A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE- PARING ESPARTO, ALPHA, OR MOGADOR GRASSES OR OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING, WEAVING, AND FOR SUBSTITUTION FOR HAIR AND FOR OTHER FIBRES NOW IN USE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oliver Maggs, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset,
Flax Spinner, and George Hedgecombe Smith, of North Perrot, near
Crewkerne, in the County of Somerset, Foreman to the said Oliver
Maggs, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE-
PARING ESPARTO, ALPHA, OR MOGADOR GRASSES OR OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING, WEAVING, AND FOR SUBSTITUTION FOR HAIR AND
FOR OTHER FIBRES NOW IN USE."
Sealed the 25th May 1866, and dated the 8th December 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oliver Maggs and George
Hedgecombe Smith at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 8th December 1865.
We, OLIVER MAGGS, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset, Flax Spinner,
and GEORGE HEDGECOMBE SMITH, of North Perrott, near Crewkerne, in the
County of Somerset, Foreman to the said Oliver Maggs, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE-
PARING ESPARTO, ALPHA, OR MOGADOR GRASSES OR OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE
SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING, WEAVING, AND FOR SUBSTITUTION FOR HAIR AND FOR
OTHER FIBRES NOW IN USE," to be as follows:-
To put the said Invention into practice we boil esparto, alpha, or Mogador

page_text: grass or some other similar vegetable substance in water, and when still in a
wet state we press it between rollers, and then hackle it in a wet state; we
thus obtain a fibre which can be spun and used in a manner similar to hemp,
and annlicable to many purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Oliver Maggs and George Hedgecomb Smith in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 7th June 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, OLIVER
MAGGS, of Bourton, in the County of Dorset, Flax Spinner, and GEORGE
HEDGECOMBE SMITH, of North Perrott, near Crewkerne, in the County of
Somerset, Foreman to the said Oliver Maggs, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Oliver Maggs and George Hedgecome Smith, Her special
licence that we, the said Oliver Maggs and George Hedgecombe Smith, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Oliver
Maggs and George Hedgecombe Smith, our 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED METHOD OF PREPARING ESPARTO, ALPHA,
OR MOGADOR GRASSES OR OTHER SIMILAR VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES FOR SPINNING,
WEAVING, AND FOR SUBSTITUTION FOR HAIR AND FOR OTHER FIBRES NOW IN USE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Oliver Maggs and
George Hedgecombe Smith, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
inent in writing under our, 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 we, the said Oliver Maggs-and George Hedgecombe
Smith, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-

page_text: To put the said Invention into practice we boil esparto, alpha, mogador
grass, or some other vegetable substance in water, and when still in a
wet state we press it between rollers, and then hackle it in a wet state; we
thus obtain a fibre which can be spun and used in a manner similar to hemp,
and applicable to many purposes.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we declare that what we claim and desire to be
secured by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the new or
improved method of preparing esparto, alpha, or mogador grasses or other
similar vegetable substances, for spinning, weaving, and for substitution for
hair and other fibres now in use, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Oliver Maggs and George Hedgecombe
Smith, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixth day
of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.