrange his design so that the
figuring produced by the jacquard action with the weft is worked into the
boundary portions of the various colored devices produced by printing,.
but at the same time such figuring is not. in general confined to such
portions:
To illustrate the economical advantages of my Invention I may observe, by
way of example, that if seven colors are to be shown on the fabric (in addition
of course to the usual "ground" or cloth making weft or color) six of these
colors can be printed on the warps, the seventh color being that of the figuring
weft. In this case only one-seventh of the jacquard cards, weft, and shuttling
usually needed for weaving seven colors would be used; whilst instead of 'the
six-sevenths of the cards, weft, and shuttling dispensed with, there would be
the printing of the warps, involving considerably less expence.
In my Provisional Specification lodged on applying for the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent there was described a modification in which the
fabric was to be printed. after being woven, with the view of obtaining a result
similar to what is herein-before described, but as I now believe that modifi-
cation to be incapable of yielding a satisfactory result, I herein make no claim
respecting the same.

page_text: And in order to prevent my said Invention from being confounded with
processes or arrangements previously in use, I have to state that my said
Invention does not consist in printing a fabric of any kind after it has been
woven, and that my said Invention does not consist in printing some devices
on the warps and in producing other separate or independent devices either in
texture or color by jacquard or other ornamental weaving; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the mode of producing
ornamental fabrics wherein colored devices produced by printing the warps
are so modified by figuring with one or more colored wefts as to impart an
approximate appearance as though the whole design were produced by weaving,
substantially as herein-before described.
set
In witness whereof, I, the said John Kennedy Crawford, have hereunto
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
my
JOHN KENNEDY CRAWFORD. (L.S.)
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.