A CERTAIN TRANSLUCENT OR TRANSPARENT FABRIC, AND FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS PURPOSES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Gentleman, of Bow, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A CERTAIN TRANSLUCENT
OR TRANSPARENT FABRIC, AND FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS OF THE SAME TO
VARIOUS PURPOSES."
Scaled the 22nd June 1860, and dated the 24th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th December 1859.
I, FRANCIS GYBBON SPILSBURY, Gentleman, of Bow, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A CERTAIN
TRANSLUCENT OR TRANSPARENT FABRIC, AND FOR CERTAIN APPLICATIONS OF THE
SAME TO VARIOUS PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
I take any vegetable or animal fabric, such as muslin, net, paper, silk, hair,
leather, skin, and impregnate it with silicate of potash or silicate of soda
dissolved in water, or a mixture of the two, and when dried I apply the same
to case candles with, or to make lamps to contain oil, tallow, or other suba
stances of similar kind; also apply the same to various decorative purposes,
and in general to all purposes requiring the use of a translucent or transparent
medium.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd June 1860.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
GYBBON SPILSBURY, Gentleman, of Bow, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, Her special licence that I, the said
Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, 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 Invention
for "A CERTAIN TRANSLUCENT OR TRANSPARENT FABRIC, AND FOR CERTAIN APPLICA
TIONS OF THE SAME TO VARIOUS PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
To make my translucent material, I select those fabrics or natural products
which are most translucent in themselves, such as the finest tissue paper,
muslin, skin, or perforated cardboard. A sheet of either of these I dip into a
solution of silicate of soda or potash, usually called "soluble glass," either by
itself, or mixed with phosphate, borate, or tungstate of soda or potash. The
sheet when pressed & dried is complete, and is the simplest form of my
Invention. I find it useful, however, to give the fabrics a previous preparation,
so as to render them as translucent in themselves as possible, before applying

page_text: the soluble glass, and I sometimes for ornament or strength combine two
fabrics together.
For example, I take a sheet of fine tissue paper, which I oil, or dip into a
strong solution of fat or resin soap, or into a solution of resinous matter in
spirit or other liquid capable of dissolving it. When dry I dip the paper thus
prepared into soluble glass. I then expose it to the air until the superfluous
moisture is evaporated, after which I pass it between rollers or under other
mechanical pressure, and then, when dry, it is ready for any use it may be
applicable to. If I want it however to possess greater strength, previous to
coating it with the soluble glass I lay over it a piece of fine net or
muslin, & then pass over them both with a brush the soluble glass, after
which, being subjected to pressure, the two tissues become incorporated
into one. In like manner by way of ornament I take paper stamped & pierced
in patterns, & back that with the prepared tissue paper, incorporating
the two surfaces by pressure & the solution of the soluble glass.
Having thus obtained my translucent inaterial, I apply it to any purpose
requiring a transparent medium, and specially to the following purposes.
First, I make it into small boxes or cases to be filled with tallow or other
material in the same manner as what are called "Childs' night lights," and
so obtain shadowless night lights.
Secondly, I make it into shades to be fitted on candles or other lights to
enable them to be carried about with the same facility as in a lantern.
Thirdly, I employ my translucent material either in sheets by itself, or
stretched on a frame as a substitute for wire blinds for windows.
Lastly, I employ it instead of the ordinary tracing paper used by artists
& engineers.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Gybbon Spilsbury, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year
of our Lord 1860.
FRANCIS GYBBON (L.s) SPILSBURY.