AN IMPROVEMENT IN BUOYANT FABRICS
Year: 1884

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I, BERTHOLD BENECKE, Professor of Koenigsberg, Prussia, do hereby declare
he nature of said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN BUOYANT FABRICS to be
as follows:-
This invention relates to swimming clothes made buoyant by means of cork-coal
(charred cork) instead of fresh cork.
I make the clothes, such as jackets and belts, from strong twill or other suitable
fabric, with a lining of the same material, and insert between the two fabrics small
pieces of cork-coal, which are then prevented from accumulating at any spot, by
a number of seams or stitches which unite the two fabrics at a great number of
places and divide the whole into panels or squares, the latter forming a sort of
cushions or receptacles from which the contents cannot escape.
The swimming jacket or other article of clothing may have a double lining
which encloses the finely distributed cork coal, divided into panels by rows of
stitches, as already indicated.

page_text: I, BERTHOLD BENECKE, Professor of Koenigsberg, Prussia, do hereby declare
the nature of my invention for AN IMPROVEMENT IN BUOYANT FABRICS, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to buoyant fabrics suitable for the manufacture of swimming
clothes, and consists chiefly in the application of cork-coal (charred cork) instead
of fresh cork, in the production of such fabrics.
I use the cork-coal in small pieces inserted between two sheets of drill or other
suitable material, and unite the latter by rows of stitches or equivalent means, so
as to divide the whole fabric into panels or squares and prevent the accumulation
of cork-coal in any particular place.. These panels or cushions thus form cork
receptacles from which the contents cannot escape.
The two sheets of drill or similar material enclosing the cork may either form
the whole fabric, or garment, or only the internal lining of a swimming jacket.or
other garment. In the accompanying drawing Fig. I shows a buoyant jacket in
perspective view, and Fig. II a horizontal section of the same, while Fig. III shows
a portion of the same, on a larger scale. As seen in Fig. III, the pieces of charred
cork a are enclosed between a pair of sheets b and c, which are connected with
each other at regular intervals by stitches e, so as to form cushions or panels f
represented by Fig. II.
The whole forms an internal lining for the outer sheet or coat d.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. Buoyaut fabrics containing charred cork instead of fresh cork for the purpose
described.
2. Buoyant fabrics composed of two sheets of woven material and a layer of
charred cork placed between them, the said sheets being united with each other at
regular intervals, in order to enclose the charred cork in panels distributed equally
over the surface.
3. Swimming clothes lined with small pieces of charred cork, placed between
two sheets, and distributed uniformly by uniting the said sheets at regular intervals,
so as to form panels.