A WOOLLEN ARTICLE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A SPONGE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mason, of the Town and County of the Town
of Nottingham, Livery Stable Keeper, for the Invention of "A WOOLLEN
Sealed the 5th September 1861, and dated the 8th June 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the 8th
June 1861.
I, JOHN MASON, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham,
5 Livery Stable Keeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A WOOLLEN ARTICLE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A SPONGE," to be as follows:-
The substitute for sponge is obtained by the knitting or looping together of
woollen fibre, surface upon surface, until the desired thickness or substance
thereof is obtained. By this means I am enabled to obtain a substitute which
o in most cases will be found to answer its purpose as well, and in many better
than common sponge, whilst it may be obtained of forms, sizes, or thicknesses
desired, with economy.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MASON, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Livery Stable
Keeper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Mason, Her special licence that I, the said John Mason, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Mason, 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 WOOLLEN ARTICLE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR A
SPONGE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Mason,
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 samo
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 Mason, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of the improvements is to obtain a substitute for sponge, which
in most cases may serve general purposes as well, and some better than
sponge. This I effect by the knitting or looping together of woollen fibre,
preferring for the purpose fleecy wool.
The production of the substitute is commenced by knitting a chain of loops
in length corresponding with the size of sponge required. The ends of the
length thus far obtained I then unite together, which row then forms an outer
ring, and I proceed by forming the succeeding rows within the first row, the
succeeding rows progressively shortening or narrowing as I proceed until I
gain the centre, this forming one surface, and which I call the inner surface.

page_text: I then proceed to work upon both sides of this surfaco other and concentric
series of loops, beginning with these second surfaces from the middle of the
surface first formed, and now progressing with each outwards until I have
formed another layer or surface of loops upon the first, and so on I proceed
layer upon layer, and alternately working inwards and then outwards till the
thickness desired is obtained, taking care that the loops of each succeeding
surface loop into or are united with the preceding. I prefer to throw the
fibre each time twice over the hook or needle after I have formed the first
surface. The outer surfaco I form by uniting two of the ridges of the last
surface together by a single stitch. For some purposes I intermix cotton
with the wool in the working of the fabric to prevent the wool from adhering
or "felting."
By this means I am enabled to obtain a substitute which in most cases will
be found to answer the purpose as well, and in many better than common
sponge, whilst it may be obtained of forms, sizes, or thickness desired, with
economy.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I would have it
understood that what I claim is, the production of a substitute for sponge
from knitted or looped fabric, substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mason, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
JOHN MASON. (..)