IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING DEVICES ON VELVET, PAPER, AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas Denham, of 18, Wilmington
Square, Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING DEVICES ON VELVET, PAPER,
AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS."
Sealed the 26th April 1861, and dated the 2nd November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas Denham
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his petition, on the
2nd November 1860.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS DENHAM, of 18, Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell, in
the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRODUCING DEVICES ON VELVET, PAPER,
AND OTHER FABRICS OR MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
I take the velvet, paper or other material on which the intended device is to
be produced, and first sprinkle or otherwise apply on it a powder or other
substance which becomes adhesive under the influence of heat, preferring for
the purpose in certain cases what is called "compound powder," and over this
I apply powder "flock," or other substance of the color in which the device is
to be produced or a metallic powder or substance, and I then pass the
material so prepared through heated rollers, blocks, or surfaces of wood, metal,
or other material on which or on one of which is engraved, marked, or pro-
duced the requisite device. By these means I obtain the desired ornament,

page_text: inscription, design, or device on the velvet or other material, superfluous powder
or adhesive agent is afterwards removed by brushing, scraping, or otherwise.
When gutta percha or other substance in sheets or strips is used as the
adhesive agent, the color, flock, metallic, or ornamenting powder or matter
may be placed thereon before such sheet or strip is applied on the material on
which the device is to be produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Thomas Denham in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 2nd May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS DENHAM, of 18, Wilmington Square, Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Thomas Denham, Her special licence that I, the said William Thomas
Denham, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Thomas Denham, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRODUCING DEVICES ON VELVET, PAPER, AND OTHER FABRICS OR
MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Thomas Denham, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thomas Denham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
I take tho velvet, paper, or other material on which the intended device is

page_text: to be produced, and I first sprinkle or otherwise apply on it a powder or otlier
substance of such nature as to become adhesive under the influence of heat
(preferring to use for the purpose in some cases what is called "compound
powder,") and over this I apply a substance in a state of powder or a flock of
the color in which the device is to be produced or 'I apply a metallic powder,
and I then pass the material so prepared through heated rollers, blocks, or
surfaces on one of which is engraved, marked, or produced the required device.
By these means I obtain the desired device on the velvet or other material.
The superfluous powder and adhesive agent are afterwards removed by
brushing, scraping, or otherwise. When gutta percha or other substance in a
state of sheet or strip is used as the adhesive agent, the flock or powder may
be placed thereon before such sheet or strip is applied on the material on which
the device is to be produced.
Having thus set forth the nature of my said Invention I now proceed
more particularly to describe the means which I prefer for carrying the same
into effect.
I take the velvet or material on which the device is to be produced, supposing
it for convenience of description to be a strip or band of velvet, for example,
and I feed it gradually through a pair of ordinary (heated) embossing rollers,
the upper of which is the "pattern roller" or has the required device engraved
thereon, I deliver the velvet to these rollers across a table or flat surface, and
as it travels towards them, I first apply upon it the adhesive agent for which
I frequently use what is known in the market' as "compound powder," (and
which I believe to be a combination of dextrine and resin) this I apply most
conveniently by placing it in a fine muslin bag which I shake so as to sprinkle
the powder over the velvet through the interstices of the muslin, and next on
the surface so sprinkled; I apply the colored or metallic powder or flock, and
this may be conveniently performed by an assistant standing at the table
nearer the rollers as the velvet travels along; this flock or powder can also be
conveniently sprinkled through a muslin bag; the velvet then passes between
the rollers to which proper pressure and rotary motion are imparted as usual
in working embossing rollers, the superfluous particles of powder are afterwards
removed by a somewhat stiff brush. When I use as the adhesive agent a
substance such as gutta percha, gelatine, or matters of like character in sheets
or strips, I mostly prefer to sprinkle thereon the flock, or colored or metallic
powder, before applying such adhesive agent on the velvet, the superfluous
adhesive substance is removed by scraping or peeling it off after the velvet has
been subjected to the rollers, but I find that when the device is intricate or
composed of crowded or close curves, the use of an adhesive agent in sheets or

page_text: strips is inconvenient from the difficulty of removing the excess, and therefore in
these cases I prefer to use adhesive powders. I prefer to engrave the roller with
fine lines so as to produce a fine device accordingly. When only one roller is
of metal I mostly apply the heating medium directly to such roller sufficient heat
being thereby communicated to the other. Any convenient mode of heating may
be adopted but I prefer gas jets. Blocks, plates, or such like surfaces may be used
instead of rollers, the necessary pressure being applied by a press, the upper
block or surface which is the pattern or engraved surface forms or is attached
to the platten or pressing plate of the press and the under block or surface forms
or is attached to the bed plate, the latter may be of paper. Heat is applied
by gas jets or otherwise. When two or more colors are to be used on one
piece of velvet I apply each color separately passing the velvet through the
rollers and removing the superfluous powder for each color before proceeding
to apply the next. I proceed in the same manner when I have to apply two
different sorts of metallic powders or a powder and color, but these combinations
I consider answer best when the pattern is only a repeat such as stripes, for
example, so that the same rollers will serve for the various colors. Although
I have herein spoken of velvet the same means may be used in treating other
fabrics or materials, according to the Invention, I do not restrict myself to the
precise details mentioned in the foregoing particular description of the means
I prefer to adopt for carrying out my Invention.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and in what manner the
same may be performed, I declare that I do not claim as new or as of my
Invention any apparatus herein described, but what I do claim as con-
stituting my said Invention is, the mode of producing devices herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas Denham, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
Patent Agent,
84, Fleet Street, London.
W. T. DENHAM. (L.S.)
P