IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF HAIR FOR UPHOLSTERY OR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Philip Middleton Justice at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st May 1881. A commu-
nication from abroad by John George Stephens, of Jersey City, State of New
Jersey, United States of America.
PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE, of 14, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF HAIR FOR
UPHOLSTERY OR OTHER PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by John George
Stephens, of Jersey City, State of New Jersey, United States of America.
This Invention relates to the treatment or preparation of hair for use in
upholstery or other purposes, similar to those for which curled hair is now used.
According to this Invention the hair is crimped or corrugated instead of being
twisted, and is also hardened and stiffened by heat and thereby rendered more
substantial and lasting than the curled hair as now in use. Curled hair lacks rigidity,
so that articles made of it soon condense or pack and lose the elasticity on which
their merit inainly depends, and require frequent refitting treatment. The process
of making curled hair is slow and expensive, and to some extent injures the natural
strength and elasticity of the material, as it is exposed for a lengthened period to
the wet condition in which it is twisted. On the other hand, the effect of
corrugating and heating the hair is increased rigidity and power of elasticity.
The method of curling hair by twisting consists of wetting it thoroughly in water,
then twisting it into ropes of considerable size, and then laying it away in the wet
and twisted state to allow the curls time to set (which generally takes six months
or more) during which time the nature of the hair is more or less injured by the
action of the water and the air; when thought to be well set and sufficiently dry
to retain the curled form, the ropes are picked apart by picking machinery, which
also injures the hair by breaking it, and also wastes it considerably thereby. In
the preparation of the improved crimped or corrugated hair I first clean it
thoroughly by washing it preferably in a bath of borax and alum in water, then
dry it, and pass it through hot crimping rolls first oiling it sufficiently to enable
it to yield to the teeth of the crimping rolls without damage to the integrity of
the fibre by cracking and crushing, and I supply it to the rolls by means of
rn

page_text: hackling rolls, arranged to draw and lay the fibres parallel to each other, so as to
pass lengthwise through the rolls at right angles to the corrugations. I prefer to
use such oil for dressing the hair previous to passing through the rolls as will
readily dry away afterwards, and after passing through the rolls I let the kinked
or corrugated hair remain at rest until thoroughly dry and set, and thus obtain
the best results in respect of the rigidity and permanency of the corrugations. In
connection with the crimping or corrugating rolls I employ hackling rolls for
drawing, straightening out, and feeding the hair or fibres to said rolls, and an
endless belt or apron which delivers the material to said feeding and drawing rolls,
and also a device for applying oil or other suitable liquid substances to the fibres
to facilitate the crimping of them. The corrugated rolls consist of ordinary
grooved or fluted crimping rolls of brass or iron with internal hollow spaces for the
admission of steam through the journals, as is common with such machines. The
oil may be dripped upon the fibres by means of a roller and drip plate, the plate
scraping the oil from the surface of the roll, as the latter slowly turns round,
and raises a thin film from the oil tank. The oil may be applied to the hair at any
It will be observed
time, and in any approved way before it arrives at the rolls.
that hairs too short to be curled to advantage by roping may be corrugated
equally as well as the longer ones, and a material advantage of corrugated fibre
over the curled will be found in the shorter and consequently stiffer bends or
curves that this possesses.
It will also be noticed that by the heat and also by the effect of the oil and other
substances with which the hair may be treated in the corrugating process (for instance
gummy and resinous matters), the hair will be made stiffer than in the natural
state. By these corrugations or crimps the hair will be readily distinguished from
the curled hair of common use. I desire it to be understood that I do not claim
curled hair, for that is common and well known, and the hair prepared by my
process differs clearly from it in form, and is much superior in quality. I would
also have it clearly understood that my present Invention differs from that set
forth in my Specification, No. 5094, dated 7th December 1880, principally in that
my previous Patent related to the treatment of vegetable fibre, while my present
Invention relates to the treatment of hair.