IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTED FABRICS," a communication from abroad
by Henry Hayward, of the City and County of New York, and
State of New York, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 5th February 1869, and dated the 6th August 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 6th August 1868, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has been
communicated to me from abroad by Henry Hayward, of the City and
County of New York, and State of New York, in the United States of
'America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
In what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:
This Invention relates to imparting a stiffness and body to the
material by incorporating hair, preferably horsehair, in the body of the
felt. Horsehair may be incorporated in single strands, not wrought
together if preferred, and some portion of the benefit of the Invention
may be realized from such an arrangement, but it is far preferable
to work the horsehair or the like together in loosely woven, knitted,
or other openwork fabrics.
I will proceed to describe what I consider the best means of carrying
out the said Invention.
The accompanying Drawings form a part of this Specification.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a skirt made according to my Invention;
the dotted lines indicate the upper and lower edges of a strip of stiffening
material which is embodied within the felt; Figures 2 and 3 are enlarged
views of the stiffening fabric; Figure 4 is a cross section of the stiffening
fabric showing its relation to the felt within which it is enclosed. The
whole is on a magnified scale; Figure 5 represents a yarn composed of
cotton and horsehair twisted together.
material may be used instead of cotton.
Woollen or other suitable
Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
To make a felted skirt, having provided a form of wood or other
suitable material of the proper size and arranged to be rotated in con-
nection with the carding engine according to the present approved plan,
I proceed to wind thereon the webs of wool crossing each other at
various angles until about half the quantity of wool which is required
for the skirt has been laid on. I now take the horsehair fabric of the
proper width, usually preferring to have it only from one to two feet in
width, and I apply this upon the former so that it winds quite around

page_text: the skirt holding it in place, it may be by the hands or by stitches, or by
other means, and proceed to wind more webs across each other as before.
'After the proper quantity has been laid on I remove the skirt from the
form and proceed to treat it under a jigger or with other approved
apparatus to cause the wool to felt together firmly. The open character
of the horsehair fabric allows the fibres of wool to traverse through the
said stiffening fabric, and to felt firmly the one side fast to the other,
thus holding the horsehair fabric completely embedded in the felt.
With felt of the ordinary thickness the stiffening fabric will be for the
most part concealed, but this is not material.
I propose in some instances to weave, knit, or otherwise produce the
stiffening fabric thinner at the upper edge than at the lower edge. The
effect of this is to reduce the stiffening greatly so that no sudden change
is observed at the point where the stiffening fabric ends. I can, if
preferred, in any case wind the stiffening fabric around more than one
complete revolution. In such case I prefer to put a small quantity of
wool between by running on a few layers of web from the carding
engine and take care to properly distribute the joints or ends where the
stiffening fabric abuts together.
I propose usually to have the lower edge of the stiffening fabric about
one inch, or one and a half inches above what will be the lower edge of
the skirt when finished. I can extend the stiffening fabric quite to the
top if desired.
I propose to make other felted goods with my horsehair material
embraced within the wool as described, laying the webs of wool so that
they shall cross each other and felt through by any approved construction
of machinery.
I propose to make felted hats in this manner, making the stiffness
greater in the brim and diminishing towards the tip, by making the
horsehair work thinner and more open at the centre or tip of the hat
body.
It is essential only to this Invention that the stiffening fabric be open
worked, be adapted to add stiffness to the skirt without being seriously
out of harmony therewith, shall wear properly with heat and cold, and
particularly with wetting and drying, and shall be embedded at or near
the centre of the wool so that the surface shall be of felt, while the
stiffening material is mainly or entirely inside of the fabric, and the
whole shall form in substance a single fabric.

page_text: I can in case of very conical or irregular shaped work, as hats, knit the
horsehair stiffener in an approximately corresponding form by putting
it together with knitting machinery adapted to narrow rapidly.
I propose, when the stiffening fibre is woven in a loom, to make the
warps of horsehair combined with thread, linen, or cotton, or other
suitable material. Figure 5 shows this combination, it makes a very
strong and appropriate stiffening warp.
warp. The horsehairs may abut
together or be lapped upon each other as may be preferred.
Referring to the Drawings, A is the under web or compound layer
of wool; B is the openwork stiffening material; C are the outer webs
or compound layers of wool; A' and C' represent those fibres of the
compound layers A and C which reach through the openings in the
stiffening material B, and bind the whole firmly together.
Having now fully described my Invention, what I claim as new and
desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the within-described felted fabric
compounded of the two layers of felt A and C, with a layer or partial
layer of openwork hair enclosed between, the whole being firmly confined
together by the interlaced fibres A¹ and C' of the felting material,
substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of August, A.D. 1868.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.C.