A NEW MANUFACTURE OF STUFFS, WITH TRANSPARENT AND COLORED FIGURES, WHICH I CALL DIAPHANE STUFFS
Year: 1824

page_text: WILSON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
WILSON, of Streatham, in the County of Surry, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the fifth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, Flis heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Stephen Wilson, His especial licence that I, the said Stephen. Wilson, my
exors, adiñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Stephen Wilson,
my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree. with, and no, others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW
MANUFACTURE OF STUFFS, WITH TRANSPARENT AND COLORED FIGURES, WHICH I
CALL DIAPHANE STUFFS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Stephen Wilson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to
cause the same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Stephen Wilson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
doth consist in a manufacture of firm or bound network figures on solid and
perfect grounds, exhibiting colored patterns thereon; and in further com-
pliance with the said proviso, I, the said Stephen Wilson, do hereby describe
the manner in which I perform my said Invention, by the following descrip-
tion thereof, and as the printing of the said patterns is the first process or
operation to be performed in the said manufacture, I do hereby describe the
same as follows, that is to say:-
I cause a chain or web to be warped with great care, of any number of
threads required, and I mount it in a loom in the usual way, of the width
of the work intended to be made, taking great care in the turning on or
spreading of the chain, as well as in the entering or twisting, all of which are
done in the usual and customary manner. But instead of leisures or selvidges,
I make use of a cord or edge thread, at about one inch from the edge of the
work, strong enough to retain the shoot, similar to a fringe; I then weave a
heading in the usual way, and leave about half a yard of the web unwrought,
and then I shoot four shoots of tabby or plain cloth, very correct and perfectly
in square, with a strong silk or other string, similar to that used for cross
strings. I then continue to weave with a coarse thread of cotton, flax,
worsted, silk, or other material, which I strike up so as scarcely to touch each
other, but which, however, binds all my threads from distance to distance and
divides them, and forms a fabric or cloth, and which must be kept very
straight and perfectly stretched on the breast roll. I then print this stuff in
the usual way of printing as it comes off the roll, and steam it or otherwise
fix the colors, and afterwards wash or bettle it, as it may require, to wash out
the gum or other superfluous coloring matter. I then roll the work very
straight upon two rolls, and I put four rods in the place of the four first
shoots of tabby, strong enough to keep the threads crossed, and when perfectly
stretched, I cut the edge thread and draw out the cotton or other thread,
leaving four or five threads at short distances to keep the design in shape; or
which is still better, I have the threads drawn out as the work is wove,
similarly to drawing out the rods in weaving Brussels carpeting or terry velvet.
Observe, it will be a useful precaution to weave the tabby shoots to serve as a
cross string at the end of the piece, as well as at the beginning, in case of
accidents. Instead of the edge thread, I sometimes put a gauze thread
simply at the edges, which holds the shoot tighter. I find in silk works that
cotton shoot answers best and slack twisted, as it sucks up the superfluous
colour. The following are the tyes I have found to answer best, as the

page_text: threads are seldom bound, and therefore less likely to be marked in the
printing:-
The advantages of this method are, that figures may be produced superior to any
clouding, for in clouding the tyings-up can seldom be less than a quarter of an
inch, while by my method they can be to a hair's breadth; the design can also
be much truer and kept in shape in the weaving. The cross threads or shoots
having been drawn out after the work has been printed, as before described, it
is obvious that what remains on the rollers will be a mere colored warp. And
with this warp, so colored as aforesaid, I next proceed to weave firm or bound
network figures on solid and perfect grounds, as before mentioned, in the fol-
lowing manner, that is to say:-1 make use of mountings, harnesses, and reeds,
and heddles with standards, and carrying lamms and doups or half heddles,
made as usual, and which are well known to every common ganze weaver.
The number of cords to the mountings, or the number of figures, lamms, or
heddles is not material, but depends on the size or nature of the figure; but
I cannot have less than two ground lamms or back leaves or standards, and
two carrying lamms or fore standards and doups. Instead of entering the
threads of the ground in the usual way, first on the one lamm and then on
the other, I enter the first thread on the back lamm, then two threads on the
other or front lamm, then-one on the back lamm, which completes the course,
and thus I continue to the end, so that the ground is entered in spaces of two
threads on two lamms. If the work is very rich, I enter my threads on more
lamms to prevent the leishes being too much crowded; but if I make use of
four or more lamms to make a tabby or sarsenet ground,t ey all act as if only
two, I enter the whip-threads in the usual way in the mails or leishes of the
mounture or great harness, and passing each under two ground threads, one-on
cach lamm, I pass them through the doups on the alternate lamms till all are
entered; I then draw the reel with three threads in a dent or split, videlicit,
two ground threads, one from each lamm or leaf, and one whip thread.
Having thus explained the way in which the threads are entered and pre-

page_text: pared, I shall proceed to describe the march or order in which I work them; I
raise in the usual way tho back lanım or leaf of the ground, which raises the
first thread of the first dent, and the second thread of the second dent; and
with the next shoot I raise the front lamm, which raises the second thread of
the first dent with the first thread of the second dent, thus two of the ground
threads riso together, while the other two remain down together. With each
of theso shoots I raise one of the carrying lamms, so that of the two whip
threads which separate each of the two ground threads, which go together, the
one remains down which separates the two that rise, and the other rises
between the two that remain down, and thus I make a perfect tabby or plain
ground. To make my transparent figures when the designs are extensive, I
paint the figure on draft, design, or point paper, in the usual manner, but only
for half the number of cords required, and I read it in on the reading-in
machine, for which I have His said Majesty's Letters Patent, dated the
Eighth day of March One thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and a Spe-
cification of which said machine I enrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery, on the Seventh day of July One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-one, as by reference to the same, will more fully appear. Taking two
cords for each one of the draft, and having introduced between the punch
holder and the punch receiver an index made of thin bars of iron or metal,
wide enough to cover every other row of holes, and so to prevent every alter-
nate row of punches from being projected, I stamp my first lash in the usual
manner, described in the said last-mentioned Specification, and the slip or
pasteboard has only every other hole stamped of the figure that it would have
had but for the index. I then let go my lash, and replace my punches, and
move my index, so as to cover the holes before left uncovered, and I draw
forward the same lash and stamp a second slip or pasteboard, which will have
the holes stamped which were omitted in the other, and thus I proceed, having
two pasteboards for each line of the draft, till the pattern is completed. With
these pasteboards I weave with the weaving machine in the usual manner,
taking care that the pattern accords with the march of the ground and doups,
otherwise there will be no transparency. For half the whip threads being
raised every shoot, and the pattern also being stamped to raise only every
other cord of the figure, if the same whip threads as are raised by the carrying
lamm are drawn also by the last lash or pasteboard, no figure can be produced,
it therefore follows that the pasteboard must act upon those whip threads
which are not raised by the carrying lamm, to allow of which the doup lamm
must be slackened. I give this method of stamping the pattern as the most
effectual, and as that which I adopt as the least expensive and most expeditious

page_text: for preparing extensive designs; but I also draw and read them on the whole
number of cords, and without making use of the index ; but when I dispense
with the index, I draw my pattern on the design paper with the exact number
of cords and lashes; and this plan I also necessarily adopt for weaving when
my said patent machines are not used, and then it is essentially necessary that
the pattern should be painted tabby or taffety, that is, the squares usually
colored should be only colored alternately, that is, every other one painted for
one shoot, and the next shoot, those painted which were left in the former,
while those which were colored are left; this has only reference to the figure,
the ground in all cases being left uncolored. If the transparent figures are
drawn pretty equally all over, I make them upon two cane rolls, one for the
ground and the other for the whip; but if some parts are more figured than
others, I still have but one roll for the ground, and I divide the whip upon
several rolls, according as the design is more or less figured.
Now, whereas I do not claim as my invention any stuff in which either the
ground or figure is rendered imperfect by two threads rising or falling togther
in a place, while the next two rise and fall alternately, nor do I claim any
stuff in which the grounds or figures are perfect, while the transparent parts
are only bound slightly, similar to a cyprus or a ganze of two threads; but
my Invention of diaphane stuffs, in which the grounds or figures are perfect,
and the transparent parts are bound tight, as a toilet or a gauze of three or
more threads, and the whip is point or running to the right and to the left,
and the warps of which have been colored or printed, as aforesaid, being to the
best of my knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within
that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
called England, His Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed; I
do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily
believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained, wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Wilson, hath hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-five

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid Stephen Wilson came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.