IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jesse Brickles and Thomas Thorpe, Manufacturers,
and Joseph Lillie, Engineer, all of the City of Manchester, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL
WOVEN FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jesse Brickles, Thomas
Thorpe, and Joseph Lillio at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 28th February 1855.
We, JESSE BRICKLES and THOMAS THORPE, Manufacturers, and JOSEPH
LILLIE, Engineer, all of the City of Manchester, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLAIN AND
ORNAMENTAL WOVEN FABRICS" to be as follows:-
The nature of our Invention consists in producing fabrics similar to crape
from cotton or other suitable fibrous material without the aid of crimping
rollers, which have hitherto been required for producing the uneven surface of
crape. In weaving our improved fabrics, the warp and the weft are woven in
the usual manner, and the uneven surface craping or crimping is produced in

page_text: the following manner:-The warp yarn is manufactured as heretofore, but the
weft is spun, twisted, and doubled harder than usual; two shuttles, each con-
taining weft of the above description, but twisted in contrary directions, are
preferred; but a single shuttle with properly prepared weft, or two or more
shuttles, may be used for plain or ornamental fabrics, as required. The shuttles
may be picked in any required succession. It may also be desirable to twist
the yarns of the warp in contrary directions and to leave the weft plain, or the
warp and the weft may both be prepared. When the fabric is woven with
the yarn twisted in contrary directions, it may be bleached, dyed, or printed in
the ordinary manner, and the uneven surface craping or crimping is obtained
by the action of moisture or heated moisture on the reversed twisted yarns
either before, during, or after any of these processes, or the crimping can be
produced by the direct application of moisture or heated moisture on the
fabric. It may be desirable to stretch or distend the fabric in order to obtain
a plain surface previous to printing the uneven surface; craping or crimping is
then produced by moisture or heated moisture, as before described; the woven.
fabric thus prepared may also be printed on the craped surface. Fabrics may
be woven having a loose or floating back and a crape face produced in the
manner above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 2
by the said Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and Joseph Lillie in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JESSE
BRICKLES and THOMAS THORPE, Manufacturers, and JOSEPH LILLIE, Engineer,
all of the City of Manchester, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and Joseph Lillie, Her special 8
license that we, the said Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and Joseph Lillie,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and Joseph Lillie, our executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to

page_text: 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL WOVEN
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Jesse Brickles,
Thomas Thorpe, and Joseph Lillie, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of either of us, 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 Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and
Joseph Lillie, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following Specification thereof, that is to say :-
Our said Invention of Improvements in the Manufacture of Plain and Orna-
mental Woven Fabrics consists in constructing the same with a warp or weft
or both warp and weft, composed of yarns or threads twisted in contrary
directions, that is, some of such yarns or threads being twisted in one direction,
and the others of such yarns or threads in the contrary direction, and in giving
to all or some of such yarns or threads more than the usual amount of twist,
so that when moisture is applied to the fabrics the action of such moisture on
the yarns twisted in manner aforesaid may cause the same to curl, snarl, or
shrink, and thereby produce fabrics similar to crape. Except in twisting the
yarns or threads in manner aforesaid they are spun and prepared in the usual
way. In performing our Invention we prefer to make use of a loom with a
drop box of the ordinary construction, but any convenient description of loom
may be used. When the weft of the cloth only is intended to consist of
threads twisted in contrary directions, a warp made of yarn spun as usual is
put into the loom, and two shuttles are required, each containing weft with
sufficient twist, so that when moistened the twist shall cause the weft to shrink,
snarl, or curl. The weft in one of the shuttles is twisted to the right hand,
and that in the other to the left hand. In weaving such a cloth, we prefer
that two shoots of weft twisted to the right hand should be put into the cloth,
and then two shoots of the weft twisted to the left hand, and so on alternately
until the piece of fabric is completed. When the fabric is taken out of the
loom it is in appearance like muslin, or any other plain fabric, but on the
application of moisture the curling or snarling of the weft causes the fabric to

page_text: shrink or contract in width, and to assume an uneven surface, somewhat
similar to that of crape. Modifications in the weaving of such cloth may lie
adopted according to the quality and the object for which the fabric may
be required; thus, the proportions of the yarns or threads twisted in opposite
directions may be varied, and three shuttles may be used; one containing
ordinary weft yarns or threads, and the other two containing weft yarns or
threads twisted in contrary directions, and with more than the usual amount
of twist, as above described. In weaving with three shuttles, the three
shuttles may be thrown across the shed in any required succession for the
purpose of producing the desired effect. For instance, two picks may be
given with the ordinary weft, then two with the right-hand twisted weft, and
then two with the left-hand twisted weft. The warp of a cloth may also be
composed of yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions in any desired
proportion, the whole or some of them having more than the usual amount of
twist. The weft of such a cloth may be composed of ordinary yarns or threads,
and woven in the usual manner, or the weft may be composed of any of the
combinations of yarns or threads herein-before described. When fabrics have
been woven according to our Invention, they may be bleached, dyed, or printed
in the ordinary manner, and the uneven surface craping or crimping is then
produced by the action of the moisture which is necessarily imparted during
either of the said processes; but if the yarns or threads of which the improved
fabrics are woven have been previously bleached, dyed, or printed, it is evident
that the uneven surface craping or crimping must then be produced by the
direct application of moisture.
It may be desirable to stretch or distend the fabric in order to obtain a
plain surface for printing upon, and to keep the fabric stretched or distended
until the colours printed upon it are dry. The uneven surface may then be
produced by the application of moisture, by which means an ornamental fabric
of a chené description is obtained. All or some of the warp or weft threads,
or of both the warp and weft threads, may be colored or party-colored before
they are woven. The process of printing may also be performed on the
uneven surface of the fabric. Fabrics may be woven having a loose or floating
back, or with back-lashed threads, and a crape face produced in the manner
before described. Our Invention may be used in producing fabrics of cotton,
şilk, wool, worsted, or other fibrous material, or any combination of any two or
more of such materials.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we declare that we claim as of our Invention, the

page_text: constructing the warp or weft or both warp and weft of woven textile fabrics,
whether plain or ornamented, of yarns or threads twisted in contrary directions,
the whole or part of such yarns or threads having more than the usual amount
of twist, for the purpose of producing fabrics having craped or crimped surfaces,
in the manner described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Jesse Brickles, Thomas Thorpe, and
Joseph Lillie, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
seventh day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
JESSE BRICKLES.
(L.S.)
THOMAS THORPE.
(L.S.)
JOSEPH LILLIE.
(L.B.)