IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF FABRICS AND SURFACES IN IMITATION OP AND AS SUBSTITUTES FOR LEATHER FOR BOOKBINDING AND OTHER USES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1856

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Green at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th August
1856.
I, WILLIAM GREEN, of York Street, City Road, in the County of Middlesex,
.do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OR PRODUCTION OF FABRICS AND SURFACES IN IMITATION OP
AND AS SUBSTITUTES FOR LEATHER FOR BOOKBINDING AND OTHER USES, AND IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
. In carrying out this Invention, I procure an exact fac-simile in reverse of a
piece of hard-grained morocco, or other grained leather, upon a roller or
cylinder, by the electrotype process, by casting or other means. This roller is
to be worked in an ordinary embossing machine in contact with a paper or
similar." bowl," and by means thereof I produce upon continuous lengths of.
woven, felted, or other fabrics imitations of morocco or other leather.
The fabrics are prepared by coating them (when woven) with a glutinous
& gelatinous matter combined with gum, resins, and an alkaline compound; or
I coat the fabrics with a gelatinous matter, and afterwards treat them with
acetate of alumina or solutions of tannin, the object in either case being to render
the coating insoluble, or nearly so. When a dyed woven fabric is employed
the said matters are to be as transparent as possible; but when plain, the

page_text: necessary colors, either metallic, vegetable, or mineral, are to be combined
therewith. It is found preferable to calender the fabrics before applying the
said matters, after which they are to be rolled, pressed, & burnished, as desired.
Or a fabric well suited for the purposes of my Invention may be made by
cementing cotton "wadding," either alone or to a thin fabric, by means of a
mixture of glue, or its equivalent, with glycerine, filtered molasses, and (in some
cases) oil of tan and metallic sulphates; or by cementing a thin fabric
between slivers of cotton or other fibre by means of such compositions; or
otherwise coloring matters are to be added to the adhesive matters when so
desired, and they are to be rendered insoluble, or nearly so, by the modes
before described with reference to the coatings on woven fabrics, or by other
means. The adhesive compositions are to be sprinkled over the fibrous
materials either by hand or by mechanical means, and in some cases a dry
powder capable of being rendered adhesive by heat or otherwise is employed
in lieu of the liquid matters. When the materials are thus prepared they are
passed between one or more sets of rollers or pressing surfaces, connected with
which are "doctors" and troughs for scraping off and receiving any adhesive
matter which might otherwise accumulate thereon. Appliances are also
Tattached to the pressing surfaces for cleaning and heating them when so desired.
The fabrics may be dried by currents of hot air or otherwise, and in some
cases different colored materials are to be employed on either side of the
fabric. When woven fabrics are employed without "slivers" or "bats" of fibrous
materials, I in some cases produce a lint or soft fibrous surface or surfaces
thereon by means of sharp or rough surfaces, made to travel at greater speed
than the fabric, or in an opposite direction thereto, and when it is necessary to
remove any inequalities from the surface of the coated fabrics I employ an
endless band or other arrangement of rough or grinding surfaces, arranged in a
suitable framework, and driven by mechanical means.. In applying the
coating compositions, I employ hopper-shaped troughs, having open bottoms,
capable of being set to any desired width. The fabrics treated according to
any of the before-mentioned processes may be further improved by a coating
of lacker, or of glycerine combined with alcohol and acetic acid, or other thin
finishing composition or varnish, either before or. after being grained. "I would
here state, however, that although I prefer fabrics,prepared and treated as
herein described as substitutes for leather for bookbinding and other uses, the
grain may be produced upon continuous lengths of other fabrics by the means
firstly described. I also in some cases produce ornamental patterns upon rollers
and cylinders by the electrotype process for the purpose of embossing book

page_text: covers and other fancy articles upon continuous lengths of artificial leather;
or instead of rollers, segments of rollers of the desired pattern may be produced
by electro-deposition for the above purpose. When a substitute for the
thicker kinds of morocco and other leather is to be produced, I employ for the
purpose a fustian or similar fabric.