IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNA- MENTATION OF FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Lea, of Lower Tulse Hill, in the County
of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNA-
MENTATION OF FELTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 7th May 1878, and dated the 14th December 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Lea at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 14th December 1877.
WILLIAM HENRY LEA, of Lower Tulse Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNAMENTATION OF FELTED FABRICS."
The object of this Invention is to adapt felted fabrics for use as hangings whero
both sides of the fabric are or may be exposed to view.
It is well known that felted fabrics prepared for carpets and for tablecloths havo
been ornamented by block printing, but the colour has permeated more or less to the
back of the fabric and rendered it unsightly. I now propose so to ornament felted
cloths as to render them suitable for curtains without the addition of a lining
thereto. To this end, supposing it is intended to ornament the curtains with, say,
for example, colored stripes, I prepare an engraved printing roller having the
pattern desired to be reproduced in incised lines, and this I supply with two, three,
or inore colors simultaneously from color rollers, which run in a color trough divided
up by transverse partitions, and forming receptacles, of any desired number, corre-
sponding with the number of color rollers used. These color rollers will be mounted
on one and the same axle, and will by their rotation in their respective color
receptacles take up the color and transmit it to the engraved cylinder.
I provide the printing cylinder with a doctor for taking off the superfluous color
therefrom, leaving only the lines in the cylinder filled with colour, and I am thus
enabled by means of one cylinder, one trough, and one set of color rollers to produce
at one operation upon the fabric the pattern in the various colors desired.
The same remark applies when other patterns than lines are used, provided they
are of the character known as continuous patterns.

page_text: By applying the colors by means of an engraved cylinder I am enabled so far to
regulate the quantity of color used as to prevent wholly or in great part the dis-
coloration of the back of the fabric; and in order to give the felted fabric an orna-
mental appearance at the back I print upon it in, say, one uniform dark color, a
small diaper pattern, or a pattern of such character as will spread evenly over the
surface; thus any discoloration of the back, should any such occur, will be so far
hidden as to be unnoticeable, and the necessity which generally arises for lining
curtains will be avoided.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Lea in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th June
1878.
WILLIAM HENRY LEA, of Lower Tulse Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ORNAMENTATION OF FELTED FABRICS."
The object of this Invention is to adapt felted fabrics for use as hangings where
both sides of the fabric are or may be exposed to view.
It is well known that felted fabrics prepared for carpets and for tablecloths have
been ornamented by block printing, but the color has permeated more or less to the
back of the fabric, and rendered the back unsightly. I now propose so to ornament
felted cloths as to render them suitable for curtains without the addition of a lining
thereto. To this end when it is intended to ornament the curtains with, say, for
example, coloured stripes, I prepare an engraved printing cylinder having the
pattern desired to be reproduced in incised lines, and this I supply with two, three,
or more colors simultaneously froin color rollers, which run in a color trough
divided up by transverse partitions, and formning receptacles of any desired number,
corresponding with the number of colors to be imparted to the engraved printing
cylinder. The color rollers are mounted on an axle extending from end to end of
the color trough, and by their rotation in their respective color receptacles they will
take up the color and transmit it to the engraved cylinder
The printing cylinder is to be provided as usual with a "doctor" or scraper for
taking off the superfluous color therefrom, leaving only the lines in the cylinder
filled with color, and I am thus enabled by means of one cylinder, one trough, and
one set of color rollers to produce at one operation upon the fabric the pattern in
the various colors desired.
The same remark applies when other patterns than lines are used provided they
are of the character known as continuous patterns.
By applying the colors by means of an engraved cylinder I am enabled so far to
regulate the quantity of color used as to prevent wholly, or in great part, the
discoloration of the back of the fabric, and in order to give the felted fabric an
ornamental appearance at the back I print upon it in, say, one uniform dark color
a small diaper pattern, or a pattern of such character as will spread evenly over the

page_text: surface. Thus any discoloration of the back, should any such occur, will be so far
hidden as to be unnoticeable, and the necessity which generally arises for lining
curtains will be avoided.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews in front elevation a color trough,
divided up transversely, and furnished with a series of color rollers, mounted on a
common axle, and serving to impart several colors simultaneously to the printing
roller in connection therewith.
In this Figure A is the trough, divided up by transverse partitions B, B, which
serve to carry the axle C of the color rollers D, the length of which rollers varies
according to the length of the compartments in which they are placed; E is the
printing cylinder, which receives color from contact with the rollers D, and is
cleaned in the usual manner by "doctors" or scrapers, so as to present only the
color contained in the incised lines to the fabric to be printed.
The printing machine, it will be understood, may be fitted with one, two, or more
printing cylinders arranged with color rollers, as shewn at Fig. 1, and these printing
cylinders when more than one is used will together form the complement of the
pattern to be printed.
The trough at Fig. 1 is represented as containing nine color compartments. Theso
compartments it will be understood may be each sapplied with a distinct color; or
two, three, or more of them may contain a similar color.
If however a greater variety, or color, or tint is required to be imparted to the
fabric than can conveniently be obtained by the use of one set of color rollers, then
two or more sets of color rollers may be employed to impart color to a corresponding
number of printing cylinders at one and the same time, in the manner now com-
monly practised in color printing. This is illustrated by the diagram, Fig. 2, where
four printing cylinders are shewn in action on a length of felted fabric which is
being carried round a central impression cylinder F. The several printing cylinders E
are in this Figure supposed to be supplied with color from a divided color trough,
similar to that shewn at Fig. 1, but any one of these printing cylinders may be used
to impress but one color only on the fabric.
These printing cylinders are also capable of being drawn back out of action
together with these color rollers and trough by mounting the whole upon slides
upon the framing of the printing machine. This arrangement is desirable in order
to adapt the machine to plain color printing, as, for example, when the back of the
felted fabric is to be ornamented with a diaper or other covering pattern, as already
explained.
This printing it will be understood will be carried out independently of the
printing described with reference to Fig. 1.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Ornamentation of Felted Fabrics," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, the ornamenting of felted fabrics by printing upon their opposite
faces in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, tho said William Henry Lea, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
WILL™. H. LEA (L.S.)