IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND FIGURING SILK, COTTON, AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1845

page_text: DROO
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, late of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, but
now of Paris, in the, Kingdom of France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole, privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my exors, admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said, Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, admiors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and po others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend,, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING AND FIGURING SILK,
COTTON, AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS," being a communication from abroad;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Richard
Archibald, Brooman, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard. Archibald Brooman, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention consists in producing stripes, spots, and other figures, patterns, or

page_text: designs upon all kinds of textile fabrics, as silk, cotton, or woollen, by means of
mechanical pressure or stopping out, instead of by chemical agents and
re-agents or otherwise, as heretofore, and that the manner in which the same is
performed is as follows:-
Before proceeding to print any particular fabric, the pattern on which it is
to be produced by leaving certain parts of it undyed or dyed of a different
color or shade of color from the rest, all these parts (called by the Inventor
reserves) are tightly compressed between blocks or dies, so that on the fabric
being immersed in the dyeing vat the parts so compressed shall be protected,
or, in other words, reserved from the operation of the dyeing liquor. Where
many repeats of a pattern are required for one piece of cloth, as many separate
blocks or dies are employed as there are repeats, the cloth being previously
lapped or rolled into a number of thicknesses, and each pair or set of blocks
'or dies made to act on two, three, or more thicknesses at a time. The blocks
or dies are mounted in a framework, and the cloth compressed between them
according to one or other of the modes represented in the annexed Engravings,
(reference being thereunto had) and now to be described.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a circular framework, consisting of an
axis A, an inner ring B, two outer rings C, C, and a number of cross bars
Hand I. A side view of the ring B is given separately in Figure 2, and a side
view of the rings C, C, in Figure 3, and plans of the bars H and I in Figures 4
and 5. The office of the bars H and I is to carry the blocks or dies aforesaid.
The bars H rest at their centres in the recesses or notches O in the periphery
of the ring B, and are passed at their ends through holes a, a, in the rings
C, C (see Figure 3), outside of which they are secured by nuts E, E (Figures 1
and 1). The bars H rest by their two extremities in the recesses or notches
O', O', in the peripheries of the rings C, C, and are secured there by screw
bolts K, K, the threaded ends of which work into holes tapped in the bottom
of the notches. A number of blocks or die bearers F, F, are let into each of
the bars (of both sets) and secured by pins b, b, and each bearer again carries
its separate block or die G secured in its place by a tennon and pin c. A view
of one of these bearers is given on an enlarged scale in Figure 5*, and a
similar view of one of the blocks or dies in Figure 6. Figure 7 shows the.
two united. The blocks or dies of each set are made exactly to face those of
the other set. Of the two sets of bars there may be as many as there are
notches in the peripheries of the rings B and C, or any lesser number may be
employed, and the intervals between them varied as desired. The blocks or
dies attached to the bars (by bearers as aforesaid) may be also varied in
number, form, and position, to suit all imaginable varieties of pattern. The

page_text: cloth when about to be printed is rolled round the inner set of bars H, H (the
set of bars I, I, being for the moment removed out of the way), and attached
at each turn by the selvages to tenter hooks on the peripheries of the rings
C, C. The set of outer bars I, I, are now inserted into their places, and
screwed hard up by the end screws K, K, so as to compress the piece of cloth
(indicated on the Drawings by red lines) tightly between the opposite faces of
the blocks or dies G, G.
The machine with the cloth thus wound upon it is then dropped into the
dye vat to but the height of the axis A, which takes into bearings in the sides
of the vat, as shewn in Figure 1, after which it is turned round by the winch
bandle W for such length of time as may be necessary to give the parts of
the cloth left exposed the depth of color desired.
A modification of the preceding arrangement is represented in Figures 8, 9,
10, 11, and 12. In this arrangement the inner bars H, H, are dispensed with,
and their places supplied by a number of rings or discs B', B', B', B', to the
peripheries of which the inner set of blocks or dies and their bearers are
directly attached. The outer set of blocks or dies are attached to cross bars
I', 1', of the form shewn in Figure 12, which rest by their two ends in notches
o" in the peripheries of the outer rings or discs C³, C³, and are secured there
by pins. To the rings or discs C₁, C', the cloth is attached by its selvages.
The compression of the cloth between the two sets of blocks or dies is effected
by encircling the cross bars at the points immediately opposite the inner rings
B', B', with open collars M, M, having flanged ends d, d, and tightening
these collars to the degree required by means of screws N, N, passed through
the flanged ends d, d. Belts or cords may be substituted for the collars, and
tightened by means of violin keys, wedges, or other like contrivances.
A small apparatus, suitable for reserves in single pieces, such as handker-
chiefs, scarfs, &c., is shewn in Figures 18 and 14. A, A¹, are a set of blocks or
dies (which may be of any desired figure or form) between which the cloth is
placed. C, C are pins with heads, the stems of which are of small diameter,
and passed through holes in the lugs 1, 1, of the blocks or dies A, A¹, and
through the interposed fabric, and are screw-threaded at their extremities, and
D, D, their square heads, by the screwing of which the extremities C, C, of the
blocks or dies are brought together.
It will be readily understood from what has been stated that this stopping-
cut mode or process of printing (whichever of the arrangements for the
purpose before described is adopted), need not be limited to one operation, but
may be repeated as often as desired, so as to be adapted to printing in any
number of different colors. For example, a piece of cloth may, by a first

page_text: operation, be dyed in all the unreserved or unprotected parts of it of one
colour; then, by a second operation, some of the parts which were before
reserved may be left exposed and dyed of a different colour; and, by a third
operation, the remainder of the reserves may be exposed and dyed of a third
colour different from the other two. The reserves may also be printed upon
if desired.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the
improvements in printing and figuring silk, cotton, and other textile fabrics
comprehended under this Patent are,―
First, the producing of the said printing and figuring by means of mecha-
nical pressure or stopping out, instead of by chemical agents and re-agents
.or otherwise as heretofore and as before described; however the forms or
positions of 'the blocks or dies employed for the purpose or 'the modes of
operating upon or by them may be modified and varied.
And second, the three sorts of apparatus for carrying the said improvements
into effect before described, in the peculiar arrangement and combination of
parts of which each of the same consists, irrespective of all subordinate and
indifferent details.' "..
And such the Invention before described being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
said Dominion of Wales; or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby
declare this to be. my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
this the said Specification doth conply in all respects, fully and without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to the said Invention..
In witness' whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April; in the year
d
dood and
Taken and acknowledged by Richard
Archibald Brooman (party hereto),
at Paris, in the Kingdom of France,
this 29th day of April, 1846, be-
fore me, Her Britannic Majesty's
R. A. (L.s.) BROOMAN.

page_text: This is the Specification referred to in the Affidavit of Benedict Gobey,
sworn before me, this 2nd day of May, 1846.
J. E. DOWDESWELL.
Benedict Gobey, of 12, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane, in the City of
London, Law Stationer, maketh oath and saith, that he is acquainted with the
manner and character of the handwriting of Richard Archibald Brooman, late
of 116, Fleet Street, in the City of London, but now residing in Paris, in the
Kingdom of France, Gentleman; and this Deponent further saith, that the
name or signature "R. A. Brooman," set, subscribed, or written at the foot
of the Specification marked B., hereunto annexed, and dated the Twenty-ninth
day of April now last past, and purporting to be acknowledged by him, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, before Thomas Pickford, Esquire, Her
Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper handwriting
of the said Richard Archibald Brooman; and this Deponent further saith,
that he is also acquainted with the manner and character of the handwriting
of the said Thomas Pickford, and that the signature "Thomas Pickford," set,
subscribed, or written in the margin of the said Specification, whereby it is
stated that the said Specification was acknowledged by him, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, before the said Thomas Pickford, as Her Britannic
Majesty's Consul at Paris, on the said Twenty-ninth day of April, is of the
proper handwriting of the said Thomas Pickford.