IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC FARRICS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Armitage, of Hood Street, Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Elastic Web Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC FARRICS."
Sealed the 23rd July 1858, and dated the 28th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Armitage at
the Office, of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
.28th January 1858.
I, THOMAS ARMITAGE, of Hood Street, Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
Elastic Web Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved system or mode of producing elastic
fabrics applicable to the manufacture of portions of boots and shoes and other
articles. where elasticity of fabric is required, and consists in the application
and use of. a face cloth of a more open texture than is ordinarily used for
.these fabrics, which cloth is combined with india-rubber, either in the form of
threads or in a sheet laid thereon in the direction in which the elasticity is
required, as is well known in the production of combined elastic fabrics. A
back piece of fabric, of any suitable material; is then laid over the india-rubber,
so as to completely conceal it from view, and serve as a lining to the fabric,
india-rubber solution or other suitable cement being employed for uniting the
two fabrics together. By using a loosely woven or open-faced cloth. the
corrugations or puckering of the surface when contracted are- avoided,..its
:surface in all cases being perfectly. flat and even. The surface cloth I have

page_text: found best adapted for the carrying out of this Invention consists of an under
surface in which cotton predominates, and an upper surface in which wool or
other softer and more elastic material predominates, the effect being that
although the under surface may slightly corrugate or pucker, such corrugations
or puckering will not be visible on the upper surface. If found desirable the
face of the combined fabric may be subsequently finished in the ordinary
manner, well known to woollen cloth manufacturers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Armitage in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ARMITAGE, formerly of Hood Street, Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
but now of Dover Street, Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Elastic Web
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Armitage, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Armitage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Armitage, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ELASTIC FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Armitage, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Thomas Armitage, do hereby declare
'the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same. is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My said Invention relates to the production of an improved elastic fabric

page_text: applicable to the manufacture of portions of boots and shoes and other articles
where elasticity is required. In preparing my improved fabric I employ the
ordinary corrugating machine with the crimping and pressing rollers at present
adopted in the manufacture of elastic fabrics, and I also proceed in a similar
manner to that well known and commonly practised by elastic fabric manu-
facturers. I therefore wish it to be distinctly understood that I lay no claim
to the machinery or apparatus and process employed in the production of my
improved elastic fabric.
The essential feature of my Invention consists in the combination of elastic
india-rubber, or caoutchouc, either in the form of thread or of a thin sheet
with cloth of an open texture, so as to produce an elastic fabric having an
even face without corrugations or puckers. The outer or face cloth employed
is of a more open, soft, and loose texture than that hitherto employed in the
manufacture of elastic fabrics. The back piece or lining of the combined
fabric may consist of calico or any other cheap and durable material. In the
elastic fabrics manufactured at present corrugations or puckers are produced
on the outer surface when the fabrics are in their ordinary state of contraction,
but this objection is obviated by the present Invention. I prefer to use for
the face cloth a woven fabric consisting of a species of reversible cloth, the
face or upper surface of which is composed entirely of wool or other soft
material, whilst the under surface or back thereof consists of cotton or other
cheap fibrous material. I may observe, however, that it is not essential that
the face cloth should be composed of two different materials, for if thought
desirable it may be composed entirely of wool or other soft fibrous material;
but I prefer to make the back thereof of cotton, as it answers equally well,.
and renders the article much cheaper. In all cases, however, the face cloth,
of whatever material it may be composed, should be of a loose and open
texture to allow for contraction without corrugating.
A coating or coatings of india-rubber solution or other suitable cement is
applied to the under side or back of the face cloth, and upon this is laid the
slieet or threads of india-rubber upon which the elasticity of the finished
fabric depends. I prefer to use threads of india-rubber, which I stretch in
the corrugating machine in the manner and for the purpose well known in the
trade. Over the elastic india-rubber I now place a back piece of fabric or
lining of calico or other cheap fabric, which should be coated with cement
before being applied. The whole combined fabric is now passed through the
ordinary pressing and crimping rollers, for the purpose of pressing the parts
well together, and of crimping it so as to enable the back fabric or lining
to corrugate evenly when the elastic fabric is contracted. By reason of the

page_text: open and soft texture of the face cloth, these corrugations are entirely confined
to the back or lining fabric, and consequently the outer surface of the face
cloth is always flat and even whether distended or contracted. When a
reversible cloth with a cotton back is used, and coated with cement as above
described, it is found that the india-rubber threads or sheet adhere only to the
cotton threads in the back of the face cloth and to the cotton lining, but not
to the woollen threads in the face cloth, hence the woollen threads on the
outer surface of the face cloth are free to rise up and produce the even or
level surface desired instead of a corrugated one. If the open texture face
cloth above described be used for both faces of the combined fabric, there will
of course be an entire absence of corrugations, both on the back and front of
the same. For some purposes this may be desirable, but the expense of the
article will be thereby increased, and I therefore prefer to use for ordinary
purposes a calico or other cheap cloth for the back of the combined fabric.
If found desirable the outer or face cloth of the combined fabric may be sub-
sequently dressed and finished in the ordinary or any other manner known to
woollen cloth manufacturers..
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Armitage, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-eight.
THOMAS ARMITAGE. (L.S:)