Improvements in the Art of Making Ornamental Hair-work.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 27th May, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 27th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Art of Making Ornamental Hair-work.
I WILLIAM WILSON HORN of the firm of Horn and Son of 151 Strand in the
County of Middlesex Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(a communication to me from Margaret I. Waldron of St. Joseph in the State of
Missouri United States of America Inventor) to be as follows:-
This my invention relates to improvements in the art of making ornamental hair-
work and it consists in the details of manufacture arrangement and combination of
parts as hereinafter specified.
In carrying my invention into practice I unite together the hair and a strip or
piece of silk or equivalent textile material or fabric by a composition consisting of
white glue, shred isinglass, acetic acid, water, carbolie acid and oil of roses which
are mixed together in suitable proportions thereby forming an adhesive compound
which will be found particularly suitable for the above purpose.
When the hair and the silk or other material employed are attached to each
other in the manner before described it may be cut up as required and may be
wrought or fabricated in a variety of ways for the production of ornamental
designs.
1
HORN & SON,
Applicant's Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Art of Making Ornamental Hair-work.
I WILLIAM, WILSON HORN of the firm of Horn and Son of 151 Strand in the
County of Middlesex Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention
a communication to me from Margaret 1. Waldron of St. Joseph in the State of
Missouri United States of America Inventor, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention consists in a special compound or composition of matter for use in
the manufacture of hair ornaments-such, for instance, as memorial and keepsake
devices souvenirs, jewelry, or other ornaments made from hair or from the hair of
departed friends; and it further consists in an improvement in the art of making or
fabricating such articles, as will presently more fully appear.
Heretofore a paste made of gelatine has been employed and put on the surface of
gold-beaters skin. Then the hair moistened with gelatine is laid on such skin and
smoothed down as well as the skin will permit. The whole is then dried, and
afterward, when wanted for use, it is cut off in strips and cut up into pieces or bits
to represent leaves, parts of plants buds &c., in forming the required ornaments.
One great objection to this present practice is that the gelatine is not strong
enough in its adhesive properties to insure good lasting work. It does not with
certainty hold the hairs down to place on the skin foundation and cause them
perfectly to cling thereto, and especially when a strip of the same is cut, more or
less of the hairs, especially at their ends, will fly up and separate more or less from
the skin, and this necessarily causes imperfect work. Another objection to the
existing process and to the use of gelatine is that the gold beater's skin being
always of the same shade or color affords but a single color for a background,
whether the hair be black, brown, gray, auburn, or of light shades; and still
Pic 877

page_text: another objection is that after awhile the gelatine loses its adhesive power, and then
the hair or the gold beater's skin will curl up on the glass to which it is usually
applied. To remedy these and other defects is the object of my invention and
which I will now describe.
Instead of gold-beater's skin, I employ as a foundation fine thin silk tissue or
textile fabric of any desired color, dependent on the color of the hair to be used,
but usually of a color of the same or nearly the same as the hair, and this not only
avoids the incongruity of a lack of harmony between the color of the foundation
and the color of the hair, but it also allows of intensifying or lessening the shade of
any given color in the hair product by the selection of an appropriate darker or
lighter shade for the foundation.
The adhesive compound I have invented for this work as a substitute for
gelatine I make substantially as follows: For a first solution I take one (1)
ounce of white glue and thirty (30) grains of shred isinglass, and macerate
them in two (2) ounces of acetic acid, in a warm place, for, say twelve (12)
hours, until dissolved. I then make another or second solution composed of
one (1) pound of white glue put into four (4) pints of water and simmered for
twenty-four (24) hours. Next I add or mix the above first- and second-named
solutions together and add to such mixture ten (10) drops of carbolic acid and
five (5) drops of oil of roses. This compound thus made is ready for use in
making hair leaves, and it is better to use in a warm state; but for use in
making hair shubbery, trees, grasses, &c., such completed composition may be
mixed with water say in the proportion of one part of the composition to three
(3) parts of water, warm water preferred; and I prefer to use the compound in
a warm state. The carbolic acid serves as a disinfectant. The completed com-
pound is very clear and transparent.
In using this new compound in hair-work I apply the hair in the manner
stated above to the silk of such color as may be suitable as a background in
any given case, using this compound instead of the gelatine heretofore employed,
and find the results to be not only greater facility and rapidity in doing the
work, but more perfect work, and with no loose separating hairs rising up from
the foundation silk, no curling up from the glass, like the gold-beater's skin is
apt to do when it becomes dry, and which is possibly due to the fact of its
retaining some of its native oily character and also to its extremely close texture,
preventing the adhesive material from thoroughly permeating it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The above described adhesive compound for use in ornamental hair-work,
consisting of white glue, shred isinglass, acetic acid, water, carbolic acid and oil
of roses in substantially the proportions above stated.
2. The described improvement in the art of making ornamental hair-work con-
sisting in uniting together the hair and a strip or piece of silk or equivalent textile
material by a composition consisting of white glue, shred isinglass, acetic acid,
water, carbolic acid, and oil of roses, and cutting up the same as desired; to be
fabricated into the required ornaments.
:.
1720
1
HORN & SON,
Applicant's Agents.