IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING USEFUL SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING
USEFUL SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS."-A communi-
cation
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 3rd June 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Fins-
bury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING A USEFUL
SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS" to be as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the production of a felted
tissue of sufficient strength and impermeability to advantageously supersede
leather for card backs, driving straps, and belts, and in other useful purposes. I
dispose on an ordinary hand or power loom flax, hemp, or cotton threads, or a
combination of flax or hemp and cotton, to form the warp, and wool thread
twisted with hemp or flax to form the weft. The mounting of the warp is set
apart, to allow the flax threads composing the wrong side of the tissue to come

page_text: close together during the fulling process, and form a cloth facing. I set the
warping so as to produce a crossed double tissue, having the wrong side com-
posed of warp and the right side of weft. When the tissue is wove it is
submitted to the ordinary preparations, then pulled in the breadth, and after
being dried it is sheared, cylindered, & glazed by the usual processes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, l'aris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Ifer
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Iler special license that I,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my exccutors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRODUCING A USEFUL SUBSTITUTE FOR LEATHER IN VARIOUS APPLICATIONS,"
communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
The Invention consists in the production of a fabric of sufficient strength

page_text: I.
and impermeability, and having the necessary properties to supersede leather,
for making card backs, driving straps and belts, and other useful purposes.
employ an ordinary hand or power loom, and operate as follows:-
The warp may be composed either of a combination of linen, cotton, or
hempen threads, or of linen and cotton threads. Half the warp threads form
the outside, the other half forms the interior of the fabric, which is afterwards
felted and submitted to various operations, herein-after described.
The weft is formed by taking woollen thread twisted with a linen, hempen,
or cotton thread. The warp may be set up six feet in width, in order that the
distance between each thread may be such as to allow the fabric, when
fulled, to acquire the requisite strength, and after the fulling process the
linen threads of the interior may be brought close together and form a double
cloth. After the warp is set up the weaving is performed, according to the
design here shown:-
The DRAWING in the Final Specification is partly coloured.
by following which a treble fabric is produced, that is to say, a fabric consisting
of two parts of linen, between which is another part of woollen cloth, which
part is united by the weft without the aid of any adhesive substance. This
mode of weaving may be varied, according to the nature of the fabric
required. The linen thread twisted with the woollen thread serves to give
to the weft greater strength; it is therefore necessary to employ frequently
woollen threads twisted with linen threads in making the fabric.
The size of the warp and weft threads should be proportionate to the
strength of the fabric required. The material obtained from the loom after
being submitted to the fulling process forms a fabric which possesses the con-
sistence of leather.
The dressing is effected by the usual process as for cloth. The fulling
operation should be performed in the width only.
After the fabric has been fulled, dressed upon the frame, and dried, it is
shorn on both sides; it is next passed over a cylinder and submitted to the
action of steam, after which it is glazed on one side. This operation may be
performed in several ways, the most convenient being that employed for
glazing cotton wadding. The glazing serves to show more easily the holes
for the teeth when using the fabric for making card backs. I can vary the

page_text: nature of the fabric, according to the required application, by varying
the combinations and using threads of different textile matters for the warp
and weft.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, I wish it to
be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise combinations of threads
herein laid down; but what I claim as new is, the mode of manufacturing a
felted fabric having the strength of leather, and susceptible of being applied to
many of the same uses as leather.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Morcau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)
L DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)