CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZEING AND STIFFENING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ashworth, of Bristol, in the City and County
of Bristol, Manager of the Great Western Cotton Works, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZEING AND STIFFENING TEXTILE
MATERIALS OR FABRICS."
Sealed the 21st November 1854, and dated the 18th September 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ashworth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th September 1854.
I, JOHN ASHWORTH, of Bristol, in the City and County of Bristol, Manager
of the Great Western Cotton Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZEING AND STIFFENING TEXTILE
MATERIALS OR FABRICS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the application, employment, or use of a novel
combination or mixture of ingredients for the purpose of sizeing or stiffening
all sorts of cloth or yarns, whether composed of cotton, linen, wool, or any-
other similar material. The ingredients I prefer to use in the composition of
the sizeing and stiffening solution or liquid, and the proportions thereof, are as
follows:-84 pounds of glue, 60 pounds of Castile or any other soap, 20 pounds

page_text: of salt, 5 pounds of isinglass, and 20 pounds of starch, or slightly varying in
proportions, as I find the nature of the articles or fabrics to be treated or
operated upon may require, and which said proportions may be more precisely
detailed in my future Specification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Ashworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th March 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ASHWORTH, of Bristol, in the County of Gloucester, Manager of the Great
Western Cotton Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of September, 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 John Ashworth, Her especial license that I, the said John
Ashworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Ashworth, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN SIZING AND STIFFENING TEXTILE MATERIALS OR
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Ashworth,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Ashworth, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in the application, employment, or use of a novel
combination or mixture of ingredients for the purpose of sizing or stiffening
all sorts of cloth or yarns, whether composed of cotton, linen, wool, or any

page_text: other similar material. The ingredients I prefer to use in the composition of
the sizing and stiffening mixture or compound, and the proportions thereof,
are as follows:-Thirty-four pounds of glue, or glue substitute, or other gela-
tinous matter, sixty pounds of Castile or any other soap, twenty pounds of salt
or saltpetre, five pounds of isinglass, and twenty pounds of ordinary wheat
starch, or slightly varying in proportions, as I find the nature of the articles
or fabrics to be treated or operated upon may require. It will be evident that
the above mixture or compound of ingredients for sizing or stiffening may
either be produced and employed in a liquid state or of different consistencies,
as may be either required or preferred.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
intend to limit or confine myself strictly to the precise proportions of the above
formula, provided the essential features of my Invention be substantially
retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ashworth, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOHN ASHWORTH. (L.S.)