MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BULLION FRINGE OR CORD
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Robert Foster, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Trimming Manufacturer, for the Invention
TAVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BULLION FRINGE OR CORD."
Sealed the 22nd August 1862, and dated the 27th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Robert Foster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
27th February 1862.
I, JOHN ROBERT FOSTER, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Trimming Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BULLION FRINGE OR
CORD," to be as follows:-
Hitherto the bullion fringes or cords for cornices, bell ropes, and furniture
have been made by twisting the materials of which they are composed. Now,
this Invention consists in making a warp of silk, cotton, or other textile
material, and in arranging the exterior portion of the fringe or cord (whether
silk, or worsted, or both,) as a weft wound on bobbins in shuttles, which forms
a terry to the warp when woven in an ordinary wire loom. When so woven,
the material or fabric is to be twisted by any known means, for instance, by
the method of rope-twisting, which then gives it a circular and solid appearance,
with great economy in the material used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Robert Foster in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ROBERT FOSTER, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Robert Foster, Her special licence that I, the said John Robert
Foster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Robert Foster, 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 "INPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BULLION FRINGE OF
CORD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Robert
Foster, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Robert Foster, 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:
Hitherto the bullion fringes or cords for cornices and furniture have been
ordinarily manufactured by merely twisting the materials of which they are
composed. Now, this Invention consists in first weaving the materials into
a fabric, and afterwards twisting the fabric so woven, in order to form bullion
fringes or cords.
I will now proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for
carrying my said Invention into practical effect, as follows:-
I arrange in a loom a warp or warps consisting of a very few threads of
cotton, silk, or other textile material, say, from six to twelve, or thereabouts,

page_text: and parallel with this warp and on each side thereof I arrange a wire, each
wire being actuated by the harness of the loom. These wires are for the
purpose of forming a loop or terry on each side of the warp, and they are to
be respectively placed at such a distance from the warp as may be neces-
sary for the formation of various sized loops, so as to form various sizes of
bullions. The bobbins of the shuttles are to be wound with two or more ends
of worsted, silk, or cotton, so as to form a thick weft, and consequently a
substantial body of fabric when woven. These arrangements having been
made in the loom, which may work any desired number of separate sets of
warps, wires, and shuttles, I cause the warps and wires to be actuated by the
treddles and harness in the ordinary manner of working such parts, and I
shoot the worsted or other material between the warp or warps, and alternately
under and over the wires on each side thereof, the result being that the central
warp and its corresponding width of weft form a woven fabric, and the worsted
or other material which the bobbin contained, and which remains on each side
of the warp and around the wires, is thereby necessarily formed into loops of
considerable and various sizes, according to the situation of the wires, or, in
other words, their distance from the edges of the warp. In some cases I
twist the ends or threads of worsted, silk, or cotton before I wind them on the
bobbins of the shuttles, so as to form a twisted weft. After the fabric thus
manufactured is removed from the loom it presents a comparatively flat
appearance, and the next operation is to convert it into a circular form. I
accomplish this by attaching the fabric to a twisting apparatus, such, for
example, as that well known and used for twisting the materials to form ropes,
and after the fabric has been twisted accordingly it will assume the circular
form desired, and will have become bullion cord, presenting a very superior
appearance to that of the ordinary bullion. I prefer to subject the cord thus
made to the action of steam in order to set it, and also to expand the sub-
stance thereof. After the manufacture of the bullion cord is thus completed it
is then to be made into fringe for cornices, poles, and other such purposes, by
weaving it in a loom; but I make no claim to any particular process of making
the bullion cord into fringe.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would remark in conclusion, that
I do not limit myself to the precise details herein expressed, as the same
may evidently be varied or modified without departing from the principle
thereof, as first expressed; but what I claim and desire to be secured to me
by the herein in part recited Letters Patent, is the manufacture of bullion
or cord, and the application thereof to the manufacture of fringes for cornices,

page_text: poles, and other such useful purposes, substantially in the manner herein
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Robert Foster, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
JOHN ROBERT FOSTER. (L.S.)
Office for Patents,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.