IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- PACTURE OF FABRICS COMPOSED OF INDIA-RUBBER AND COTTON OR OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Heywood Whitehead, of the Royal George
Mills, in the Parish of Saddleworth, in the West Riding of the County
of York, Esquire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF FABRICS COMPOSED OF INDIA-RUBBER AND COTTON OR OTHER
VEGETABLE FIBRES."
Sealed the 7th August 1866, and dated the 16th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Heywood White-
head at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th February 1866.
I, JAMES HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD, of the Royal George Mills, in the
Parish of Saddleworth, in the West Riding of the County of York, Esquire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS COMPOSED OF INDIA-RUBBER AND COTTON OR OTHER
VEGETABLE FIBRES," to be as follows:-
I
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
fabrics composed of india-rubber and cotton or other vegetable fibres.
For these purposes the yarns or threads of which the warp and weft of a.
fabric is to be composed are (both or either of them) coated with a
vulcanizing compound of india-rubber, and when woven the fabric is to be
subjected to heat, as is well understood, in order to produce the change

page_text: known as "curing" or vulcanization. In some cases the fabrics composed
of coated yarns or threads after being woven, and before being subjected
to heat to produce the change, are spread over with a further coating of a
vulcanizing compound of india-rubber in like manner to that ordinarily
practised with fabrics woven in the ordinary manner when using uncoated
yarns or threads. These fabrics are then subjected to heat in the ordinary
manner to produce the change.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Heywood Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 16th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD, of the Royal George Mills, in the Parish of Saddle-
worth, in the West Riding of the County of York, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Heywood Whitehead; Her special licence that I, the said
James Heywood Whitehead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Heywood Whitehead, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FABRICS COMPOSED OF INDIA-RUBBER AND COTTON OR OTHER VEGETABLE FIBRES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Heywood
Whitehead, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of 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 immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Heywood Whitehead, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
fabrics composed of india-rubber and cotton or other vegetable fibres.
In order to obtain a very durable waterproof fabric, and a fabric in which
the warp and weft are firmly fastened together, the yarns or threads of
which the warp and weft of a fabric are to be composed are both or either
of them coated with a vulcanizing compound of india-rubber, and when
woven the fabric is to be subjected to heat, as is well understood, in order
to produce the change known as "curing" or vulcanization. In some
cases the fabrics composed of coated yarns or threads after being woven,
and before being subjected to heat to produce the change, are spread over
with a further coating of a vulcanizing compound of india-rubber in like
manner to that ordinarily practised with fabrics woven in the ordinary
manner when using uncoated yarns or threads. These fabrics are then
subjected to heat in the ordinary manner to produce the change. I prefer
to proceed as follows:-The composition I use consists of india-rubber (8
parts) dissolved in naptha (28 parts) and well mixed with powdered
sulphur (1 part). The cloth is woven as usual, except that the warp
threads are made to pass through the solution of india-rubber after they
leave the yarn beam and before they enter the healds, and this may be
done as often as is requisite in order to get the required quantity of rubber
to adhere to the yarn, once, twice, or thrice, and for this purpose I remove
the roller which is usually fixed between the yarn beam and the healds,
and fix in its place a cast-iron box or trough to be filled as required with the
india-rubber solution; at the bottom of this trough or box I fix three iron
rods under which the yarn is passed. If only one passage through is
required I only pass the yarn under one of the rods, if twice through is
required I bring the yarn by means of another rod of iron above the
solution and pass it again under the second rod, and so on as often as is
requisite; twice through is generally sufficient. On the last rod I fix
another in order to scrape off the surplus india-rubber, from which it passes
in the usual way to the healds to be woven. Sometimes I pass the weft
yarn through the india-rubber solution as it is wound on to spools for the
shuttle, but prefer putting sufficient india-rubber on to the warp threads
as it is difficult to weave when put on to the weft threads. The fabric as
soon as it comes out cf the loom may go at once into the curing chamber
and be cured in the same way as vulcanized fabrics are at present cured, or

page_text: it may first receive a further coating of india-rubber compound in a spread-
ing machine, as is well understood.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Heywood Whitehead, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)