A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND MANUFACTURING THREAD AND LINEN BY MEANS OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED FOR. THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FITZPATRICK, of Stanhope Street, Clare Market, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom called
England, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of August, in the
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Fitzpatrick, Her special licence that
I, the said John Fitzpatrick, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as. I, the said John Fitzpatrick, my exors, admors, and assigns, should.
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times.
during the term of years therein expressed; should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, my Invention of "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING AND
MANUFACTURING THREAD AND LINEN BY MEANS OF A MATERIAL NOT HITHERTO USED
FOR. THAT PURPOSE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso:

page_text: obliging me, the said John Fitzpatrick, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Fitzpatrick, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascer-
tained in the words following, that is to say: -
For the greater convenience in describing my discovery, and in explaining
the mode of my operations, I divide the several substances which I use
three classes-
First class, those herbaceous plants which partake of the nature of hemp
or flax, having a skin or outward fibrous coating, such as the hop-bine in a
state of maturity.
The second class, those herbaceous plants which partake of the nature or
hemp or flax, but which I use before they are arrived at a state of maturity,
such as the stripping or cuttings of hop-bines.
Third class, those plants not having a skin or outward coating, or having it
only in a slight degree, and having a fibre intermixed with the ligneous part,
such as the stalk of potatoes.
My new and improved method of making and manufacturing thread and
linen is accomplished by means of operating upon the above substances, 2
and is effected according to the class of substances then being used in the
following manner:
When I operate upon the first class I extract the raw material from the
hop-bine by the several processes herein-after described. I soak the hop-bine
in hot or cold water for three or four hours, or until such time as the skin or 3
outward coating becomes softened, and can easily be detached from the interior
or ligneous part. I then strip off or separate the skin or outward coating by
hand or by machine, and dry it (two) to be operated upon at any future
period; or I immediately proceed as follows:-
I put any given quantity of the material thus obtained into an open or closed 3
boiler of convenient dimensions, and submit it to the action of steam; or I boil
it for five or six hours in water mix'd with potash, soda, or other alkali. But
the effect is more readily produced if made caustic, using from three to six

page_text: pounds of alkali to one hundredweight of material. The quantity of water to
be used should be sufficient to cover the material by three or four inches at
least. Having thus steam'd or boil'd it, I strain off the liquor, and carefully
wash the remaining materials (three). I repeat this operation of steaming or
boiling with a fresh proportion of alkali mix'd with water, continually rubbing
or beating it up to assist in separating the fibres until the liquor strain'd off is
no longer discolored, or only in a slight degree, carefully washing it after each
operation of boiling or steaming (four). After these several processes have
been repeated sufficiently often to cleanse the material from all glutinous
matter, it is then to be dried, and is in a fit state (five) to be operated upon
as is usually done in preparing flax or hemp or cotton for the manufacture of
thread and linen (six).
When I operate upon the second class I submit them to all the operations
as are usually employed in preparing hemp or flax; but I repeat the operations
several times, to which these fibrous plants are submitted; and by such process
I obtain the same results as if I prepared hemp or flax.
When I operate upon the third class, I boil them or submit them to the
action of steam until the ligneous and all other parts not fibrous are decom-
posed or fused. Having obtained the fibre by one of the above process, I then
proceed as is usually done in preparing flax, cotton, or wool, to manufacture
thread and linen. All these substances may be bleached either before or
after they are manufactured into thread or linen by the usual known processes
of bleaching.
Having thus set forth the different modes by which I operate upon the
substances above enumerated, I claim as my Invention the discovery by which
those materials, not having been before generally used, are, by the means
above described, economically and profitably prepared or made fit for the
purpose of being converted into thread or linen, or into good articles of
commerce resembling thread or linen.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fitzpatrick, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
above-named John Fitzpatrick, in the
(L.S.) JOHN FITZPATRICK.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John Fitzpatrick came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the.
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.