AN IMPROVEMENTS OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS OR FABRICS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SUCH CLOTHS OR FABRICS TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LAWRENCE
WOOD FLETCHER, of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters Patent
under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of December, now last
past, did give and grant unto me, the said Lawrence Wood Fletcher, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Lawrence Wood Fletcher, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Lawrence Wood Fletcher, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENTS OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS OR FABRICS,
AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SUCH CLOTHS OR FABRICS TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Lawrence Wood Fletcher, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited

page_text: Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Lawrence Wood Fletcher, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained as follows, that is to say :-
Whereas cloth formed in the ordinary way, having the warp and weft
threads parallel, and at right angles to the edges of such cloth when cut in a
diagonal direction, will only allow of short pieces being obtained. My improve-
ments in the manufacture of woollen and other cloths or fabrics consists
in producing cloth of any required length with the warp and weft threads in
a diagonal direction; that is to say, a cloth or texture in which the threads of
warp, instead of lying parallel with the edge of the cloth and the weft rectan-
gularly thereto, are both made to assume a position diagonal to the edge of
the fabric, thereby rendering the texture much more elastic than common
cloth in the direction both of its length and width. I weave the cloth in a
common loom in the manner commonly practised in weaving circular or
cylindrical cloth for hose pipes, shirting, sacking, &c., only with the difference,
that as in the result it is of importance that the threads should in all parts bo
as equally disposed as possible, I find it necessary instead of the temples
generally employed, to use a stretcher of a peculiar form, the plan and section
of which are delineated in the annexed Drawing, and which I will now
describe. It is in the form of a wedge, the thin edge or point being about a
quarter of an inch thick, and works a short distance from the point where the
weft is beaten up; the thick edge or head, being about one inch and a quarter
thick, works close to the breast beam or cloth rail; thus the length from head
to point will vary according to the loom, but is generally about five inches, the
width varying according to the width of cloth wanted. The sides are rounded
for the purpose of keeping the warp threads more equally distributed, by
taking away the pressure which ordinarily brings the outer splits or dents
closer together; they are also bevilled or tapered off from point to head, so
that the perimeter of the head and point may be about the same at every
stroke of the read. The head of the stretcher is brought close to the breast
beam, but is again forced forwards inside the hollow of the cloth by the spring.
or pull of the cloth over the cloth rail, thus keeping the thin edge or point at
the required distance from the place where the cloth is making. It is intro-
duced between the upper and lower portions of the warp threads, and forced
into the hollow of the circular cloth after a few inches of the cloth has been
woven. During the process I weave in a thread of a color different to the

page_text: rest, in such a manner as that it shall form a spiral line around the said cloth to
an angle of forty-five degrees, which I find the most generally useful; but any
other may be adopted according to the purpose to which the cloth is intended
to be applied. In order to do this I make use of what is called a lappet lathe.
The cloth is now in a cylindrical or circular form, with the warp in the
direction of its length, and the weft at right angles with its sides or edges, and a
thread or line woven spirally from one end to the other. In order to reverse or
alter the direction of the threads, so as to form this cylindrical or circular cloth
into what I call elastic diagonal cloth, I cut open with shears, or by any con-
venient means, the said cloth, taking the colored spiral thread as my guide;
and having passed the shears through the said line from end to end, the cloth
falls into or assumes a flat and open form, having both warp and weft with
their ends terminating throughout in the sides or edges of the texture. I
sometimes use a common Jacquard machine attached to the loom, the cards of
which are pierced and set according to the required angle or pattern; I com-
mence weaving at any part of the pattern, say in the middle of the upper
portion of warp, and throw the shuttle to the right, the second pick passing
from right to left through the lower portion of warp, the third from left to
right, through the upper portion of warp, bringing out the shuttle one thread
short of the point where the first pick commenced. The fourth pick passes.
from right to left, entering the upper portion of warp one thread to the left of
the point where the third pick ceased; the fifth pick, from left to right, passing
through the lower portion of warp; the sixth, from right to left, passing
through the upper portion of warp, and bringing out the shuttle one thread
short of the point where the first pick commenced; the seventh pick, from left
to right, entering the upper portion of warp one thread to the right of the point
where the sixth pick ceased, and so on, repeating the process as above. A spiral
line of warp threads will thus be left in the cloth uncovered by weft which are.
to be cut from end to end, and the cloth will then assume a flat and open shape,
having a partial selvage formed by the returns of the weft, and the warp
and weft will be diagonal to the edge or selvage. The action of the shuttle
remains as in the ordinary method, but at every point where the weft returns,
forming a selvage in the spiral line, it merely passes on uncombined with the
warp, and returns in the same manner to the point at which it is desired that
it should reunite with the warp. I do not confine myself to the precise
modes herein-before mentioned of marking and cutting the cloth; other modes
may be employed, but I find the above to answer very well. I apply these
cloths to the formation of bands or straps for driving machinery or other
purposes, by uniting any number of plies or layers of such cloth by means of

page_text: a solution of caoutchouc or other clastic substance, and when dry submitting
them to pressure between rollers. I find this cloth particularly adapted also
for the formation of an clastic material for making braces, garters, ligatures,
and other similar purposes by uniting the cloth as above described, and
introducing between two textures as many strands of caoutchouc or other
elastic substance or threads as may be necessary to afford any required degree
of elasticity; and then, cutting the cloth in strips of the required width; strands
of caoutchouc or other elastic substance may also be introduced into the above-
mentioned bands or straps in a similar manner. My elastic diagonal cloth is
also suitable for such garments as are made to fit close to the person, and to
various other purposes where a yielding or elastic quality is required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lawrence Wood Fletcher, have hercunto
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord, One thousand eight hundred and forty.
L. W. (L.S.) FLETCHER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventeenth day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Lawrence Wood Fletcher cane
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of June, in the year above written.