IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR MODES OF MANUFACTURING MUFFS, FOOT WARMERS, SLIPPERS, WAIST AND CHEST PROTECTORS, CAPS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING, AND IN APPLIANCES IN CONNECTION THERE- WITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ritchie, of Tower House, Westbourne
Park, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR MODES OF MANUFACTURING MUFFS,
FOOT WARMERS, SLIPPERS, WAIST AND CHEST PROTECTORS, CAPS, AND OTHER
SUCH LIKE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING, AND IN APPLIANCES IN CONNECTION THERE-
WITH."
.
Sealed the 15th January 1875, and dated the 19th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by tho said George Ritchic at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th November 1874.
I, GEORGE RICHIE, of Tower House, Westbourne Park, in the County
of Middlesex, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OR MODES OF MANUFACTURING
MUFFS, FOOT WARMERS, SLIPPERS, WAIST AND CHEST PROTECTORS, CAPS, AND
OTHER SUCH LIKE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING, AND IN APPLIANCES IN CONNECTION THERE-
WITH," to be as follows: →
The Invention consists in lining or padding the muffs or other articles

page_text: with prepared cork applied in cells, bags, or chambers provided for its
reception, and in forming the articles or some of them into general
shapes adapted to their particular purposes by suitably corresponding
dispositions of the cells, bags, or chambers; and further, in the combi-
nation with the foregoing of cork and other materials applied in sheets
or otherwise than in cells, bags, or chambers.
-
It is contemplated in some cases to employ tissue paper or other
materials in layers alongside of silk, cotton, or other fabrics, and to
produce the cells, bags, or chambers at intervals through the several
thicknesses of the materials.
In order to charge the cells, bags, or chambers with cork when in a
granulated condition I sometimes employ a tapered and somewhat fincly
.pointed metal or wooden plug passed down through or along the length
and fill in the cork around the plug, gradually withdrawing the plug as
the filling proceeds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Ritchie in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RITCHIE, of Tower House, Westbourne Park, in the County of Middlesex,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Ritchie, Her special
licence that I, the said George Ritchie, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Ritchie, 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

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OR MODES OF MANUFACTURING MUFFS, FOOT WARMERS, SLIPPERS, WAIST
AND CHEST PROTECTORS, CAPS, AND OTHER SUCH LIKE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING, AND
IN APPLIANCES IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Ritchie, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Lottone Patent
By the expression prepared cork I intend cork in a unely powdered
) or granulated condition sifted to one size and freed from dust.
The cells, bags, or chambers may be made by stitching together several
layers, thicknesses, or pieces of any convenient linen, cotton, or other
fabrics by lines or rows of stitching generally in parallel rows and across
at short distances asunder, say for instance three-quarters of an inch,.

page_text: more or less, and previously to charging them with the granulated cork
I sew up, plug, or close at one end the cells, bags, or chambers so pro-
duced.
In order to charge them with the granulated cork I sometimes
employ a tapered and sometimes a finely pointed metal or wooden plug
passed down through or along the length and fill in the cork around the
plug, gradually withdrawing the plug as the filling proceeds.
It is evident that the Invention admits of application to various
articles of which those specially enumerated in its title may be con-
sidered types or examples, and in such application the disposition of the
cells, bags, or chambers may be such as to bring their run or length to 1
lie in any direction across or against any curvature of surface either
transversely or otherwise.
Selecting, for example, a lady's muff, which in general form may be
considered a hollow cylinder, the lining or padding may be so applied
that the length of the cells, bags, or chambers may extend in a direction 1
either around the cylinder or otherwise parallel to its axis, or it may be
in a diagonal or intermediate direction; and sometimes with a view to.
the better securing the cork or filling locally in position, whether for
muffs or other articles, I stitch across the bags, cells, or chambers after
being filled in a direction at right angles to or at any angle across the 2
stitching of the bags, cells, or chambers so as to produce a kind or
description of quilted result, and this is especially desirable in the case
of caps, shoes, and articles having much curvature of surface in a small
space.
The cork when it is applied in sheets in combination with the appli- 2
cation, more particularly and at length herein described, may be cut into
strips or to any shapes convenient for the purpose; and instead of lining
or padding muffs and other articles in the manner herein described,.
whether in combination or not in combination with the application of
cork in sheets, I sometimes make up the fabric itself, which constitutes
the external surface of the muff or article, into cells, bags, or chambers.
and fill them in the same manner as for a lining or padding, as herein

page_text: produce the cells, bags, or chambers at intervals through the several
thicknesses of the materials.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ritchie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.