IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING CLOTH
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Heywood Whitehead, of Southside, in the
Parish of Saddleworth, in the County of York, Esquire, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING CLOTH."
Sealed the 6th October 1857, and dated the 17th June 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Heywood Whitehead
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th June 1857.
I, JAMES HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD, of Southside, in the Parish of Saddleworth,
in the County of York, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSING CLOTH," to be as follows:-
The improvements consist in pressing cloth wet between metallic plates
instead of paper, and in boiling the cloth whilst under pressure, thereby giving
it great solidity and firmness, and rendering it suitable for a substitute for
leather, without any stiffening or foreign body, and most particularly applicable
for cloth for setting wire cards for carding wool.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Heywood Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th December 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD, of Southside, in the Parish of Saddleworth, in the
County of York, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Heywood Whitehead, Her special licence that I, the said
James Heywood Whitehead, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the James Heywood Whitehead, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 PRESSING CLOTH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Heywood Whitehead, 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 James Heywood Whitehead, 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:-
The improvements consist in pressing cloth wet between metallic plates
instead of paper, and in boiling the cloth under pressure, thereby giving it
great solidity and firmness, and rendering it suitable for a substitute for
leather without any stiffening or foreign body, and most particularly applicable-
for cloth for setting wire cards for carding wool.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
These improvements are applicable to cloth made wholly or chiefly of wool,
and for fabrics that are wanted very firm or solid without the introduction of

page_text: glue, gum, or size, and the cloth pressed in this manner will be found to be a
gocd substitute for leather in manufacturing the wire cards used in carding
sheep's wool and cotton, and for other uses.
The cloth in a wet state is folded between plates or sheets of metal. I
have used zinc of 18 guage, but copper or any non-corrosive metal with
smooth surfaces will do. When the cloth is folded with the plates between, it
is placed in a press, and pressed either by screws or an hydraulic ram, or
otherwise, to the desired pressure. The press is either in a suitable vessel, or
else it is together with the cloth lowered into a vessel containing water, which,
by a steam pipe or otherwise, is made to boil from half an hour to one hour.
The time necessary will vary with the substance and breadth of the cloth
under operation, as it is necessary that the heat should pervade every part of
the cloth. When the cloth is cool it will retain permanently the solidity it
has acquired under the process; the cooling may be hastened by drawing off
the boiling water and passing cold water through the vessel.
What I claim as my Invention is, pressing cloth whilst immersed in boiling
water between metal plates.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Heywood Whitehead, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
THOS SHAW,
JAMES HEYWOOD WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)
St. Chads, Upper Mill.