AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FABRIC APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF MUPPS, BOAS, TIPPETS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES, AND ALSO TO THE ORNAMENTING OF ARTICLES OF DRESS AND FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JoпN
PETER BOOTH, of Cork, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Feather Purifier, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing dato
at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of March, in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Peter Booth, Her especial license, full power, sole privi-
lege and authority, that I, the said John Peter Booth, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Peter Booth, my exors,
adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times hereafter during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FABRIC APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF
MUPPS, BOAS, TIPPETS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES, AND ALSO TO THE ORNAMENTING
OF ARTICLES OF DRESS AND FURNITURE, AND OTHER SIMILAR USES"; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John Peter
Booth, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Peter Booth, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say):
My Invention consists in the manufacture of a new fabric which may be
used in the place of furs or skins, whether for trimming garments and curtains
or for making up into muffs, boas, tippets, or other like articles. This
improved manufacture which may have any suitable textile fabric for its base,
is produced by the application to such fabrics of parts of feathers, in such a
manner as to effectually secure them to the fabric, without, in any material
degree, destroying its flexibility. The feathers which I use in preference for
this purpose are those obtained from the turkey. In making a superior class
of goods I take these feathers and strip off the down or fine filaments from
the sides of the stem, bringing off therewith a strip of the cuticle of the
stem or quill. Having obtained a suitable number of these strips or strippings
I sew them on to the fabric which is to form the base of my manufactured
article by means of: a needle, and thread, passing the thread: through the
fabric and over, or, through the cuticle or horny, substance to which the down
is attached. These strips I arrange in lines at as nearly equal distances apart
as is practicable, the distance being determined, in part by, the quality. of the
article I desire to make, and in part by the length of the downy filament;
but in every case,
place the strips, so near together that the down or
filamentous, parts of the several rows, shall, as, nearly, as possible, hide the
stitching, and present the. appearance, of a continuous fleece or, a natural
feathery surface.
I would remark that I am aware it has heretofore, been proposed to employ
feathers and down, for the, decoration of garments, and other purposes. for
which furs or. skins are used, but in the one, instance the feathers have been
used with their stems or stumps, and have, therefore formed a stiff, covering
altogether unsuitable for, ordinary, service; and in the other case the down
(which is in fact. a soft bushy, feather, having a minute, tender, stem), although
capable of being applied to, the manufacture of soft flexible, articles without
the removal of the stem, is, when stitched or otherwise attached to a textile
fabric, very, liable to injury and displacement by the accidental exercise of the
least friction, whereas, according to my Invention, a strong and durable, fabric
may be made, having the softness and beauty of articles made of down
without possessing the before-mentioned defect which is, common to such
articles.

page_text: Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I desire to secure the application of parts or strips or strip-
pings of feathers, in the manner and for the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Peter Booth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one