IMPROVED MANUFACTURES, AND
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pidding, of Southwark Bridge Road, South_
wark, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MANUFACTURES, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PILED FABRICS, OR OF MOSAIC OR TESSELATED TEXTILE AND OTHER FABRICS, AND
IMPROVEMENTS IN SOME OF THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS NECESSARY TO
ALSO THE APPLICATION OF
PRODUCE THЕМ,
CERTAIN EXISTING OR KNOWN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION."
Sealed the 14th May 1858, and dated the 17th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pidding at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th November 1857.
I, WILLIAM PIDDING, of Southwark Bridge Road, Southwark, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVED MANUFACTURERS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFAC
TURE OF PILED FABRICS, OR OF MOSAIC OR TESSELATED TEXTILE AND OTHER
FABRIOS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN SOME OF THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS NECESSARY
CERTAIN EXISTING OR KNOWN
ALSO THE APPLICATION OF
TO PRODUCE THEM.
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to new piled and mosaic or
mosaic textile fabrics made as follows:-I saturate, and rather thickly
coat, cover, or surround threads or yarns with any adhesive or other
suitable substance or material or compound in a solvent or liquid state,

page_text: sometimes coloring the liquid or dissolving substances of the same color
with that of the threads or yarns they surround, preferring to use, in
most cases, such as are pliable when in a non-liquid or non-soluble state,
or when deprived of their solvents, or when dry; gelatine, gum, gutta
percha, caoutchouc pigment, rosin, wax, bitumen, pitch, asphalte,
tallow, drying oil, sugar, and skins of animals, or such parts thereof
as are soluble, are some of the chief of the substances 1 require to usc,
either separately or combined when in solution or in a liquid state, for
the purpose I have described. After so preparing threads or yarns and
subjecting them to any drying process, and drying them to any degree
suitable for my purpose, I lay them side by side longitudinally and set
them to pattern for mosaic fabrics, or do not set them to pattern when
they are required plain or for printing on, in any apparatus suitable for
the manufacture of mosaic textile fabrics, preferring to use one of those
which I shall herein-after describe or allude to.
T
After setting the threads or yarns to pattern longitudinally as
described, or simply laying the prepared threads in any appropriate
apparatus, compress them, and in some cases apply heat, and con-
tinue such operations until they are adhered together side by side. After
obtaining even surfaces at each open end of any apparatus containing
the prepared and now connected threads, by means of any cutting instru-
ment, I do not first adhere an appropriate material to form the back or
ground to the exposed ends of the threads at one of the open ends of
the apparatus, as has hitherto been the mode of proceeding in the manu
facture of mosaic textile fabrics, but I push or force the exposed ends
of the threads or yarns at one end of the apparatus in any convenient
way to any required distance, so as to make the opposite ends of the
threads project at the other end of the apparatus, when I cut off a slice
of the connected threads even with the end of the apparatus, and repeat
such operations until there remain no more connected threads to be cut
into slices, and such slices are then the complete fabric. In some cases,
and when the threads and yarns have been saturated and surrounded
with some substances in solution, or in a liquid state, and in other cases
they become the complete article after being subjected to the operations
which I shall presently describe. When I use for the manufacture of
these fabrics one of the apparatuses which will be hereinafter described,
there will be no occasion for pushing or forcing the exposed ends of the
threads or yarns at one end of the apparatus, so as to make the opposite
ends of the threads project at the other end of the apparatus, because
the apparatus I allude to will be made of such substance or compounds
as will admit of my producing these and some of the following fabrics,
by cutting the same thickness of veneer off or through the apparatus

page_text: itself as that of the connected mass of set and prepared threads, and
that with further advantage than dispensing with the operation of push-
ing the connected threads up the apparatus; as besides the veneers being
so cut, the lateral divisions of the apparatus, which I shall hereinafter
explain, are also formed by cutting through the apparatus as well as
the connected threads. In finishing some of these fabrics, I produce a
pile on one or both sides, by dissolving any desired thickness of the
cement, adhesive, or other appropriate substance, connecting the threads
for the purpose of freeing such surface or surfaces of the threads or
yarns of such substances, and thus producing or exposing the before
hidden pile. In many cases it will be necessary to heat and agitate and
renew the solvents used in effecting the object explained; and in some
cases in which water is used as the solvent, it will expedite the process to
cause a stream of it to pass over the slice or veneer of fabric under
operation, varying the direction of it, or altering the position of
the slice or veneer under operation. To expedite the operation,
it may be necessary to apply friction by means of a revolving
cylinder or brush, or other appropriate apparatus, such apparatus
in some cases to have heat applied to it, for the purpose
of further expediting and facilitating the operation.
It may
be sometimes advantageous to place or stretch the veneer or slice
to be operated on, on or round a cylinder, and to place such over and
partly in a trough or vessel containing the solvent, and to cause such
cylinder to revolve with more or less speed. When the prepared mass
of connected threads forming afterwards the veneers, operated on as
just explained, are plain, or of but one color, they are either intended
for use in such state, or to have patterns printed on them on one or both
sides, and in the latter case I prefer that the patterns shall vary on
each pile of each vencer or fabric.
Another mode of finishing these mosaic textile veneers or slices or
fabrics, is simply to varnish or oil one or both their sides. Oil cloths or
their substitutes, tapestry and historical representations are among the
numerous fabrics suitable for thus finishing. Another new description
of mosaic fabric, and chiefly applicable to articles of dress to wear on
the person, because allowing perspiration to exude, I make as follows:-
I saturate, without surrounding, threads or yarns, with certain of the
before-mentioned and alluded to liquids and solvents of substances, say,
for instance, gelatine; and when dry, I surround or cover such threads
or yarns with a solution of caoutchouc, gutta percha, or compound of
either. or other appropriate substance or compound; and when such
solution is also dry, I proceed to set such threads or yarns to pattern
in any apparatus applicable to mosaic or mosaic textile manufacture.

page_text: I then compress the threads or yarns, and subject them to sufficient heat
to cause them to adhere. I proceed then as before described, to cut
veneers or slices. I then discharge from the threads the substance or
compound solution with which I saturated the threads and yarns, by
putting the slices or veneers in such a solvent as will, with or without
the application of heat, dissolve it without dissolving the india-rubber,
gutta percha or compound, or other appropriate substance or compound.
1 also produce similar fabrics to those last described, by surrounding
threads or yarns with gutta percha, india-rubber or compound, or other
appropriate substance, without first saturating them with any of the
substances before alluded to, by means of twisting them round threads
or yarns, or by other means, and then I proceed as 1 before described
and make finished mosaic fabrics. In using gutta percha and india-
rubber for these two last-mentioned fabrics. I prefer them as colorless
as they can be made by any process, and to then color them of the same
shade of color as that of the thread or yarn they surround or coat.
To strengthen and add to the thickness of some of the foregoing fabrics
it may be sometimes advantageons to adhere or sew one side of them on
to any appropriate textile fabric or material. Another mosaic textile
fabric is formed by adhering together superficially one of the two surfaces
of any two of the foregoing fabrics, or to adhere one surface of one of
them to one of the two surfaces of any pile or other textile fabric, or to
adhere or sew one side or surface of any of the before described mosaic
or pile fabric to the surface of any appropriate textile or other material,
and sometimes also to adhere or sew any of the before described or other
pile fabrics to the other side of such appropriate intermediate material,
the objects of so doing being to strengthen and increase the thickness of
all fabrics so made, and in some cases to produce distinct pattern or pile
on both sides of them. I form other mosaic fabrics by the same pro-
cesses or by some of them herein-before described or alluded to, of
colored threads of gutta percha, caoutchouc, or compounds, and I some-
times coat, varnish, or paint such last-mentioned threads of the same
color as that which partly composes them. I also form other mosaic or
tesselated fabrics by the same processes, or by some of them herein-
before described or alluded to, by first setting mosaic or tesselated
patterns of colored threads of spun glass, or by coating wires or threads,
or yarns with varnish, or other suitable liquid or substance in solution,
and then causing colored powdered glass, or powder of any mineral sub-
stance or compound, to adhere to such varnish or other adhesive material
used. It is sometimes advantageous. to pass those of the threads made
partly of wire through a furnace, and then add to the coating corre-
sponding colored powders in the way just described, in some cases using

page_text: powders of different mineral or other substances to those surrounding
the wires, for the purpose of hardening the mosaic or tesselated fabrics,
or of assisting the connection of one coated wire with another. These
last-mentioned operations or subjecting the covered wires, and increasing
their thickness of coating or diameter, may be sometimes repeated many
times with great advantage, the wires being only used as a means, on
account of their strength and non-combustibility, of making the mosaic
or tesselated fabrics I shall proceed in describing. The mosaic or
tesselated pattern being set in any appropriate apparatus, and com-
pressed with considerable force, I place it in a furnace, or in any
convenient way subject the apparatus and its contents to sufficient heat
to melt, burn, or vitrify the mosaic or tesselated mass of set wires, treated
as described to cause their adhesion to each other, and to perfect the
fabrics. Having cooled or annealed the heated, melted or vitrified
mass of threads formed of spun glass, or covered threads or wires, I
disconnect them from the apparatus in any convenient way, sometimes
by destroying it in part or entirely. It will be obvious that the
apparatus I use for some of these mosaic or tesselated fabrics must be
made of material or substances which will allow of being subjected to
great heat, such as some metals and fire-clay. I then proceed to cut
the mosaic or tesselated mass into veneers for adhesion, or otherwise
in any convenient way to any appropriate substance or material, or I
cut thick veneers or slabs. The slabs will be chiefly useful for paving,
and the veneers will be useful for numerous purposes, amongst which
may be named sheets of mosaic glass for windows, the designs in which
can be made vastly to surpass "those in ordinary representations in
stained glass, for obvious reasons, including the fact of ordinary trans-
parent or translucent glass representations for windows, being
necessarily disfigured and darkened by numerous divisions of lead fret;
such ordinary representations also possess the great disadvantage, which
my mosaic glass window fabrics are unattended with, of being very
costly in their manufacture, by the necessity which exists of arranging
the numerous divisions of lead fret, soldering them, and selecting and
cutting the glass, and that always to great waste, to insert in the
divisions forming the pattern. Mosaic inscriptions and historical repre-
sentations to be inserted in frames or not; so for interior decorations of
palaces and other buildings are also named as important mosaic or
tesselated fabrics. I prefer to use an endless and moving, or revolving
wire for cutting these veneers or slabs. One of the apparatuses which
will be applicable to the manufacture of some or all of the fabrics I have
herein described, was patented by me on the 16th of March last, under
the title of "Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for the Manu-

page_text: facture of Piled Fabrics, whether Plain or Figured," and Numbered
735. The plain or colored, or coated, or as herein described threads or
yarns or wires to be placed in such apparatus as described by me in
such Patent, and as will be again explained by me in the Complete
Specification of this Patent. Two other apparatuses, also applicable to
the partial or entire manufacture of the foregoing described fabrics, are
shewn in the accompanying Diagrams, Fig. 1 & 4, and in which
apparatuses the before-described plain or prepared threads or yarns, or
wires are set to pattern, or not set to pattern, but yet placed side by
side as when set to pattern, in precisely the same way as described by me
in my above quoted Patent of the 16th of March last. The three
apparatuses I now show by Diagrams, being modifications of or improve-
ments in such Patent apparatus.
Diagram shows in Fig. 1, the side view of the apparatus with the
thread in it according to my Patent of the 16th of iviarch last, with the
addition of the side screws marked y', as also the smaller lateral screws
shewn in each portion of the side of the apparatus to screw the corre-
sponding portions (shewn in Fig. 2), as required to compress the threads,
and afterward to be removed to admit of the large ones g', to act as
shewn in Fig. 3.
Fig. 4 shews another plan, dispensing with the lateral screws by sub;
stituting india-rubber in layers corresponding to the side divisions of
the apparatus, which when compressed by the top screws expand as
shewn in Fig. 5.
Diagram 2, Fig. 1, shews the apparatus with the threads as before,
but the apparatus is made entirely of gutta percha or other substance
capable of being casily cut through in a warm, hot, or cold state, with
moveable iron screws so as to admit of its being cut through threads,
and all the part thus cut off marked K, is sometimes then placed on a
drum wheel A, Fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7. In a frame pressing against
another drum C, and after the several segments of a circle necessary
to form a complete one have been so placed and connected together by
adhesion, a knife then comes into operation upon the mass of threads K
between the top and bottom drums, which cuts off (as the drum revolves)
a veneer of part of the threads as may be required, the mass K being
always forced against the drum C by the action of a drum on its under-
side, Fig. 4, 6, 7. marked E, which is pressed up with force on account
of the axle of the drum working in a slot, with a strong spring beneath
shewn more fully in the elevation 8, and top view 9.

page_text: Fig. 3 & 4, side elevations; 5, front do; 6, side section; 7, transverse
do. C, the top drum; A, the large do.; E, the small internal do.; R,
the axle of do. working in slots; K, the fabric.
Diagram No. 3-Fig. 1 shews the press for pressing the mass of
threads cut off in the form shewn in Fig. 3, into the segment.
Fig. 4, A, A, is the mass placed in with the side press blocks; D, D,
out; B, is the press to be screwed up, heated with a fire C, or by hot
liquid steam or sand, or other hot substance.
Fig. 2, shews the press "screwed up into the form required, the
segments taken out, are formed into a circle Fig. 7, and screwed
together on the drum by the screw boards Figs. 5 & 6, and are then,
placed as before described to be cut, Fig. 9. 1, the press open; 2, do..
shut; 3, a mass of fabric just cut off; 4, do. do. formed cut segment; 5,
side view of screwboȧrds for screwing the segments together; 6, section
of same; 7, the segments placed together; 8. view of cutter and drums
on top; 9, side elevation of cutter and drums.
Diagram No. 3.-Fig. 1, shews also the press which will be used to
press any of the slabs or veneers of some or of all of the herein-before
mentioned fabrics, or connected threads, wires, glass, or other material
or substance, into any form required, of which such veneers or slabs
admit of being pressed into; but in the case of other forms than
segments of a circle, the interior or mould must be of a corresponding
shape with that of the article to be produced from a slab or veneer of
the herein-above alluded to connected threads, &c. Plates, dishes,
saucers, mouldings, cornices, pictures, or glass frames, buttons, or parts
or divisions of numerous articles may be named as some of the mosaic
or tesselated fabrics which, by means of the application of sufficient
heat to vencers or slabs pressed into modifications of the interior form
of the said Fig. 1, Diagram 3, can also be made by such apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent,
filed by the said William Pidding in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I WILLIAM
PIDDING, of Southwark Bridge Road, Southwark, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the
twenty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: TURES,
give and grant unto me, the said William Pidding, Her special licence,
that I, the said William Pidding, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Pidding, 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, usc, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MANUFAC-
AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILED FABRICS, OR OF MOSAIC
OR TESSELATED TEXTILE OR OTHER FABRIOS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN БОМЕ ОР THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS NECESSARY TO PRODUCE THEM, ALSO THE APPLICATION
OF CERTAIN EXISTING OR KNOWN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Pidding,
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 Oflice within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said William Pidding, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:—
The first part of my Invention relates to new piled and mosaic or
mosaic textile fabrics made as follows:-I saturate and rather thickly
coat, cover, or surround threads or yarns with any adhesive or other
suitable substance or material or compound in a solvent or liquid state,
sometimes coloring the liquid or dissolved substances of the same color
with that of the threads or yarns they surround, preferring to usc in
most cases such as are pliable when in a non-liquid or non-soluble state,
or when deprived of their solvents, or when dry. Gelatine, gum, gutta-
percha, caoutchouc, pigment, rosin, wax, bitumen, pitch, asphalte,
tallow, drying oil, sugar, and skins of animals, or such parts thereof
as are soluble, are some of the chief of the substances I require to use
either separately or combined when in solution or in a liquid state for
the purpose I have described. After so preparing threads or yarns and
subjecting them to any drying process, and drying them to any degree
suitable for my purpose, I lay them side by side longitudinally and set
them to pattern for mosaic fabrics, or do not set them to pattern
when they are required plain or for printing on, in any apparatus suit-
able for the manufacture of mosaic textile fabrics, preferring to uso
one of those which I shall herein-after describe. After setting the

page_text: threads or yarns to pattern longitudinally as described, or simply laying
the prepared threads in any appropriate apparatus I compress them,
and in some cases apply heat, and continue such operations until they
are adhered together side by side. After obtaining even surfaces at
each open end of any apparatus containing the prepared and now con-
nected threads by means of any cutting instrument, I do not first adhere
an appropriate material to form the back or ground to the exposed ends
of the threads at one of the open ends of the apparatus, as has hitherto
been the mode of proceeding in the manufacture of mosaic textile fabrics,
but I push or force the exposed ends of the threads or yarns at one
end of the apparatus in any convenient way to any required distance,
so as to make the opposite ends of the threads project at the other
end of the apparatus such distance as will agree with the thickness of
the fabric to be manufactured; when I cut off a slice of the connected
threads even with the end of the apparatus, and repeat such operations
until there remain no more connected threads to be cut into slices, and
such slices are then the complete fabric. In some cases, and when
the threads and yarns have been saturated and surrounded with some
substances in solution or in a liquid state, and in other cases they become
the complete article after being subjected to the operations which I
shall presently describe. When I use for the manufacture of these
fabrics one of the apparatuses which will be herein-after described,
there will be no occasion for pushing or forcing the exposed ends of the
threads or yarns at one end of the apparatus, so as to make the opposite
ends of the threads project at the other end of the apparatus, because
the apparatus I allude to will be made of such substance or compound
as will admit of my producing these and some of the following fabrics
by cutting the same thickness of veneer off or through the apparatus
itself, as that of the connected mass of set and prepared threads, and
that with further advantage than dispensing with the operation of
pushing the connected threads up the apparatus, as besides the veneers
being so cut, the lateral divisions of the apparatus, which I shall herein-
after explain, are also formed by cutting through the apparatus as
well as through the connected threads. In finishing some of these
fabrics I produce a pile on one or both sides by dissolving any desired
thickness of the cement. adhesive or other appropriate substance con-
necting the threads, for the purpose of freeing such surface or surfaces
of the threads or yarns of such substances, and thus producing or
exposing the before hidden pile. In many cases it will be necessary to
heat and agitate and renew the solvents used in effecting the object
explained; and in some cases, in which water is used as the solvent. it
will expedite the process to cause a stream of it to pass over the slice.

page_text: or veneer of fabric under operation, varying the direction of it or
altering the position of the slice or veneer under operation. To expedite
the operation, it may be necessary to apply friction, by means of a
revolving cylinder or brush or other appropriate apparatus, such
appatatus in some cases to have heat applied to it for the purpose of
further expediting and facilitating the operation. It may be some-
times advantageous to place or stretch the vencer or slice to be operated
on, on or round a cylinder, and to place such over and partly in a
trough or vessel containing the solvent, and to cause such cylinder to
revolve with more or less speed. When the prepared mass of connected
threads, forming afterwards the veneer operated on as just explained,
are plain or of but one color, they are either intended for use in such
case or to have patterns printed on them on one or both sides, and in
the latter case I prefer that the patterns shall vary on each pile of each
veneer or fabric. Another mode of finishing these mosaic textile
vencers or slices or fabrics is simply to varnish or oil one or both their
sides; oilcloths or their substitutes, tapestry, and historical represen-
tations are among the numerous fabrics suitable for thus finishing.
Another new description of mosaic fabric and chiefly applicable to
articles of dress or to wear on the person, because allowing perspiration
to exude, I make as follows:-I saturate with gelatine, gum, or other
appropriate material in solution without surrounding threads or yarns
with certain of the before-mentioned and alluded to solvents of sub-
stances, say, for instance, that I saturate them with a solution of
gelatine, and when dry I surround or cover such threads or yarns with
a solution of caoutchouc, gutta percha, or compound or either, or of
other appropriate substance or compound; and when such solution is
also dry, I proceed to set such threads or yarns to pattern in any
apparatus applicable to mosaic or mosaic textile manufacture. I then
compress the threads or yarns and subject them to sufficient heat to
cause them to adhere; I proceed then as before described to cut vencers
or slices. I then discharge from the threads the substance or compound
solution with which I saturated the threads and yarns, by putting the
slices or veneers in such a solvent as will, with or without the application
of heat, dissolve it without dissolving the india-rubber, gutta percha,
or compound or other appropriate substance or compound which
surrounds and connects the threads or yarns. I also produce
similar fabrics to those last described, by surrounding threads
or yarns with gutta percha, india-rubber or compound, or other
appropriate substance, without first saturating them with any of the
substances before alluded to, by means of twisting caoutchouc or gutta
percha threads, or threads made of their components or other appro-

page_text: priate material, round threads or yarns; or I surround such threads or
yarns with any appropriate substance by any other means, and then I
proceed, as I before described, to connect the threads and make and
finish mosaic textile fabrics. In using gutta percha and india-rubber
for these two last-mentioned fabrics, I prefer them as colorless as they
can be made by any process, and to then color them of the same shade
of color as that of the thread or yarn they surround or coat.
strengthen and add to the thickness of some of the foregoing fabrics,
it may be sometimes advantageous to adhere or sew one side of them
on to any appropriate textile or other fabric or material.
To
Another mosaic textile fabric is formed by adhering together super-
ficially one of the two surfaces of any two of the foregoing fabrics, or
to adhere or sew one surface of one of them to one of the two surfaces
of any pile or other, textile fabrics, or to adhere or sew one side or
surface of any of the before-described mosaic or pile fabrics to the
surface of any appropriate textile or other material, and sometimes also
to adhere or sew any of the before-described or other pile fabrics, to
both sides or surfaces of such or any appropriate intermediate material,
the objects of so doing being to strengthen and increase the thickness
of all fabrics so made, and in some cases to produce distinct patterns or
pile on both sides of them. I form other mosaic fabrics by the same
processes, or by some of them herein-before described or alluded to of
colored threads of gutta percha, caoutchouc or compounds; and I some-
times coat, varnish, or paint such last-mentioned threads of the same
color as that which composes them. I also form other mosaic or
tesselated fabrics by the same process, or by some of them herein-before
described or alluded to, by first setting mosaic or tesselated patterns
of colored threads of spun glass or by coating wires, or threads, or yarns,
or colored threads of spun glass with varnish or other suitable liquid
or substance in solution, and then causing colored powdered glass or
powder of any mineral substance or compound to adhere to such varnish
or other adhesive material used. It is sometimes advantageous to pass
those of the threads made partly of wire through a furnace, and then to
increase the thickness of the coating, by adding a coating of corre-
sponding colored powders in the way just described, in some cases using
powders of different mineral or other substances to those surrounding
the wires, for the purpose of hardening the mosaic or tesselated fabric,
or of assisting the connection of one coated wire with another. These
last-mentioned operations of subjecting the covered wires and increasing
their thickness of coating or diameter, may be sometimes repeated many
times with great advantage, the wires being only used as a means, on
account of their strength and non-combustibility, of making such coated

page_text: or glazed wires of great length, and thus admitting of numerous of the
mosaic or tesselated fabrics being cut from one block. I shall proceed
in describing-The mosaic or tesselated pattern being set in any appro-
priate apparatus and compressed with considerable force, I place it in
a furnace or in any convenient way subject the apparatus and its
contents to sufficient heat to melt, burn, or vitrify the mosaic or
tesselated mass of set wires or threads or yarns, treated as described
to cause their adhesion to each other. Having cooled or annealed the
heated, melted, or vitrified mass of threads formed of spun glass or
covered threads or wires, 1 disconnect them from the apparatus in any
convenient way, sometimes by destroying it in part or entirely. It will
be obvious that the apparatus I use for some of these mosaic or tesselated
fabrics, must be made of material or substances which will allow of
being subjected to great heat, such as some metals and fire clay. I
then proceed to cut the mosaic or tesselated mass into veneers for
adhesion or otherwise in any convenient way to any appropriate sub-
stance or material; or, I cut thick veneers or slabs. The slabs will be
chiefly useful for paving, and the veneers will be useful for numerous
purposes, amongst which may be named sheets of mosaic glass for
windows, the designs in which can be made vastly to surpass those in
ordinary representations in stained glass, for obvious reasons, including
the fact of ordinary transparent or translucent glass representations
for windows being necessarily disfigured and darkened by numerous
divisions of lead fret; such ordinary representations also possess the
great disadvantage, which my mosaic glass window fabrics are
unattended with, of being very costly in their manufacture, by the
necessity which exists of arranging the numerous divisions of lead fret,
soldering them, and selecting and cutting the glass, and that always
to great waste, to insert in the divisions forming the pattern. Mosaic
inscriptions and historical representations to be inserted in frames, or
not so, for interior decorations of palaces and other buildings, are also
named as important mosaic or tesselated fabrics. 1 prefer to use an
endless and moving or revolving wire for cutting these vencers or slabs.
One of the apparatuses which will be applicable to the manufacture of
some or all of the fabrics I have herein-described, and which was
patented by me on the Sixteenth of March 1857 under the title of
"Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for the Manufacture of
Piled Fabrics, whether Plain or Figured," and Numbered 735. The
plain or colored, or coated, or as herein-described threads, or yarns, or
wires, are to be placed in such apparatus precisely as described by me
in such Patent, and an extract from the Specification of which will be
found at the end hereof, and is marked with inverted commas. Two

page_text: other apparatuses also applicable to the partial or entire manufacture
of the foregoing described fabrics, are shewn in the accompanying
Diagram 1, Fig. 1 and 4, and in which apparatuses the before described
plain or prepared threads, or yarns, or wires, are set to pattern or not
set to pattern, but yet placed side by side as when set to pattern, in
precisely the same way as described by me in my above-quoted Speci-
fication of Patent of the Sixteenth of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven; the three apparatuses I now show by Diagrams,
being modifications of or improvements in such Patent apparatus.
■being modifications of or improvements in such Patent apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF DIAGRAMS.
Diagram 1 shows in Fig. 1 the side view of the apparatus with the
thread in it according to my Specification of Patent of the 16th of
March 1857, with the addition of the side screws marked g; as also the
smaller lateral screws shown in each portion of the side of the apparatus
to screw the corresponding portions (shewn in Fig. 2), as required to
compress the threads, and afterwards to be removed to admit of the
large ones g' to act as shewn in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shews another plan dis-
pensing with the lateral screws by substituting india-rubber in layers,
corresponding to the side divisions of the apparatus, which, when
compressed by the top screws expand, as shewn in Fig. 5.
Diagram 2, Fig. 1, shews the apparatus with the threads as before,
but the apparatus is made entirely of gutta percha or other substance
capable of being easily cut through in a warm, hot, or cold state, with
moveable iron screws so as to admit of its being cut through threads;
and all the part thus cut off, marked K, is sometimes then placed on
a drum wheel A, Fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 in a frame pressing against
another drum C, and after the several segments of a circle necessary
to form a complete one have been so placed and connected together by
adhesion, a knife then comes into operation upon the mass of threads K,
between the top and bottom drums which cuts off (as the drum
revolves) a veneer of part of the threads as may be required, the mass K
being always forced against the drum C by the action of a drum on its
underside Fig. 4, 6, 7, marked E, which is pressed up with force, on
account of the axle of the drum working in a slot, with a strong spring
beneath, shewn more fully in the elevation S and top view 9. Fig. 3
and 4 side elevations; No. 5, front elevation; No. 6, side section; No. 7,
transverse ditto. C, the top drum; A, the large ditto; E, the small
internal ditto; R, the axle of ditto, working in slots; K, the fabric.
Diagram No. 3.-Fig. 1 shews the press for pressing the mass of
threads cut off in the form shewn in Fig. 3, into the segment. Fig. 4; A

page_text: is the mass placed in with the side press blocks D, D, out; B is the
press to be screwed up, heated with a fire C, or by hot liquid, steam,
or sand, or other hot substance. Fig. 2 shews the press screwed up
into the form required, the segments taken out are formed into a circle,
Fig. 7; and after being connected by the application of heat are screwed
together on the drum by the screw boards, Figs. 5 and 6, and are then
placed as before described to be cut. Fig. 9, No. 1, the press; No. 2,
ditto shut; No. 3, a mass of fabric first cut off; No. 4, ditto ditto,
formed cut segment; No. 5, side view of screw boards for screwing the
segments together; No. 6, section of same; No. 7, the segments placed
together; No. 8, view of cutter and drums on top; No. 9; side elevation
of cutter and drums.
Diagram No. 3, Fig. 1, shews also the press which will be used to
press any of the slabs or veneers of some or of all of the herein-before
mentioned fabrics, or connected threads, wires, glass, or other material
or substance, into any form required, of which such veneers or slabs
admit of being pressed into; but in the case of other forms than segments
of a circle the interior or mould must be of a corresponding shape with
that of the article to be produced from a slab or veneer of the herein-
before alluded to connected threads, &c. Plates, dishes, saucers,
mouldings, cornices, picture or glass frames, buttons, or parts or
divisions of numerous articles may be named as some of the mosaic or
tesselated fabrics which, by means of the application of sufficient heat
to veneers or slabs pressed into modifications of the interior form of
the said Fig. 1, Diagram 3, can also be made by such apparatus.
"
"
"
Extract from the Specification of my Patent of the 16th March 1857,
'alluded to herein.
"The object of my Invention is to improve either by economy in
manufacture or superiority of finish, certain fabrics usually denomi-
nated piled or cut fabrics, such as rugs, carpets, animal or other
baize, and all fabrics whose surfaces when made or manufactured arc
'cut or shorn to be made even, which latter result I obtain during the
making of such fabrics without having recourse to an after process
for the purpose."
"My mode of operating will be best understood by an immediate
"reference to the Diagram 4, while reading the following
description"
"The said Diagram, Fig. 1, represents a side elevation of the machine
"in which the threads I use are laid as it would appear when constructed
and ready for use; Fig. 2, shews an end view representing the machine

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as partly charged with threads, forming a design or pattern; Fig. 3,
a top plan-view of the bottom board; and Fig. 4, an isometrical view
of one end of the bottom board with metal plate attached, and one of
the loose plates laid thereon (be hereafter described)."
"6
At Fig. 1, it will be observed, I place a flat board a upon a framing
or rest (which is to support the whole of the apparatus containing the t
threads I use in my operations) marked b, the top of which is raised to
any convenient distance from the floor. At each end of the board a
"I screw or otherwise firmly secure strips of wood c, (at Fig. 1 and 2)
si in such a manner that their surfaces become even with the surface.
"of the board a as shewn also at Fig. 3. Upon the strips of wood c, I
lay thin plates of metal (or other suitable material), d, d, about one
"inch wide, more or less, for a purpose herein-after described. Upon
the outer sides of the board a I place pieces of wood e, e, to form
"the sides of the thread's receiver; these pieces or lengths may be made
"of any convenient thickness, and carried to such height as may be
most suitable to the purpose or operations intended, and of the length
"of the board a, (but not including in such length the pieces c.
The
"
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"
metal plates are made with innumerable small notches in their outer
edges, almost close together and equidistant, for the purpose of passing
the threads or yarns over (or if desirable these plates may be made
"without notches cut on their said outer edges); over and under these
plates a strong adhesive substance is laid, so that when the ends of
the threads or yarns are drawn over the plates and placed in the
notches, the ends of the threads or yarns are turned over and secured..
The long pieces of strips of wood e, e, are lettered, say from A to L,
M, N, or further, according to the number of pieces required, (or-they-
may be numbered). Each of these lettered pieces I call a section,
"and each of these sections is to be furnished with metal plates, longer.
'than the width of the machine (see A', Fig. 4), say twenty or thirty-
five to each section, or as many as may be found necessary to agree
"with the depth of the section board e. The plates belonging to the
section A are marked A', A2, A3, and so on; those of B section,
"B', B, B, and upwards, for the purpose hereafter explained."
"
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"
"
"Having arranged the entire number of plates necessary for the size
of the material to be manufactured, the design or pattern (if any) is
"then to painted on the outer edges. When the paint is dry the
plates are taken off in sections, and as each plate is separated from
"the other, the color of the pattern will be found in the notches (before
mentioned) on their outer edges, which color may afterwards be.
"extended to the other edge of the plate, and so on to as many other
plates as may be required (say, for innumerable sets of plates), the

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"first painted plate being retained as a standard pattern to multiply
copies from in case of a run on any particular design; and to economize
plates I put different designs on each side of them. The workmen
have now to fill each notch in the plates with thread or yarn of the
color corresponding to that on the plate, and turn the ends of the
"thread under the plate as before described, but if notches be not used
"the threads are to be laid in the lines extended across the plate, and
14 turned down in the same manner. The other ends of the threads or
yarns are affixed to corresponding plates at the other end of the
machine, care being taken that the threads are sufficiently distended
"to keep them each and all in their proper positions, and so on till each
section is complete, when the machine is ready for building, as
" follows":-
"
"
"
"
At Fig. 4 is to be seen the botton of section A, with one of the loose
4 notched plates placed thereon. For the convenience of the operator T
place blocks of wood on each side of the picces e, and slightly pro-
"jecting, and immediately under the ends of said blocks I place thin
"pieces of wood (shown in dotted lines) of the thickness of the trimming
knife. The blocks are made with dowels for the more easy removal
of the same, and when the plates belonging to the section are complete,
they are bound or pressed down, so as to become level with the surface
of the piece e, when the block f may be removed, and the strips e then
screwed into the top of the board a, and so on till the whole pattern is
"finished. When the screws 7 on the top of the machine are set in
"motion, the ends thereof being attached to the block inside, for the
"
purpose of fixing the threads more solidly or securely into position,
"the thin pieces (shewn in dotted lines at Fig. 4) are then to be removed
by means of handles, and the trimming knife inserted in the space
"left by the removal thereof; and finally the plates d, d, are disengaged
"from the apparatus containing the threads or yarns, as before
'described). A piece of board of size to fit the interior of the casing
is inserted at one end thereof, and pushed sufficiently far by the
operator (the threads or yarns moving with it in a body) to allow the
"ends of the threads or yarns to project a little beyond the other end
of the casing, for the purpose of trimming them perfectly flat and even
in the first instance. Having now obtained the even surface required,
an appropriate fabric (such as canvass), having on one side thereof a
coating of caoutchouc or solution thereof, or any other substance suit-
able for the purpose of making the said fabric adhere to the ends of
"the threads or yarns in the casing, is to be placed and pressed against
"the ends of the threads or yarns, and by means of heat (applied by any
"

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"known means) and sufficient pressure, the ends of the thread or yarn
will adhere to the adhesive substance in the material coated with it.
The threads or yarns are then to be pushed forward from the opposite
end of the apparatus, as before directed, until they project as far as
may be desirable, or in other words, till the projections are of
sufficient length to form the height of pile or raised surface desired.
"The knife is then brought into operation, and the ends of threads cut
"off thereby from the body of the rug or other article while the canvass
"forms the foundation thereof. As before said, these articles may be
of any design or pattern, flowers, animals, mosaic, or other, or plain,
"if so desired. The operation is repeated till all the threads or yarns
"are used up or withdrawn from the machine. The pieces A, A, B, B,
"and others, are to be connected together by cross pieces attached
"thereto for safety in carriage, and to keep each section separate."
"
"
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"The great advantage of my system of manufacture of piled or raised
fabrics is, that thereby I am enabled to multiply fabrics rapidly by at
once setting the yarn, and so dividing the cost amongst the whole
"number cut off. As it is necessary to press the threads or yarns when
'placed as set in the apparatus, the length through which the set yarn
I can be pushed is very limited, and as must necessarily follow, the
reduction of the cost of setting per fabric by multiplying them, and
"dividing the cost amongst the lot. Now by having (as where the
extent of the operations will admit of it) the apparatus formed as
regards its length into divided parts, capable of being connected or
disconnected, and setting the yarn or threads in the connected length,
"and then disconnecting them, and manufacturing them from each
"division of the length of the apparatus, an enormous number of fabrics
can be made from the cutting of one setting of the threads or yarn.
To effect this the whole length of the setting of yarns required is
made by forming a length, say of fifty feet of divisions of, say ten feet
"cach (more or less as required). These divisions are built up precisely
as directed in the apparatus shewn in the Drawing, except that
"instead of the boards e, e, forming the sections, and top and bottom
"boards being one length, they are of five lengths, and joined nearly
together during the operation of laying or setting the threads, by strong
"plates of iron or other material (leaving room between each division
"for the knife to pass and divide the threads). The operation of setting
the yarn is the same as herein-before described, but that operation
complete, the screws g are set to work, and then the divisions are made
by removing the plates, and passing the knife through the threads.
Assuming in fifty feet there are five divisions, I have five cases of
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"

page_text: threads or yarns quite ready for storage, sending away, or operating
simultaneously upon, as may be required. To give a fuller idea of the
making of these divisions, I have put in dotted lines in the casing,
Fig. 1, the plates and spaces required to effect this operation."
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which it is to be carried into effect, I desire it to be understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details of the parts or combination
of parts of the machinery or apparatus herein-before described, as such
may be modified under particular circumstances.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pidding, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOHN LEWIS.
WILLIAM PIDDING. (L.S.)