Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Sept., 1888
Complete Specification Left, 7th Nov., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 14th Dec., 18
I, OLIVER IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
According to this invention coverings for cotton bales are made of a fabric loosely
5 woven with hard twisted coarse cotton yarn warp and filling equal size.
Dated this 28th day of September 1888.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, OLIVER IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings Chancery Lane in the County
of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, 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 fabrics for covering or baling raw cotton, such fabrics being
generally known in the market by the name of bagging.
A fabric for this purpose should be able to withstand the strain of the hand-hooks
employed in handling baled cotton and it should be nearly, or wholly, incombustible,
or at least should burn slowly and with difficulty.
The covering should also afford substantial protection to the cotton shielding it
from access of dirt, dust, cinders and other impurities, which usually cause a loss
of several pounds per bale.
The material of the covering should also be such that the raw cotton does not
readily adhere to it, and that it does not readily absorb or retain moisture.
Heretofore bagging has usually been made of jute, or hemp, jute being almost
universally used for the purpose. This material is subject, however to some important
objections. It is highly inflammable, and it is so far from affording proper protec-
tion to the cotton that there is an average. loss of. from three to five pounds per
bale from this cause alone. Moreover the cotton sticks to the jute bagging so
closely as to involve a further loss of one or two pounds per bale. The fibre of
the jute greedily imbibes and retains moisture and consequently does not protect the
cotton from wet. And finally, the brittle character of the jute fibre renders it liable
to yield and break under the strain of the hooks by which the bales are handled, the
holes thus formed becoming more and more enlarged.
According to this invention the cotton bagging is a fabric entirely of cotton which
can satisfy all the requirements mentioned and avoid the objections to the use of jute,
which can afford free ventilation to the cotton, and at the same time give substantial
protection from dirt, and other impurities, as well as from wet, which can permit the
ready application of the hooks and their penetration into the cotton and yet withstand
their strain by yielding sufficiently to prevent rupture of the threads immediately
engaged and which is practically incombustible under ordinary conditions.
The fabric to which the invention relates can be furnished at a price such that it
can compete successfully, with jute bagging, and as after serving the purpose for which
it is made it can be used as a covering for various purposes, as material for bags for
picking cotton, or as cotton waste it has on this account a great advantage over jute.
The accompanying drawing represents to an enlarged scale part of a fabric according
to this invention.
Woven in any suitable loom this fabric is entirely of cotton the warp and filling
being of substantially the same size and preferably consisting of what is known as
single cotton yarn.
The thread is spun with a great deal of twist, in order to render it elastic and strong,
to impart a smooth surface so that it can readily slip along the threads with which it
is interwoven, and to render it practically incombustible. In order to prevent the
kinking of the yarn used for the filling it is steamed after it is spun and before it is
put into the shuttle.
As the warp and filling are of substantially the same size and loosely woven the
bagging has approximately equal strength, in all lines of strain. The yarn employed
4

page_text: may vary in size it is preferred however, to use from No. to No. 1 yarn, and to
weave the bagging with from four to nine picks to the inch, according to the size of
the thread.
It is found in practice that No. 1 yarn loosely woven with seven picks to the inch
gives excellent results, but the size of thread or of mesh may be varied provided the
fabric shall be sufficiently open to give good ventilation and admit the books, and close
enough to give proper protection to the cotton. Also instead of single cotton yarn
twisted yarn may be employed although the former is preferable because of its com-
parative cheapness.
The product is then a fabric, having a warp and filling of substantially the same
size each composed of cotton yarn having a hard twist, the threads of the one readily
slipping under strain over those of the other. Manufactured in this manner, the
bagging possesses great strength and durability the highly twisted threads being
capable of resisting great tensile strain and having considerable elasticity.
By reason of this twist, also, the fabric is rendered practically incombustible, under
ordinary conditions, so that the rates of insurance may be materially reduced by
its use.
The fabric, also, while it affords excellent protection to the cotton permits the ready
application of the cotton hooks owing to its open mesh allowing them to penetrate the
cotton and obtain a hold.
The threads first subjected to the strain of the hook slip upon those with which
they are interwoven and thus a number of threads at once collect in front of the
hook and have the strain distributed among them while the hook has a "holding"
upon the tightly compressed cotton under its point. Thus the bale can be handled
without tearing the bagging. When the hook is removed, the threads tend to resume
their former position, owing to the strain of the compressed cotton against the bagging.
Cotton does not adhere to this bagging, nor does the fabric readily absorb moisture
after it has been used for bales it may be used again or converted into cotton bags
or cotton waste, or put to other economic uses. The yarn employed in weaving
this fabric requires no special carding or spinning machinery. In the slubber it is
advantageous to make a sufficiently coarse hank-roving say from one third to one half
hank, to give proper draft in the spinning. The spinning frame requires only slight
modifications to adapt it for spinning the hard twist. The speed of the frame should
be such that the front roller makes about two hundred revolutions per minute and the
twist should be as hard as is compatible with spooling and warping. Should the roving
not draw evenly, or the yarn come out in luuips, the weight on the top rollers should
be increased and the rollers themselves set out as far as possible. Or the middle
roller may be removed and the saddle adjusted to extend from the front to the back
roller, with which change the ordinary weight will be sufficient. The spooling
requires no change in the mechanism, and the warper and ordinary loom require
only such adjustments a weaver would readily make in order to weave loosely and
to give the requisite number of picks to the inch. The warp should not be sized.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :.
As a new covering for cotton bales a fabric entirely of cotton loosely woven with
both warp and filling composed of hard twisted threads of approximately equal size,
substantially as described.