IMPROVED MEANS OF FINISHING SILKS, PLUSH, AND VELVETS, AND FOR PRODUCING LUSTRE ON THE SURFACE THEREOF
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Henry Firth, Knight, of Heckmondwike,
in the County of York, Member of the Firm of Edwin Firth and
Sons, of the same Place, Manufacturers, for the Invention of.
"IMPROVED MEANS OF FINISHING SILKS, PLUSH, AND VELVETS, AND FOR
PRODUCING LUSTRE ON THE SURFACE THEREOF."
Scaled the 4th July 1873, and dated the 10th May 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Henry Firth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th May 1873.
I, CHARLES HENRY FIRTH, Knight, of Heckmondwike, in the County
of York, Member of the Firm of Edwin Firth and Sons, of the same
Place, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS OF FINISHING SILKS, PLUSH, AND VELVETS, AND FOR
PRODUCING LUSTRE ON THE SURFACE THEREOF," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to obtaining by means of improved finishing an
almost entire absence of knops from the silk, perfect openness of fibre in
the pile, a greater smoothness and softness to the touch, and greater
:
'

page_text: brilliancy and lustre than has hitherto been obtained, causing the cloth
to appear to be made of better silk yarn than is the fact. I tako silk
plush, silk velvets, silk pile cloth, the pile of which has been cut.
The fabric is then washed, it is then carded or raised, and having been
placed upon a drying tenter is fettled and batted up, and then the pile is
cropped. These processes are repeated as often as necessary to arrive at
matching the degree of finish wanted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Henry Firth in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HENRY FIRTH, Knight, of Heckmondwike, in the County of York,
Member of the Firm of Edwin Firth and Sons, of the same Place, Manu-
facturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Henry Firth, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Henry Firth, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Henry Firth, 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
**IMPROVED MEANS OF FINISHING SILKS, PLUSH, AND VELVETS, AND FOR PRODUCING
LUSTRE ON THE SURFACE THEREOF," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles Henry Firth, 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

page_text: cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Henry Firth, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to obtaining by means of improved finishing an
almost entire absence of knops from the silk, perfect openness of fibre in
the pile, a greater smoothness and softness to the touch, and greater
brilliancy and lustre than has hitherto been obtained, causing the cloth
to appear to be made of better silk yarn than is the fact. I take silk
plush, silk velvets, silk pile cloths, the pile of which has been cut.
The fabric is then washed; it is then carded or raised, and having been
placed upon a drying tenter is fettled and batted up, and then the pile is
cropped. These processes are repeated as often as necessary to arrive at
matching the degree of finish wanted.
The fabric may be dyed in the piece before the finishing process
commences, or if the fabric is yarn dyed it would not need dyeing in tho
picce.