IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF SEAWEEDS IN ORDER TO RENDER THEM APPLICABLE TO ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louisa James, of 91, Devonshire Road, Seven
Sisters Road, in the County of Middlesex, Spinster, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF SEAWEEDS IN ORDER TO
RENDER THEM APPLICABLE TO ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES."
Scaled the 12th December 1873, and dated the 17th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louisa James at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the
17th October 1873.
I, LOUISA JAMES, of 91, Devonshire Road, Seven Sisters Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Spinster, do licreby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OF SEAWEEDS IN
ORDER TO RENDER THEM APPLICABLE TO ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
1
My Invention has for its object the treatment of various kinds of
seaweeds in the mode or modes herein-after described in order to adopt
them for use as ornaments of the person, and when applied to glass, silk,

page_text: gauze, or other suitable materials, to make them serve for transparencies
or for ornamenting fans, screens, dress trimmings, and other like articles.
For these purposes the weed after being washed and selected as required
is first bleached, or has its natural colour discharged and the salt
removed from it by means of a solution of chlorine or sulphurous acid 5
or other suitable ingredient for bleaching, and the weed thus bleached
or prepared is dyed wholly or partially so as to produce the required
ornamental effects.
The bleaching process is or may be performed by laying the weed on
a sieve or cullender and dipping it into the solution, then washing and 1
laying it out to dry in a warm room.
In the dyeing process, if a pale colour be required, the weed after
bleaching and drying is merely dipped and quickly taken out of the
solution, but when a deeper colour is required it is left longer therein.
Some kinds of weed require only to be washed and pressed between 1
blotting paper after bleaching, or treating so as to remove the salt
from it.
In order to make the weed or a portion of it resemble white coral
it is after bleaching wetted with a solution of Irish moss and sprinkled
over with ground rice; but in order to give the appearance of red coral 2
the weed after bleaching is dyed red and then sprinkled over with a
powder produced from rice and carmine or other red dye.
A number of delicate soft tints may be obtained by dipping the weed
(after bleaching and dyeing) into a solution of raw liquid starch
previously coloured to the tint required.
In order to make the weed appear transparent it is lightly varnished,
by which means it is also rendered waterproof..
In order to give the weed a bronzed appearance, while yet transparent,
it' is coloured with violet dye; a solution of iodine will also produce a
beautiful colour.
Different kinds and portions of weed prepared as above stated when
appropriately grouped together will form wreaths, sprays, and bouquets
adapted for personal adornment and other ornamental uses.
Also by
rolling the weed, then washing and rolling again to render it very thin,
2
3

page_text: it can be pressed into flat shapes to resemble flowers and fastened on to
glass, silk, gauze, or other suitable materials for various ornamenting
purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Louisa James in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUISA
JAMES, of 91, Devonshire Road, Seven Sisters Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Spinster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Louisa James, Her special licence
that I, the said Louisa James, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Louisa James, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PREPARATION OF SEAWEEDS IN ORDER TO RENDER THEM APPLICABLE TO ORNA-
MENTAL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Louisa James, 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 Louisa James, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—.
•

page_text: My Invention of "Improvements in the Preparation of Seaweeds in
order to render them applicable to Ornamental Purposes" has for its
object the treatment of various kinds of seaweeds in the mode or modes
herein-after described in order to adapt them for use as ornaments of the
person, and when applied to glass, silk, gauze, or other suitable materials
to make them serve for transparencies or for ornamenting fans, screens,
dress trimmings, and other like articles. For these purposes the weed
after being washed and selected as required is first bleached or has its
natural colour discharged and the salt removed from it by means of a
solution of chlorine or sulphurous acid or other suitable ingredient for
bleaching, and the weed thus bleached or prepared is dyed wholly or
partially so as to produce the required ornamental effects.
The bleaching process is or may be performed by laying the weed on
a sieve
or cullender and dipping it into the. solution; then washing and
laying it out to dry in a warm room.
In the dyeing process, if a pale colour be required, the weed after
bleaching and drying is merely dipped and quickly taken out of the
solution, but when a deeper colour is required it is left longer therein.
Some kinds of weed require only to be washed and pressed between
blotting paper after bleaching, or treating so as to remove the salt
from it.
In order to make the weed or a portion of it resemble white coral it
is after bleaching wetted with a solution of Irish moss and sprinkled
over with ground rice; but in order to give the appearance of red coral
the weed after bleaching is dyed red and then sprinkled over with a 2
powder produced from rice and carmine or other red dye.
A number of delicate soft tints may be obtained by dipping the weed
(after bleaching and dyeing) into a solution of raw liquid starch
previously coloured to the tint required.
In order to make the weed appear transparent it is or may be lightly 8
varnished; by which means it is also rendered waterproof.
In order to give the weed a bronzed appearance while yet transparent
the pure dye is used; a solution of iodine will also produce a beautiful

page_text: Different kinds and portions of weed prepared as above stated when
appropriately grouped together will form wreaths, sprays, and bouquets
adapted for personal adornment and other ornamental uses.
Also by
pressing the weed, then wetting and pressing again to render it very
thin, it can be fastened on to glass, silk, gauze, or other suitable
´materials for various ornamenting purposes.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed to
describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be performed
by reference to the following more detailed description of the several
processes employed in the preparation of seaweeds and their application
to different uses.
The weeds are washed and selected as required for any particular
application or use. After washing the weeds should be dried quickly,
either by wiping with a towel or by means of artificial heat, as they
would become impoverished by being left long in a wet condition.
With reference to the process of bleaching, a solution is prepared by
putting a quarter of a pound of chloride of lime in a quart of cold water
and stirring the mixture until the soluble portion of the chloride of lime
is dissolved. This mixture is then left for about half an hour, after
which the lime is strained off and the liquor is fit for use. The weeds
are put into the solution so prepared, and usually allowed to remain
therein for lengths of time varying from a few minutes to half an
hour, according to the special character of the weed or weeds under
treatment.
The precise length of time for continuing the weed in the solution is
determined by the appearance which it presents to the eye.
Some kinds of weed (as for example the larger weeds) require to be
left in the solution for some hours in order to effectually remove the
saline matter therefrom, while other, or the finer kinds of weed, would
be rendered useless by remaining only a few minutes too long in the
solution.
When the weed has been bleached in the manner described it should
be immediately afterwards dipped in soft pure water (but not left
therein) and dried by gentle pressure in a cloth..
With reference to the process of dyeing, the dye or colouring matter
employed is diluted as required with boiling water, but for some weeds

page_text: the solution may be used in a cold state. The solution is also stronger
than that which is ordinarily employed in dyeing fabrics, as it is
intended to impart the required tint of colour in most cases by merely
dipping the weed into it.
Any of the weeds may be lightly covered with. fluid gum, and before
the gum is dry may be sprinkled with the variously coloured brilliantines
used by artificial florists.
The foundation mounts for the sprays are made as follows:-Ooil
wires of various thicknesses are pulled out and narrow strips of gutta
percha, satin tissue, are wound round them. The wires thus covered are
looped and twisted into such artistic shapes as may be suitable for fixing
on the flowers with a cement composed of gutta percha dissolved in
chloroform or bi-sulphate of carbon, which must be kept closely
stoppered in a bottle, and when used may be applied with a brush.
The weeds can be made to assume graduated or shaded tints by
dipping them into the dye and allowing the dye to run along their
surface and settle in the extremity.
Weeds that are tender may be dipped into a solution of borax, which
will render them tougher.
Each little spray of weed should have a small piece of gutta percha
tissue wound round the stem before it is fixed to the mount.
For the purpose of ornamenting fans the gauze or material to which
the ornamenting weed is to be applied is first stretched on a frame, then
sponged with cold water and left to dry in order to shrink it as required.
The shape of a fan is then drawn on a piece of white paper, on which
weeds or portions of weed are gummed in any suitable design. A piece
of thin glass is then placed on the top, and the frame is placed over the
glass with the gauze or other suitable. material downwards. Weed or
portions of weed corresponding to the pattern are then taken and fixed
on the gauze with gum, in which a lump of sugar has been previously
dissolved in order to prevent the gum from cracking. A sheet of oil
silk is then placed over it and a heavy weight put on the top and left
thereon for some hours. The material thus ornamented with weed is
ready for the fan mounter.
"
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
LOUISA JAMES. (L.S.)