IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WINDOW BLINDS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of January,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Thomas, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Thomas, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Thomas,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WINDOW BLINDS," partly invented by
myself, and partly communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William Thomas, should
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said 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
William Thomas, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention consists,-
First, of a mode of weaving the webbing for venetian blinds, by causing
the connecting parts to be woven together with the longitudinal parts, so that
the ladder formed webbing in place of being formed as heretofore by connecting
the longitudinal pieces of webbing by narrow tapes sewn to the two longitudinal
ones, the whole ladder is produced in the act. of weaving.
Secondly, the Invention consists of manufacturing ornamental roller blinds
of looped fabrics, suitably prepared as hereafter explained.
Thirdly, the Invention consists of modes of manufacturing short or dwarf
blinds of woven fabrics, so as to imitate the short blinds now made of wood
or wood and metal; and this part of the Invention also relates to a mode of
ornamenting short or dwarf blinds made of woven fabric, such fabric not
being metallic.
And, fourthly, the Invention consists of a mode of manufacturing short or
dwarf blinds, by employing looped fabrics with imitations of frames, printed
or produced thereon.
And I would state that the object of the Invention in each case is to obtain
cheap blinds, having the appearance of the more costly article, and so that the
poorer classes may be enabled to have blinds at a comparatively low cost.
twó
In carrying out the first part of the Invention, I have a loom suitable for
weaving two separate webs, one above the other, using two shuttles for the
purpose. This is well understood, and is not claimed by me. At the two
selvages I apply additional warp threads of a width equal to that which is
desired for the cross pieces which connect the two longitudinal webs, and these
additional warps are to be capable of being worked into either of the
longitudinal webs; and I usually cause one such additional narrow warp
to be working in one of the webs, and the other in the other web, and
to cross over and then work with the warp of the other web, thus con-
necting the two webs together, the narrow warps being respectively woven
into webs for a length equal to the distance apart between the two longi-
tudinal webs, and the harness of the loom is to be suitably arranged for
this purpose, the narrow warps having their own harness, so that when the
narrow warps are not being worked into the longitudinal webs they may
alternately be woven into narrow tapes. The loom being thus provided with
harness, the working will be as follows:-The two longitudinal webs will
E

page_text: for the time be woven as separate fabric, one above the other, the two
narrow warps being worked up one in each longitudinal web, when the
weaving (as to the longitudinal webs) will be stopped, and a quantity of
one of the narrow warps will be woven into a narrow web, equal in length
to that which the two longitudinal webs are intended to be apart; then this
narrow warp will for some time work with the warp of the other longitudinal
web, and the two longitudinal webs will be woven for a length. When it
is desired that another transverse connecting piece should be woven, then the
weaving of the longitudinal webs will again be stopped, and a length of narrow
web will be woven, using in this instance the other narrow warp to that before
mentioned, and when the required length of narrow fabric has been woven
therewith it will be caused, in the further working, for a time to combine with
the longitudinal web with which it had not been previously working, and then
lengths of the two longitudinal webs are again to be woven as separate fabrics,
the two narrow warps working therewith, as before mentioned, till another length
of narrow web is required, when the weaving of the longitudinal webs will be
again stopped, and the narrow warp first mentioned again woven into a
fabric, and then it will for a time again work with the longitudinal web with
which it first worked, and so on alternately with the two narrow warps, they
working as part of the longitudinal webs when those webs are being woven,
and at intervals the narrow webs are woven alternately from the two narrow
warps which are respectively near the selvages of the wider or longitudinal webs.
I will now describe the second part of the Invention, which consists of
manufacturing roller blinds of looped fabrics. It is well known that very
various fabrics of an ornamental character may be produced in warp machines
and knitting machines, which fabrics are usually of an open and reticulate
character. Now the object of this part of the Invention is to employ such
fabrics when the interstices are filled up in the making of roller blinds. For
this purpose I cause warp or knit fabrics to be glazed or dressed in like
manner to what open woven fabrics have heretofore been dressed, so as to
close the interstices. I then varnish them by any suitable varnish to prevent
them being injuriously affected by moisture. By this means very elegant yet
cheap roller blinds may be produced.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which relates to the
manufacture of short or dwarf window blinds, and consists of printing or
stencilling woven fabrics with impressions to imitate perforated metal, or to
imitate woven wire cloth, or to imitate short lath blinds. The novelty of this
part of my Invention consists also of applying by printing imitations of frames
around such blinds, by which means printed blinds very similar in appearance

page_text: to more expensive blinds will be produced. And this part of the Invention
also relates to applying fabric printed or painted to imitate wood or metal
around the edge of such short blinds, to resemble ordinary, but more expensive,
frames of wood or metal. In applying such prepared fabric as a border, I cut
it into widths suitable, when folded, to enclose the edge of the fabric forming
the centre of the blind, and give an appearance of a wood or metal frame.
I connect the two fabrics together by glue or other suitable cement. I would
here state, that short blinds having borders printed or painted thereon, or
formed of fabric printed or painted to resemble wood or metal, may be
stiffened by common and cheap wood frames applied either at the back side
thereof or enclosed within such border. This part of the Invention' also
consists in stencilling or printing woven fabriés (to be used as dwarf blinds) so
as to resemble the ornamental corners, sides, and other ornamental parts of
perforated or woven metal dwarf blinds. Perforated metal, and also woven
wire, as now used for dwarf blinds, it is well known, is often ornamented in
various ways by painting thereon. Now the object of this part of the Inven-
tion is to imitate such ornamenting on dwarf blinds made of non-metallic
fabric, produced by any of the well-known processes of weaving, either in a
loom or by "looping," and the mode I have found best to answer for the
purpose is to cut out in two pieces of sheet metal or other suitable material
the pattern desired, taking care that the ornament or pattern be precisely
similar in each sheet of metal or other material. One of such pieces of metal
or other material, with the desired pattern cut out therefrom, I apply on each
side and in close contact with the fabric to be ornamented, and then I apply
color by means of a brush over the cut-out parts of each of the pieces of metal
or material, and upon the woven fabric, as is now commonly done in the
well-known process of stencilling. And I would here state that I generally
prefer to use in this process of ornamenting ordinary oil colors, but I do not
confine myself to the use of oil color, as in some cases thickened water color
may be used; and I would remark that I prefer to have the color of such
consistency as will fill up the meshes of the fabric where the ornament is to be
applied; and although I have only described one pair of cut-out pieces of metal
or other material, other number of such pattern pieces may be used to produce
any required ornament or pattern, as is well understood, but in such cases
it will not be necessary to continue to use the pattern pieces in pairs, as the
repeats of color may be applied on to that first applied, the object in using
two in the first instance being better to fill up the meshes of the fabric, and
thereby produce a smooth surface; and in place of these cut-out pieces of
metal or other material being used to apply color, they may be used to apply

page_text: suitable size for the purpose of gilding or silvering. In applying the orna-
ments means of printing, it will simply be necessary to state that I prefer
to use two blocks, plates, or cylinder with the required design or part of
design formed thereon, either in relief or by sinking, as is well understood,
using at the same time one block or other printing surface on one side, and
the other block or other printing surface on the other side of the fabric, taking
care that the design on the two blocks correspond when so brought together.
If other or additional colors, as above-stated with respect to the stencilling
process, be required over the color first applied, the same may be applied by
means of other printing surfaces, the color being applied over that laid on by
the first pair of printing surfaces.
I will now describe the fourth part of the Invention, which also relates to
dwarf or short window blinds, and consists of manufacturing them of looped
fabrics made in warp machines or knitting frames, and the same may be dyed,
printed, or otherwise ornamented, as described under the third part of the
Invention, and have frames either of metal or wood, or frames or borders of
woven fabrics printed or painted to resemble wood or metal applied thereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) THOMAS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid William Thomas came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.