IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION TO WEAVING OF CERTAIN TEXTILE PLANTS NOT HITHERTO EMPLOYED, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of the English and Foreign
Patent Office, 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION TO WEAVING OF CERTAIN
TEXTILE PLANTS NOT HITHERTO EMPLOYED, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION
WITH SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES."-A communication.
Sealed the 12th January 1855, and dated the 12th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1854.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of the English and Foreign Patent Office,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION TO WEAVING OF CERTAIN
TEXTILE PLANTS NOT HITHERTO EMPLOYED, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH
SILE, COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of the fibres
of the corchorus junceus, the corchorus clitoreus, and the corchorus capsularis,
of the family of the urticeas, either alone or combined with silk, cotton, wool,
hemp, or flax, for the manufacture of various fabrics.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of the English and Foreign Patent Office, 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most' Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelvfth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,. give and grant unto
me, the said William Armand Gilbee, Her special license that I, the said
William Armand Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Armand Gilbee, my 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 In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE APPLICATION TO WEAVING OF CERTAIN TEXTILE
PLANTS NOT HITHERTO EMPLOYED, EITHER ALONE OR IN COMBINATION WITH SILK,
COTTON, AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES," communicated to me by a foreigner
residing abroad, upon the condition, (amongst others), that I, the said
William Armand Gilbec, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 William Armand Gilbee, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the employment of the fibres
of the corchorus junceus, the corchorus olitoreus, and the corchorus capsularis,
of the family of the urticeas, either alone or combined with silk, cotton, wool,
hemp, or flax, for the manufacture of various fabrics.
The fibres of the said plants differ from each other by their degree of strength,
fineness, and whiteness. The plants give two harvests in a year, and attain the
same height as Italian hemp. Their fibres are in the straw or bark, and are
extracted by being submitted to the same processes as flax and hemp.

page_text: To render the fibres fit for spinning, it is necessary for obtaining fine
quality to boil the matters in a bath, rendered alkaline by the addition of soda,
potash, or soap. This bath considerably softens the fibres, and removes the
remainder of the straw or bark, facilitating the separation of the fibres, which
is afterwards completely effected by combs or by the hand, and finally by a
carding machine. The fibrous matters are then fit for spinning.
The bleaching and dyeing operations are effected by the processes usually
employed for cotton and hemp.
The fibres of the said plants, after being treated as above described (which
treatment may be modified according to the intended application), are employed
for making a variety of fabrics.
I employ, indifferently, either of the three kinds of fibres above stated,
separately, combined together, or mixed with wool, during the spinning
operation, for the manufacture of cloths and carpets, or other analogous fabrics;
or the weft or warp may be of wool, cotton, hemp, flax, or silk.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but what I claim
is, the employment of the fibres of the corchorus junceus, corchorus olitoreus,
and corchorus capsularis, either alone, combined together, or mixed with other
fibrous substances, to the manufacture of cloths, carpets, and other fabrics, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
W. A. GILDEE.
(L.B.)