CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS FROM FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME GREETING,
I, JAMES CLARK, of Glasgow; Power Loom Weaver.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster
the Twenty-second day of May, Eighteen hundred and forty-five, in the
eighth year of Her 'reign, did give and grant unto me, the said James
Clark, my exors, adiors, and assigns, Her special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said James Clark, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and every of them, by 'myself and themselves, or by my and
their deputy or deputies; servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
James Clark, my exors, and admors, or assigns, should, at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the"
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-.
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said James Clark, my.exors, and
admors, and assigns, or any of them should in iny or their wisdoms seem
meet, my Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS
FROM FIBROUS MATERIALS; in which said Letters Patent there is contained' a
proviso; that I; the said James Clark, should particularly describe an
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
[Price 8d:]
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page_text: the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within
six calendar months next, and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Clark, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following instrument in writing.
My Invention refers in the first place to the manufacture of a fabric from
threads of silk, wool, cotton, hemp, flax, or other fibrous material and calico or
any other fabric, and an adhesive substance or substances; and I now explain
this part of my Invention that it may be well understood, and refer to the
Drawings annexed.
I
Figure I, is a drawing of the machine which I use for the above purpose.
A1, A2, and A 3, are 3 metal rollers working in a frame. Bis a roll of calico;
C, the calico passing on to the rollers; D,a metal hopper or feeder, into which
put a sufficient quantity of india-rubber cement (india-rubber dissolved, as
is well understood), which, by the revolution of the rollers, presses on the
calico and coats the surface thereof, rendering it adhesive. E, E, are two
beams of woollen yarn warped in the usual manner, and the threads from these
pass in a uniform and level manner through the reed F; they then pass on to
the adhesive surface of the calico and are pressed on it by the pressure of the
two rollers A2 and A3; and thus the calico and the threads are firmly united
together so as to form one fabric, as represented at G; H, H, are screws to
regulate the pressure of the rollers A, A, A, against each other. The rollers
A, A, A, are caused to move at the same surface speed by any convenient
mode; and it will be easily understood that being once in motion and the
calico and threads of woollen yarn having once been united, that a continuous
fabric will be produced, presenting a level and uniform surface of threads of
woollen yarn. I would remark that although I have mentioned calico as
forming one part of the fabric which I produce, yet any other material may
be used that may be found most suitable for cheapness, durability, or any other
cause; and in like manner threads of silk, cotton, hemp, flax, or other fibrous
material may be used either alone or in combination, and they may be wholly
or partly grey, bleached or dyed, or wholly or partly printed so as to suit any
desired purpose, or the fabric may be printed after it has been produced as
above described. I would further remark that although india-rubber cement
only has been mentioned, yet, I use the gum recently known under the name
of gutta percha prepared in any suitable manner; or dissolved shellac, or lac,

page_text: or pitch, or tar, or paste, or other suitable cementing materials, or a com.
bination of all or any of those. or other suitable adhesive or cementing materials
may be used.
The second part of my Invention consists in preparing the gum called gutta
percha so that it may be used in place of the calico in making the fabric.
referred to in the first part of my Invention. I take the gutta-perchia, and
after keeping it in hot or boiling water for half an hour or till it becomes soft
and flexible, I form it by the hand or by a suitable mould into a mass twelve
inches long, two inches broad, or two inches thick, or thereby, and I then pass
this piece through a series of hot metal rollers heated either by steam or by
any suitable mode. Each pair of rollers being set closer than the preceding,
so that the piece, by pressure, is finally very much increased in length and
width, but decreased in thickness. It may, by this means be produced of
any requisite thickness, and the pieces, being joined together into any requisite
length and wound on a wooden beam or roll like the calico, will be ready for
the working of the machine, as described in the first part of my Invention.
I, however, find that it is possible to make the fabric mentioned in the first
part of my Invention without any adhesive material. When fuse gutta percha
prepared in this manner as by introducing steam into the rollers A 1 and A2
the piece or web of gutta perchais softened sufficiently while passing along to
cause the strands or threads from the opposite side of the machine adhere
firmly to it and present a firm fabric.
The third part of my Invention consists in improvements in the manufacture
of fabrics from fibrous materials and from india-rubber cement or other
adhesive materials, and partly relate to a Patent which I obtained on the
First day of February, Eighteen hundred & forty-three, entitled "An Improved
Mode of Manufacturing certain Descriptions of Cloth." In the Specification
of said Patent I describe the mode of obtaining a continuous series of layers
of fibrous material, one above the other from a series of carding engines. I
have since discovered the following modes of producing a body of fleece from
fibrous material which I will now proceed to explain. Figure 2 in the
Drawing is a sketch of a machine which resembles a double carding engine,
the action of the machine on the cotton being to separate the fibres and lay
them smoothly and uniformly together; and the cotton passing from one part
of the machine to the other may be said to resemble the passing from one
card to the other. The cotton previously cleaned and scutched is put to the
feeding part of the machine at I; the first cylinder K moving round, catches
the fibres of the cotton and delivers them on to the smaller cylinder K, which
moving at a less speed than the larger cylinder K accumulates and delivers a

page_text: thick body of fleece to the feeding of the second cylinder K, which acting
and moving like the first deliversit to the second small cylinder K, from which
it is taken by means of a card comb in a uniform and level body to the
coating rollers, as shewn in the Drawing, where it becomes cemented by india-
rubber cement, as described in my said former Patent. The large and small
cylinders are not covered with wire cards, but pointed teeth of iron or steel are
set in the cylinders, slightly angular in their direction, similar to the teeth of
wire cards. The pointed teeth on the second large and the second small
cylinder will be finer and closer than those on the first, and it may beadviseable
to cover the second small cylinder with a coarse wire card in place of the
pointed teeth. Around the sides and the top of the large cylinders are placed
wooden tops or covers from one-and-a-third to three inches broad, clothed with
pointed teeth like the cylinders so as to suit the action of the teeth of the
cylinder.
I have also discovered that I can produce a body of fleece from a
drawing frame similar to what is used in cotton spinning, and made as shewn
in Figure 3. M, M, M, represent top & bottom drawing rollers forty inches
wide,andfluted the whole width; Nisan endless travelling table upon which laps
from carding engines are placed so as to feed the drawing frame. These laps
may be taken from the carding engines on a lap drum the whole width of the
card,& put on the travelling table; or the narrow laps usual in cotton spinning
may be used, care being taken that they be put sufficiently close together and
kept level; care being also taken to join the fresh laps to the preceding ones
neatly and evenly so that a continuous body of fleece may be produced by the
drawing frame, which fleece will pass on to the drawing rollers in a continuous
uniform & level body. The drawing frame is driven in the manner well-known
in cotton spinning, and the draught between the rollers is also regulated in the
manner well-known. The drawing rollers may be made any width to suit the
breadth of fleece to be produced, but I have found forty inches to suit well.
Although I have mentioned cotton as the fibrous material to be used in those
machines, silk, wool, hemp, flax, or other fibrous material may also be used.
In the Specification of the above-mentioned Patent of First February,
Eighteen hundred and forty-three, I only mention the use of india-rubber
cement as the adhesive substance to be used; but I have now discovered that
the gum called gutta percha can be used to advantage, that dissolved lac, or
shellac, pitch, tar, and in general any adhesive substance may be used, that all
these may be used either alone or in combination with each other, or in com-
bination with india-rubber, according as the fabric to be produced is required
of different degrees of strength or for various uses.

page_text: In reference to the first part of my Invention, I do not claim any part of
the machinery described, and I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the particular mode of working described, although I have found
that very suitable; but what I claim is the production of fabrics in a
continuous length by means of threads of silk, wool, cotton, hemp, flax, or
other fibrous material, and any other suitable fabric or material, and india-
rubber cement or cementing materials generally.
In regard to the second part of my Invention I claim the mode of treating
gutta percha therein described.
And, in the third part of my Invention I claim the cementing a body of
fibrous material, as continuously produced by the two modes described, by
means of india-rubber cement, or gutta percha, or pitch, or tar, or paste, or
dissolved shellac, or lac, or a combination of these or any other suitable
cementing materials.
And, I also claim the cementing of a series of layers of fibrous material as
continuously produced, one on the other, by a series of carding engines, as
fully described in the Specification of my said Patent of First February,
Eighteen hundred and forty-three, by means of the cementing materials first
described, having in my said Patent confined myself to india-rubber cement;
while I now find that the other cements above-mentioned may be advan-
tageously used for many useful purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Low One thousand eight bundred & forty-five
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.