IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward. Newton, of the Office for Patents;.
66, Chancery. Lane, in the County of Middlesex,, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN, THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS."-
A communication from abroad by Thomas Crossley, of Bridgeport, in the
State of Connecticut, United States of America.
Sealed the 19th November 1867, and dated the 30th May 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th May 1867.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a napped surface on felted fabrics;
this is effected by first partially fulling the fabric, then teazling it in. this
unfinished state, then again submitting it to the fulling operation and again
teazling it and finishing it in the ordinary manner. If desired. the fabric may
be fulled and teazled a third time, but it will usually be found that two fullings
and teazlings will be sufficient for the purpose of the Invention. The fabric
when sheared will have the appearance of a cut pile, and may be used for the
manufacture of carpets, for which purpose it may be printed with any desired
pattern.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Newton, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS," being a communication to me
from Thomas Crossley, of Bridgeport, in the State of Connecticut, and United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Newton, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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):
In the manufacture of felted cloths heretofore it has been considered
impracticable to raise a nap or tufted surface of a length sufficient to give it
the appearance of a velvet or plush surface; the reason has been that in the
production of a felted cloth the fibres of the material used are doubled and
intertwined by the felting process, and are afterwards hardened into a firm
cloth by the process of fulling. The action of the teazles in gigging a hard
felted fabric in order to obtain a raised surface has been to break the fibres;

page_text: this has prevented the raising of a long fibre upon felted cloths, and the nap
obtained has usually been coarse and unmanageable, in the process of finishing
by reason of the fibre being broken in the middle of its length instead of being
drawn out at one of its ends. This difficulty does not present itself to so great
an extent in woven goods, inasmuch as the fibres of the substance used,
although twisted and entwined, are laid in a horizontal position, their ends
may therefore be reached by the teazle and drawn out without being broken.
It is well known that much more brilliant and richer colorings can be
produced upon a raised or velvet surface than upon cloths the surface of which
is not napped or raised, and it has been long considered important that some
plan should be discovered whereby a felted cloth might be teazled and a velvet
surface thereby raised without breaking or otherwise injuring the fibres.
After much experimenting it has been discovered that this result may be
obtained by submitting the felted clath to a preliminary gigging process before
being fully hardened by the process of fulling; for instance, fifty yards of
felted cloth requires to be submitted to the process of fulling for the space of
one hour in order to give it sufficient firmness or hardness as heretofore prac-
tised. It is now proposed to remove the cloth or fabric from the fulling
machine after, say, from twenty to thirty minutes, and to pass it over the
teazling gig a sufficient length of time to raise a nap of the length required;
after this it is again put into the fulling stock, say, for fifteen minutes, then
teazled again; it is then submitted to the action of the fulling stock for
another fifteen minutes, or until the cloth is of the required firmness, after
which it is to be finished by teazling on the gig until the desired length of
nap is obtained. By this means the end of the fibres will be drawn out from
the felted fabric without being broken, while at the same time the required
firmness of fabric will be obtained. Felted cloths may in this manner be
produced of any desired weight or thickness, and with any length of nap
required, and may be afterwards dyed and printed, or dyed or printed in any
color or colors, or of any pattern required, and having all the richness and
brilliancy of effect which is to be found upon velvet, or Wilton carpets may
be used in place of such carpets, and produced at a very much reduced cost.
The durable qualities of the fabric when submitted to the above-described
process will be much increased.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture
of Felted Fabrics, communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would observe in
conclusion that what I claim in the above-described improvements, and desire
to secure under the above in part recited Letters Patent is,―

page_text: Manufacturing felted fabrics with a velvet plush or napped surface in the
manner as herein set forth.
And I claim particularly producing the napped surface on felted fabrics by
teazling the surface or fabric before the fulling operation is completed, and
then subsequently fulling the fabric again in order to obtain the required
firmness of texture, as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal; the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.).