AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Smith and Henry James, of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Silk Manufacturers, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC."
Sealed the 7th November 1865, and dated the 12th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Smith and Henry
James at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 12th May 1865.
We, THOMAS SMITH, and HENRY JAMES, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, Silk Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC," to be as
follows:-
We take waste silk or silk noils and make them into slivers by any of the
ordinary machines used for preparing cotton or other fibrous material, and
spin or twist the said slivers into threads suitable for warp and weft; we then

page_text: weave it into a fabric which in this state is very rough, but after discharging
the coloring matter and dirt by any of the known processes, we produce a cloth
suitable for towelling and similar purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Smith and Henry James in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
SMITH and HENRY JAMES, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Silk Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Smith and Henry James, Her special license that we,
the said Thomas Smith and Henry James, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Smith and Henry James,
our 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 "AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Smith and
Henry James, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of our or 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Smith and Henry James,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 (that is to say):-
We take waste silk or silk noils and make them into slivers by any of the
ordinary machines used for preparing cotton or other fibrous material, and
spiu or twist the said slivers into threads suitable for warp and weft, we then
weave it into a fabric which in this state is very rough, but after discharging

page_text: the coloring matter and dirt by any of the known processes we produce a
cloth suitable for towelling and similar purposes. We make the said towels
with Turkey red dyed cotton borders and headings, and we discharge the dirt
and kill the smell by boiling them in soap and water, and afterwards
stoving them in sulphur.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry James, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Thomas Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HENRY JAMES. (L.S.)