IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS AND THE APPLICATION OF SUCH FABRICS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS AND
THE APPLICATION OF SUCH FABRICS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS AND
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES."-A communication from abroad by Francois
André Duchêne, the elder, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Manufacturer.
Sealed the 11th January 1870, and dated the 9th August 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th August 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS AND
IN THE APPLICATION OF SUCH FABRICS TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS AND OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES," a communication from abroad by François André

page_text: Duchêne, the elder, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Manufacturer,
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of a new felted fabric, and
consists in felting together in two or more layers or otherwise silk
and wool, or silk and hair, so as to leave one surface silk and the other
wool or hair. The felted material is then "fulled" by the ordinary
fulling process till the requisite thickness is obtained, after which it
may be made into hats or garments, or otherwise employed.
The felting together of the different layers of silk and wool or hair
above referred to is accomplished without the aid of acid or of mercurial
salts.
Another part of this Invention consists in forming selvages on pieces
of felted goods, such selvages consisting of a number of parallel threads
which are felted or incorporated with the silk and wool or hair during
the felting process, whereby such fabrics are strengthened at the
edges. The body of the felted fabric may also be strengthened by
felting or incorporating a warp of threads along the entire width of the
goods.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th February 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that
I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and
assigus, or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, exe-
cutors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF SUCH FABRICS
TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," a communication
to me from abroad by Francois Andre Duchêne, the elder, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, Manufacturer, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the samic 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 Henry Johnson, 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 :-.
The said Invention has for its object the uniting of silk with the hair
of animals by a felting process herein-after described, thereby obtaining
a fabric perfectly uniform in all its parts, in which fabric the two
materials form surfaces of a different nature, which surfaces the felting
intimately unites, whilst the product possesses in a higher degree than
that manufactured by former methods every property calculated to
render it suitable for various useful purposes.
If it be required to manufacture a hat, for example, the silk is first
reduced to the finest state of division possible and the first layer is
made with hair or wool, which is then covered with a second layer of
silk, and this process is continued until the product is ready for fulling,
which is effected by the use of soapy water as in the manufacture of
cloth. By these means a hat is obtained in one piece with the silk
on the surface without the necessity for a "body," whilst in the ordinary
mode of manufacturing silk hats a body is indispensable, as also is the
sewing required to unite the pieces of the fabric.
For the manufacture of fabrics the process is commenced by preparing
by means of the carding engine a lap of a single material, to which the
required dimensions are imparted on an endless cloth beam; on this is
placed another lap of silk alone, and the two together are then subjected

page_text: to the action of the machine, which unites them sufficiently to enable
the fabric to withstand fulling, the latter operation being performed by
means of soapy water. The thickness depends on that of the laps and
the degree of fulling; it is thus possible to obtain products varying
in thickness from a light fabric to a felt suitable for use in carding
engines. It will be perceived that by this process acid or mercurial salts
are entirely dispensed with, which obviates many inconveniences, and
fabrics are obtained each surface of which is of its own nature suitable
for a particular purpose. Thus articles of wearing apparel made up from
these fabrics afford the advantage of hair or wool on one side and silk on
the other.
Felted goods have ordinarily no selvage, by which their strength and
durability are impaired, whilst the fabrics manufactured by these pro-
cesses are provided with selvages, which form part of the felted lap.
The selvages are obtained by placing on the edges of the lap a number
of parallel threads, which are united together by felting, that is to say,
by the union of the hairs with the silk in the general operation. As
the lap is unwound it receives from one or more bobbins the requisite
number of threads to form a selvage of the desired width. This selvage
is formed of parallel threads is then fulled with the rest.
It should be observed that by the same process a felted fabric may be
made the whole width of which is composed of a threaded warp similar
to the selvages herein-before described.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The manufacture of felted fabrics in which layers of wool or
hair and silk are felted together and subsequently milled without the
use of acids or mercurial salts, substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
Second. The felting of threads into the selvages of felted fabrics for
the purpose of strengthening such selvages, as herein-before described.

page_text: Third. The manufacture of felted fabrics having a warp of threads
felted into the whole or any portion of their width, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of
February One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)