AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF HAIR SEATING, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF SEAMING OR JOINING HAIR SEATING AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS WITH A HAIR FACE, AND STRENGHTENING THE GOODS AND FACILITATING THE UPHOLSTERING OF THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF HAIR SEATING, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MODE OF SEAMING OR JOINING HAIR SEATING AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS
WITH A HAIR FACE, AND STRENGHTENING THE GOODS AND FACILITATING THE
UPHOLSTERING OF THE SAME."-A communication from abroad by
Charles Bradley, residing at Providence, Rhode Island, United
States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th April 1868.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in
5 the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF HAIR SEATING, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MODE OF SEAMING OR JOINING HAIR SEATING AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS

page_text: WITH A HAIR FACE, AND STRENGTHENING THE GOODS AND FACILITATING THE
UPHOLSTERING OF THE SAME," to be as follows:-
Heretofore wide hair seating has been made solely from long hair
obtained at great expense on account of the scarcity, which is due to the
small proportion of long hair in the natural growth of the material, in.
consequence of which the production of the more desirable and useful
wide hair "seating has been necessarily limited and attended' with extra-
vagant cost, while at the same the excessive 'proportion of the short
growth of hair and the ability to produce the narrower and inferior
and less desirable widths of seating has been productive of an undue
manufacture of narrow goods compared with the trade demand, and a
depreciated value of the narrow woven seating, 'on account of the
limited use to which such narrow webs could be put. Whereupon the
first part of the Invention has for its object the manufacture of wide
hair seating from the shorter and more abundant hair after it has been
woven into a narrow web in the usual way; and this part of the Inven-
tion consists in uniting narrow webs by a sewn joint in so complete and
perfect a manner as to form a merchantable wide hair seating, sub-
stantially like that woven and in- use that is made from the longest
natural growth of hair.
The next part of the Invention relates to the sewing and other
subsequent treatment of the hair in the web with a view to unite the
same in an imperceptable joint with an unbroken hair face and uniform
strength of fabric throughout, and this part of the Invention consists in
doubling the hair at 'the sewn joint to form short bights or turns in the
hair, and rendering the same semi-plastic by thorough moistening or
saturation, and while confined in this plastic condition between moulding
surfaces and subjected to a suitable degree of heat to vapourize the
moistner pressing the hair web so doubled to the extent that at the
joint it will be moulded evenly upon the hair face with the abutting
bights of weft merging into and incorporated with each other so
effectually as to produce the appearance of an unbroken surface without
joint or seam in the united fabric.
The next part of the Invention relates to certain changes in the
weaving of hair seating and other fabrics having a hair face that are
calculated on the one part to break the general face of the fabric with
rows, scores, seams, on stripes of weaving, either longitudinally or
crosswise of the web to form strengthening ribs of weaving that give

page_text: additional prominence and stability to the fabric, and afford also means
for insuring greater regularity in tufting the fabric in upholstery, and
which gives also a novel appearance to the goods. The longitudinal
stripes or rows of weaving may also serve as lines of demarcation for
the concealment of the joint, and any imperfection of the same growing
out of the process of forming the joint.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special
licence that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF HAIR SEATING, AND FOR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF SEAMING OR-JOINING HAIR SEATING AND OTHER
WOVEN FABRICS WITH A HAIR FACE, AND STRENGTHENING THE GOODS AND
FACILITATING THE UPHOLSTERING OF THE SAME," a communication to me from
abroad by Charles Bradley, a person resident at Providence, Rhode
Island, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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

page_text: Ошсе wirin six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
It is well known in the manufacture of hair seating that its width is
due to the length of the hairs of the weft, which forms the satin-like
face of the fabric which is its distinguishing and most desirable feature,
also that the wider seating that is made from the longer hair weft is
most desirable and useful; such hair however comprises but a small
proportion of the natural growth of the material, and its scarcity in
consequence materially limits the production of wide seating and greatly
enhances its commercial value. On the other hand, the excessive.
proportion of the shorter growth of hair (say, from sixteen to twenty-
eight inches in length), and the ability in consequence to produce these
inferior and less desirable widths, results in the production of a super-
abundance of the narrow seating, which has the effect to leave upon the
hands of the manufacturer and dealer a large quantity of a class
of goods for which there is but little call or use, and that is in consé-
quence of little or no profit to the one or of value or utility to the'
other, in view of which the Invention has for its prime object the
utilizing of the narrow seating and the shorter hair from which it is
made by converting two or more narrow webs into one web of equal
or exceeding width with those made in the usual way from the longest
hair weft and that may be practically used and treated and appear
in all respects as a single wide web of seating; and this part of the
Invention consists of a manufacture of wide hair seating from two
or more narrow webs of short hair united by a sewn joint of such a
character that the satin face of the fabric will present a uniform and
unbroken surface at the joint with the general effect and appearance
of a single web made from continuous weft of the longest growth of
hair; and this part of the Invention further consists of an imperceptible
sewn joint on the face of the hair seating in which the two parts thus
united are doubled, and the free ends turned back from the point of
contact, and the abutting bights of weft thus formed are bent at right
angles to each other and incorporated so effectually as to conceal any
line of separation between the united pieces where the same are joined;

page_text: and this part of the Invention further consists in combining with a
seam of the character described a woven stripe formed by changing
the figure of the weaving or the character of the warp or both and
extending lengthwise of the web of such a character that by joining
the webs at the outside edge of the (outside) stripe of one of them
and meeting it with a proper width of the ground figure of the other,
so that the stripe appears to break the ground figure equally upon
either side of it, the joint will be completely concealed; and the Inven-
tion further consists, of. an. improved method of treating, hair seating
and other fabrics,, the weft or woof of which is wholly or composed in
part of hair, horn, whalebone, or other material of the nature of hair for
the purpose of forming permanent joints, seams, or shapes in the same
by first saturating. the hair with moisture to destroy its elasticity and
reduce it to a. semi-plastic condition, and afterwards bending and con-
fining it in the desired position or form, and while so confined. subjecting
it to a suitable' degree of heat and. pressure to evaporate the moisture
and return it to its original rigid. condition in the position or shape
which it is thus confined. and by pressure made to assume; and the
said Invention further consists of a manufacture of. hair seating, whether
of a single web or composed of two or more united as described with
woven stripes of any desired style formed by changing the figure of
the weaving or the character of the warps or both to break the ground'
figure or face of the fabric with ribs,. rows, scores, seams, or stripes of
weaving, either longitudinally or crosswise of the web to form strength-
ening ribs that give additional permanence and stability to the fabric,
and. to afford means of ensuring greater regularity and precision in
tufting the same in upholstering, and also to impart a novel appearance
to the goods in the production of different designs,. patterns;, or styles
of the same from the ordinary hair seating with its unbroken satin.face..
To enable others skilled in the art. to make and use or practice
the said. Invention: I. will proceed to describe the same,, in doing.
which reference will be had to the accompanying Drawings making;
part of this Specification, in which. Figures 1, 2, and 3 represent:
cross sections of the said new. manufacture of hair. seating in: the
successive stages of the operation of uniting the narrow. webs com--
posing the same; Figure 4. represents a cross section of the. seating.
formed by the junction of two webs showing the form of the sewn:
joint; Figure 5. is a plain section, and Figure 6.. is a cross section of

page_text: the ribbed seating; Figure 7 is a plain section of upholstered ribbed
seating; and Figure 8 is a plain section of a piece of fancy striped
seating. Similar letters, where they occur,, indicate corresponding parts
in all the Figures..
In the manufacture of wide seating from narrow webs of short hair
the two pieces to be joined are first laid together face to face and
confined in proper relation by basting or otherwise, and sewed
together through and through by a sewing machine or otherwise
with a firm seam with silk twist or other strong sewing material
along the desired line of junction generally just within the selvedges,
following, as nearly as may be the line of the warp thread; the two.
pieces are then. opened out flatly on a table with the face downward,
and the seam and parts adjacent are wet freely with a sponge or
otherwise to soften the hair and destroy some of its elasticity; then
with a heavy hot smoothing iron or other suitable device the
selvedges 8, 8, are opened out and bent back towards the back side or
face of the fabric, which leaves them about in the condition shown in
Figure 1 of the Drawing. This part of the operation may be done
with a suitable machine that will perform simultaneously these functions
by a continuous operation. The parts adjacent to the seam are then
again thoroughly saturated, and the united. web is rolled up com-
pactly with. the selvedges outward, which has the effect to press them
down close to the back of the goods. and. hold them in that position.
The roll is allowed to remain in that condition about twelve hours
more or less according to circumstances, and when unrolled, if in.
the proper condition to proceed, it will be found that the hair has
absorbed the moisture until it has become soft and apparently some-
what gelatinous, and having parted with nearly all its elasticity is.
capable of being moulded or pressed into a new form which it will retain
permanently on being dried. In this state the selvedges S lie flatly upon
the back of the web, as shown in Figure 2, without any tendency to rise
up. Then the warp threads may be ravelled out of the selvedges up to
within two or three threads of the seam or up to the red lines a, a, of
Figure 2, so as to remove a large part of the thickness and prevent the
impression of the selvedges from appearing on the face of the goods after
pressing. Then the web is folded back and forth between plates of Russia
sheet iron i or like surfaces, as is shown in Figure 3, in the same way
as pieces of woollen cloth are folded between sheets of press board to

page_text: prepare them for pressing until the whole piece or cut is thus disposed
of. These packs of cloth and sheets are then placed in a hydrostatic
press with hot iron plates between the packs, and a pressure of, say, five
hundred or six hundred tons more or less is then put upon the contents
of the press and maintained from six to twelve hours, or until the
moisture has been dried out of the cloth. It is then folded in the same
way and re-pressed to finish the folded parts left by the first pressure
in the usual way, excepting that to prevent the sheet iron plates from
imparting too much gloss to the goods I place between the plates and
the face of the goods a sheet of paper. Upon examining the weft hairs
after this process is completed they will be found at the line of junction
to have taken the form shown in Figure 4, the transverse parts of the
bights of hair being bent nearly at right angles at the face of the goods,
and so embedded or moulded to those upon the opposite side of the seam
as to bring the weft hairs at the face into close contact, thus obliterating
the cavity formed by the seam before it was pressed. This result appears
to be due to the action of the pressure upon the greater thickness at the
seam of the doubled cloth and the sewing thread, and also that the
length of weft between two points, as from 6 to c, Figure 2, when
measured on the surface of the cloth is greater than the distance on the
plate in a direct line, so that this greater length when brought down to
the plate by pressure tends to force the bights of the weft hairs hard
against each other and mould them between the two metal surfaces into
the form shown in Figure 4. In order to more effectually conceal the
line of union of the narrow webs I propose in some cases to weave the
cloth with longitudinal stripes at regular intervals across the web of
plain weaving like the selvedge edge of the width of one, two, or more
selvedge threads, as shown in Figure 5, or by changing the size, color, or
character of the warp threads at these points and to join the webs at the
outside edge of the outside stripe of one of them, meeting it with a
proper width of the ground figure F (Figure 5) of the other, so that the
stripe appears to break the ground figure equally upon. either side of it,
thus completely concealing the joint. It is obvious that the new method
of joining two pieces of hair seating may be employed in the trade for
other purposes than forming a wide continuous web, and I intend so to
employ it, and I intend also to employ it in joining other fabrics made
with separate wefts of a rigid nature, which may be treated in a similar
manner with like or approximate effect. For the purpose of giving
greater strength to the fabric and to facilitate the operation of tufting

page_text: the same in the operation of upholstering it I propose to manufacture
either single or compound webs with woven stripes either lengthwise or
crosswise or both, of any suitable or fanciful pattern or style that is.
calculated to form a strengthening rib of a closer or firmer texture than
the ground figure, and to break the ground figure into stripes or squares
of greater or less width or area by weaving ribs of two or more warps
or wefts of plain cloth or tweed or of any fancy figure, which ribs furnish
regularly laid out lines for the tufting, as shown in Figure 7, which for
most kinds of upholstery work are of great advantage and add materially
to the perfection of the workmanship and its durability, as the material
will sustain greater strain on the line of the tufting with such a rib than
a plainly woven fabric. of unbroken ground, besides producing a highly
ornamental, appearance, which effect may be still further varied and
enhanced by omitting some of the warps, as shown in Figure 8.
Having now. described and ascertained the nature of these several
improvements, and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be understood that what I claim as the Invention and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is,-
•
FL.
First. A continuous web of hair. cloth or seating composed of two or
more narrow webs woven and united by a sewn joint, substantially such
as is herein described as a new manufacture.
Second. I claim the sewn-joint or moulded scam in hair cloth or its
equivalent, substantially as described, in which the transverse portion
of the bights of the hair weft that is united by sewing; are bent at
right angles or nearly so to the face of the fabric, and so embedded
or moulded with each other as to bring the doubled edges of the weft
hairs into close contact so as to obliterate the cavity of the seam,.
substantially as specified.
Third. I claim combining with the said sewn joint or seam woven
stripe or stripes extending lengthwise of the web, substantially of the
character and in the manner described, to effect the concealment of the
seani or joint, as specified.
Fourth: I claim the method described of treating hair seating and
equivalent material by first rendering it soft and semi-plastic by satu-
ration and moisture, and afterwards moulding it into the desired shape
or condition by heat and pressure, substantially as herein described.

page_text: Fifth. I claim as a new manufacture the ribbed bair seating with ribs
or stripes of weaving either longitudinally or crosswise of the web,
substantially as described, for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
cight.