Improvements relating to the Treatment of Fabrics and other Stuffs for the purpose of Obtaining a Substitute for Ornamented Leather, Tapestry, Brocade, Embroidery, and the like.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 2nd Dec., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by the Firm of FRATELLI MORA, of 12, Corso
Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, in the Kingdom of Italy, Manufacturers.]
Improvements relating to the Treatment of Fabrics and other Stuffs
for the purpose of Obtaining a Substitute for Ornamented
Leather, Tapestry, Brocade, Embroidery, and the like.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to the treatment of fabrics and other stuffs, for the purpose
of obtaining a substitute for ornamented leather, tapestry, brocade, embroidery and
the like.
The products obtained by this treatment possess the following advantages:
1. They give the same effect as leather, with a very considerable reduction in
the price.
2. In comparison with ornamented paper the articles, besides being cheap, possess
a remarkable consistence, and can be easily transported from one place to another
without liability to being damaged by reason of their flexibility.
3. As compared with other manufactures in imitation of leather they possess the
advantage of not being liable to breakage, cracking or the like.
4. These products may constitute exact imitations of embroidery, hangings,
brocade, and the like.
5. They may possess any desired tints.
In the manufacture of these products preference is given to fabrics made of
cotton, for they are cheap and sufficiently flexible; of these, piled fabrics are most
suitable.
The fabric, felt, wadding or other stuff having the desired dimensions is intro-
duced into a suitable bath, which may consist only of cold or hot water, in order to
render it more compact and better adapted for coating purposes. After its removal
from the bath, and after drying it either in a stove or upon a suitably heated
cylinder or in the open air, the fabric is coated in a special manner. This operation,
by which the fabric is rendered suitable for preserving the impressions subsequently
produced therein by embossing or stamping and which also enable the finishing
operations hereinafter mentioned to be effected, is obtained by immersing the fabric
in a bath having a base of either farinaceous, gummy, gelatinous or oleaginous
materials, or formed of a mixture of the same with mineral or ligneous materials.
This special coating has for its object to impart to the fabric consistence and
flexibility and to prepare the same for receiving and maintaining the effect of the
above-mentioned impressions and finishing operations.
The farinaceous materials ordinarily employed are fecula, starch or corn flour.
They are dissolved in water, preferably used hot, so as to form a liquid paste which
is applied to the fabric. Of the gummy materials the best is gum arabic; of the
gelatinous materials, fish glue is preferable. Of the oleaginous materials, boiled
linseed oil or nut oil is preferably employed, being mixed with pulverulent minerals,
such as kaolin, whitelead, gypsum, a liquid paste being thus obtained for the
coating.
When it is desired to obtain a ligneous consistence use is made of sawdust which
s caused to pass through a very fine sieve, after which it is mixed either with
oleaginous materials or with gelatinous or gummy materials, and then applied to
the fabric. In order to keep the paste having a gelatinous or farinaceous base in
ro.al

page_text: an elastic state, oil, wax or any other material adapted for preventing it from
hardening is mixed therewith.
The compositions mostly used in baths for the special coating are as follows, it
being however understood that the proportions of the ingredients may be optionally
varied according to circumstances, while the same ingredients may either be
replaced by others of a similar nature or partly dispensed with to suit particular
requirements.

page_text: In lieu of glycerine and even for part of the oil use may be made, in each of the
said baths, of tar in the proportions of 10 grammes for every litre of liquid, or
olive oil in the proportion of 5 grammes for every litre of liquid, or saccharine
inaterial in the proportion of 200 grammes for every litre of liquid.
The choice of these different pastes depends in each particular case upon the
nature of the fabric and upon the product to be obtained. The composition of the
pastes may be varied in the several cases by substituting for the before-mentioned
materials others of a similar nature or of the same efficacity.
The material for the coating may either be applied to the fabric in the
well-known manner by hand with a brush, spatula of wood or metal, or the
fabric may be conducted into a suitable receptacle containing the said coating
material, and in its passage from this receptacle any excess of material is removed
by suitable devices. This result may be obtained automatically with brushing
machines. The fabric thus coated is conveyed to a stove or is exposed to the air
in an open place in order to dry it perfectly.
When the fabric is dry and is to present a polished surface in imitation of
leather or ornamental paper it is satined, whereas this operation is omitted if all its
asperities are to be preserved. The fabric is satined by passing it between two
cylinders of hard material or by pressing it upon a large plate with a single
cylinder, or by means of any press adapted for the purpose.
After this the satined or unsatined fabric is subjected to the following finishing
operations :
(1) The embossing is effected either by means of cylinders of iron or other
hard material with raised and depressed parts, or by one cylinder of strong
material upon the surface of which is engraved, cut out or otherwise formed the
ornament with which the fabric is to be provided, and by a counter cylinder
consisting of soft material, such as gum, gelatine, felt, wadding or the like, or of
material with a base of pitch or tar, or of soft metals. The embossing may be
also effected by employing horizontal plates of any hard material, with counter
plates of hard material or of gummy, gelatinous or other soft material, and by
pressing the fabric after it has been placed between the plate and counter plate.
The embossing may also take place by hand, by the aid of suitable stamps of
steel or iron. When it is desired to render the fabric impervious to moisture
the back of the same is coated with a layer of oleaginous, tarry or other appro-
priate material.
(2) The ornaments to be obtained are painted with one or more tints. This
painting may be executed by hand or by machines in oil or water colours, with
aniline, glue, varnish, pulverulent colouring matters or the like.
(3) The gilding, silvering or bronzing is effected by means of metallic sheets, or
metals in the form of powder, with a base of a mordant, varnish, oil, glue, gelatine,
gall, red or white limestone according to the nature of products to be obtained.
Upon the gilded, silvered or bronzed surfaces thus obtained may then be produced
ornaments in colours or paintings either executed by hand or printed with stamps,
or formed by means of cylinder machines as in the case of ornamental paper. This
painting may be in oil colours, water colours, with aniline, glue, varnish, pulverulent
colouring matters or the like. Sometimes it is useful to execute the above-
mentioned embossing operations after the gilding, silvering, bronzing or painting.
With regard to the other operations above alluded to it is not necessary that they
should follow each other in the order stated, for they may take place in any desired
succession, and one or the other operation may be omitted..
Thus not only the ingredients but also the different modes of treatment above
set forth may be employed with suitable changes according to the consistence,
flexibility and smoothness to be imparted to the product.
Fabrics and other stuffs treated according to the said invention are embossed
instead of receiving only an impression on their surface or outer layer as is the case
with wax cloth, linoleum and the like.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. A process of treating fabric and other stuff, which consists in coating
the said fabric or stuff with a preparation having a base of either farinaceous,
gummy, gelatinous or oleaginous materials or a mixture thereof with mineral or
ligneous materials, embossing the coated fabric or stuff, and gilding, silvering,
bronzing or painting the same, substantially as and for the purposes herein set
forth.
Second. As a new article of manufacture the products obtained by the treatment
described in the first claim and serving as a substitute for ornamental leather,
tapestry, brocade, embroidery and the like, substantially as herein set forth.
Dated this 9th day of September 1893.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.