AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATS OR. FABRICS USED FOR PACKING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Barsham, of Albert. Road, Kingston-upon-
Thames, in the County of Surrey, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATS OR. FABRICS USED FOR
PACKING."'
Sealed the 27th March 1857, and dated the 13th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Barsham at the Office.
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
January 1857.
I, JOHN BARSHAM, of Albert Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, in the County
of Surrey, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MATS OR FABRICS USED FOR PACKING,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the manufacture of
mats or fabrics used for packing. For this purpose the mats or fabrics may
be made of flags, rushes, straw, or other fibrous matters, and they are woven
or tied together into mats or fabrics, similarly to what has heretofore been
done; and the improvement consists in forming on to such mats or fabrics,
raised parts, to act as partitions between the articles packed or placed between

page_text: such raised parts. The raised parts may be made at different distances apart,
and of suitable heights, depending on and according to the size and nature of
the articles to be packed, and they may be made at right angles to the length
of the mats or fabrics, or in inclined directions thereto; and such raised parts
may be made in the act of weaving or tyeing the materials together, or after
they have been woven or fastened into mats or fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Barsham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BARSHAM, of Albert Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, in the County of Surrey,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto me, the said
John Barsham, Her special licence that I, the said John Barsham, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Barsham,
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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MATS OR FABRICS USED FOR PACKING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Barsham, 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 John Barsham, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the manufacture of

page_text: mats or fabrics used for packing. For this purpose the mats or fabrics may
be made of flags, rushes, straw, or other fibrous matters, and they are woven
or tied together into mats or fabrics, similarly to what has heretofore been
done; and the improvement consists in forming on such mats or fabrics raised
parts, to act as partitions between the articles packed or placed between such
raised parts. The raised parts may be made at different distances apart, and
of suitable heights, depending on and according to the size and nature of the
articles to be packed, and they may be made at right angles to the length of
the mats or fabrics, or in inclined directions thereto; and such raised parts
may be made in the act of weaving or tyeing the materials together, or after
they have been woven or fastened into mats or fabrics.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews a plan, and Figure 2 an edge view, of a piece of rush
matting made suitable for carrying out my Invention.
Figure 3 shows a plan, and Figure 4 a section, of a small box, in which
eight bottles are packed, according to my Invention.
The materials used for making mats or fabrics for packing bottles and other
articles, according to my Invention, may be flags, rushes, straw, or other fibrous
substances woven together, as is shewn at a, a, in Figures 1 and 2, or the
interweaving of the strands a, a, may be more often than is shewn in tho Draw-
ing. At intervals, on one surface of each mat are raised parts b, b, which are
produced at a greater or less distance apart, according to the size of the bottles
or other articles to be packed in such mats or fabrics.
In the mats or fabrics shewn by the Drawing, the projections are formed
across the mats or fabrics by folding and fastening parts at intervals, but such
projections may be formed in any other convenient manner. In using such
mats when packing bottles, or it might be other articles, a portion of the mat
or fabric is first placed on the bottom and at one end of a box or case, and a
bottle is to be placed thereon, the next projection of the mat or fabric is then
raised, so as to come between the first and the next bottle which is to be laid
on the fabric or mat, and so on, till the bottom of the case or box is covered;
then on the bottles so packed another similar mat or fabric is placed, and the
same is to be similarly covered with bottles, interspaced by the folded parts of
the mat or fabric, as above explained, and in this manner the case or box is to
be filled with bottles, or it may be other articles, in layers one above the other,

page_text: having a mat or fabric interposed between the succeeding layers, as above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Barsham, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
JOHN BARSHAM. (L.S.)