THE APPLICATION OF A NEW MATERIAL OR FABRIC TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PLASTERS FOR MEDICAL OR SURGICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Tomlinson, of Sale, in the County of Chester,
Commercial Traveller, for the Invention of "THE APPLICATION OF A NEW
MATERIAL OR FABRIC TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PLASTERS FOR MEDICAL OR
SURGICAL PURPOSES."
Sealed the 14th November 1854, and dated the 30th May 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Tomlinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th May 1854.
I, RICHARD TOMLINSON, of Sale, in the County of Chester, Commercial
Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE
APPLICATION OP A NEW MATERIAL OR FABRIC TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PLASTERS
FOR MEDICAL OR SURGICAL PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of such plasters as are intended
to have a margin round them of the material or fabric on which they are
spread, and consists in applying to such purpose instead of leather a material
or fabric composed of an openly woven fabric, covered on one side with a
coating of oil, varnish, or other suitable waterproof composition, capable of
producing a smooth and flexible surface on such fabric or fabrics. The faco
of the fabric thus covered being rendered smooth and soft, and impervious
to the passing of fluids through it, becomes thereby suitable as a back for the
kind of plasters above referred to.
The particular mode of spreading the plasters is no part of my Invention,
neither is the material or fabric when otherwise used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Tomlinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
TOMLINSON, of Sale, in the County of Chester, Commercial Traveller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight.hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Tomlinson, Her special license that I, the said Richard Tomlinson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Tomlinson, 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 "THE APPLICATION OF A NEW
MATERIAL OR FABRIC TO THE MANUFACTURE OF PLASTERS FOR MEDICAL OR SURGICAL
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that the said Richard
Tomlinson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of tho 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 Richard Tomlinson, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say)
My Invention of "The Application of a New Material or Fabric to the
Manufacture of Plasters for Medical or Surgical Purposes" relates to the
manufacture of such plasters as are intended to have left round them a margin
of the material or fabric on which they are spread, and consists in applying to
such purpose, instead of leather or plain woven cloth, a material or fabric com-
posed of woven fabrics, covered on one side with a coating of oil, varnish, or
other suitable waterproof composition, capable of producing a smooth and
flexible surface on such fabric or fabrics. The surface of the fabric thus
covered being rendered smooth and soft, and impervious to the passing of

page_text: fluids through it, becomes thereby suitable as a back for the kind of plasters
above referred to.
The fabric which I prefer for the purpose in ordinary cases is a woven
canvas made of cotton, and painted, varnished, or covered on one side with
any of the ordinary compositions used for rendering fabrics waterproof, without
interfering with their pliability; but I do not confine myself to this material,
as in some cases it may be desirable to use a woven fabric composed of woollen,
worsted, linen, or alpaca material. The coating for the fabric may also be
variously composed, and may be applied thereto in any convenient manner, so
long as when applied it is adapted to afford a back of the nature referred to
for the plaster when spread upon it.
The mode of fixing the plasters on the side of the cloth which is not coated
is first to run the cloth through a thin paste, so as to make it capable of
receiving the plaster more readily, and then over forms of the size and shape
of the intended plasters, and thus to print the plasters on the cloth in such a
manner as to leave a margin round each plaster of the fabric, the back of
which is suitably coated.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not mean
or intend to confine myself to the use of any particular fabric, nor any par-
ticular coating thereon, provided the fabric be such as is suitable to receive
the coating of the varnish, &c. on the one side, and the plaster spread, as before
mentioned, on the other side, and to be rendered waterproof as well as pliable
by such coating; but what I do claim as of my Invention is, the substitution
for leather and plain woven cloth of a woven fabric, coated on one side with
waterproofing composition, so as to form a back for the plasters spread on the
other side in such a manner as to leave a margin round each plaster.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Tomlinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JOSEPII REED,
Tailor & Draper,
South Shields..
RICHARD TOMLINSON. (L.s.)