IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES OR FABRICS, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES, SUCH AS FOR COVERS OF FURNITURE, IMITATION TAPESTRY, CARPETS, OR HANGINGS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Taylor, of Mark Lane, in the City
of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORNAMENTING SURFACES OR FABRICS, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL
PURPOSES, SUCH AS FOR COVERS OF FURNITURE, IMITATION TAPESTRY,
CARPETS, OR HANGINGS."-A communication.
Sealed the 14th June 1853, and dated the 9th April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert Taylor
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th April 1853.
I, HERBERT TAYLOR, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES OR FABRICS, APPLI-
CABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL PURPOSES, SUCH AS FOR COVERS OF FURNITURE,
IMITATION TAPESTRY, CARPETS, OR HANGINGS," to be as follows:-
The process employed in this Invention is as follows:-
1st. The material is bleached by the ordinary method of soap and
sulphur, then placed during the space of one hour in a cold bath of

page_text: sulpho-muriate of tin of 3 degrees Beaumé; the material is then taken
out, well wrung, and shaken to prevent it from creasing; after which it
must be steeped for 5 minutes in a cold bath composed of 20 parts
of water and one part of liquid chloride of lime at 2 degrees
Beaumé; withdraw the tissue, rince thoroughly, stretch it on frames,
and, when perfectly dry, pass it twice over warni calenders, when it will
be ready for use.
2nd. The subject, whatever it may be, is to be printed in lithography
on the fabric by the ordinary method, after which it is painted with the
necessary colors. In this manner the same subject may be reproduced
quickly and indefinitely, the painting thereby not requiring professed
artists for its execution. The painting is done with quill pens for the
fine parts, and the larger parts, such as skies, dresses, groundwork,
with firm stumps of cloth of various sizes. I commence generally
with the light shades, then the darker ones, giving the finishing
touches with the pens. . To make the large parts, such as skies, etc., it
is necessary to dampen the cloth with a sponge and pure water.
One color must not be applied until the other be entirely or nearly
dry. To produce the necessary effects of light shades in water, etc.,
it is often advisable to scrape away part of the color after it is
entirely dry.
4th. When the picture is finished and perfectly dry, to develope and
set the colours it is necessary to steam the painting in the following
manner Place a large kettle of copper or iron, half filled with water,
on a quick fire; when the water boils place a small barrel of the exact
size of the mouth of the kettle, and to fit tightly therein, being open at
each end; roll the painting lightly in a clean white cloth, and suspend
it from the top of the barrel, so that no part of the material may
touch any part of the barrel, in which case the colors would run.
When well arranged, cover the top of the barrel with a thick woollen
cloth; then a wooden cover, with a sufficient weight to keep it tightly
closed. Let it steam for 1 hour; then withdraw, and unroll the painting;
put it in a frame, and allow it to remain 24 hours exposed. Then
wash it thoroughly in a flowing stream, being careful not to rub the

page_text: material, but merely to dip and wash it until the water that leaves it is
entirely clear. Then roll in a white cloth and beat well, in order to
express all the water; stretch it on frames till dry; press warm, as in the
ordinary process of finishing cloth.
Supposing a velvet fabric has been operated upon, the nap may be
made to rise by passing the fabric, while in the frame, over steam:
To operate on a large scale, the ordinary system of steaming employed
in factories for printing muslins may be used.
By this method I have obtained, in point of finish and freshness of
color, the most brilliant effects, which cannot be excelled by any oil
painting, the material always preserving its natural soft and velvety
appearance, thereby giving a warmth and life to painting which cannot
be produced on canvass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Herbert Taylor, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 8th October 1853..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HERBERT TAYLOR, of Mark Lane, in the City of London, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Herbert Taylor, Her special licence
that I, the said Herbert Taylor, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Herbert Taylor, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ORNAMENTING SURFACES OR FABRICS, APPLICABLE TO VARIOUS USEFUL
PURPOSES, SUCH AS FOR COVERS OF FURNITURE, IMITATION TAPESTRY,

page_text: CARPETS, OR HANGINGS," being a communication from a foreigner re-
siding abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Herbert Taylor, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Herbert Taylor, do hereby de-
clare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say):
The Invention which has been communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent as aforesaid, and for which I have obtained Letters
Patent, consists of an improved method of painting or ornamenting
cloths of all kinds which have been previously prepared with a
mordant that will combine chemically with the colors as they are
laid on and blended one with the other. The Invention further includes
a method of developing and permanently fixing the colors thereon by
steam, and restoring the cloth to its natural pliable and soft condition,
by washing out the excess of coloring matter, and leaving the picture
indelibly fixed in the cloth. To enable others skilled in the art to
make and use the invention or discovery, I will proceed, first, to explain
what has heretofore been done, and next to describe the difference
between such known processes and what claim as a new discovery
in the art.
The printing upon cloths by blocks or rollers is well known, the
cloth having been previously prepared with a mordant, for fixing
chemically the colors. But with blocks or rollers only one color can
be laid on the cloth, and no blending can be done, for two reasons,
(viz.) that the second color destroys the first in a great measure, and
the mordants used exhaust their chemical effect upon the first color,
and would not act upon the succeeding ones. It is also admitted that
colors laid on by blocks and rollers have been treated with steam for
brightening and fixing them in the cloth.
Another method of ornamenting or painting, as upon canvass in oil

page_text: colors, or upon velvets and satins in water colors, is equally well
known; but in neither of these latter cases are mordants or chemical
colors used, nor are the colors permanently fixed in the material so
painted upon. Besides, such pictures are merely ornamental, and
cannot be applied to useful purposes, as the pliability of the cloth is
lost; and the picture or ornament being upon the surface and not in the
body of the cloth, it will be easily understood that to apply a fabric so
ornamented to any useful purpose would entirely destroy it.
The present discovery may be considered as combining the perma-
nency of the first with the beauty of the second of the above described
methods. What the artist puts upon the surface of his canvas, and
which is merely ornamental, I put into the body of the fabric in
permanent colors, then restore the cloth to its natural pliable state or
condition, and produce an article both ornamental and useful. The
present Invention is applicable to the making or ornamenting of table
or piano covers, floor cloths, tapestry, pictures, or portraits, chair and
sofa covers, window curtain or blinds; and in its practice I can lay
one color over another, or blend then, with the same facility that oil
colors can be laid on or blended on canvas. The laying of chemical
colors in or on cloth in this manner, so as to preserve them all, has
not to the best of my knowledge been heretofore known or used,
In the practice of the present discovery, I find it equally applicable
to silks, satins, velvets, woollen or cotton goods, and may be executed
in imitation of Gobelin tapestry, or pictures or faces from nature. To
paint on felt, or woven woollen goods, I proceed as follows:-The
cloth is first perfectly bleached, in the ordinary manner, with soap and
sulphur; a tepid water bath is then prepared, into which is placed, as a
mordant, bi-sulpho-hydro-chloride of tin, until the liquid weighs three
degrees of Beaumé (acid weight). This mordant is composed of hydro-
chloric acid, sulphuric acid, and block tin, in about the proportion of
eighteen pounds of the first, nine pounds of the second, and two and a
half pounds of the third, the whole being warmed in a sand bath,
during which chlorine gas is to be introduced, by a pipe or otherwise,
to saturate the solution. Into this mordant the cloth is placed, and
allowed to remain about three quarters of an hour, when it will be

page_text: sufficiently charged with the mordant to receive the chemical colors 'to
be laid on, or painted upon it, even when one color is laid on over.
the other to the extent of several colors, the mordant retaining its
power' of taking and holding the quantity of color necessary to give
depth and richness to the picture. After the cloth is taken out of the
mordant it is wrung out, and the creases carefully shaken out, and, after
a period of about ten minutes, should be placed in a liquid prepared
with twenty parts cold water to one part of clear chloride of lime water,
at two and a half degrees Beaumé, where it is allowed to remain about
three minutes; after. which it is washed in clean water and taken out
and dried..
This operation will prepare the fabric for receiving the colors. The
primitive colors which I use are various, being chiefly vegetable, but I
also use some mineral and some animal colors; and the various shades
thereof are made by mixing the colors, or reducing them. with gum
water prepared from the gums Arabic or Senegal, which should be well
bleached or purified and dissolved in water. By mixing or commingling
the primitive colors any other tints may be produced, according to the
taste of the artist; and these mixed colors may be further reduced in
shade by reducing with gum or other water. It may be proper to state
that the mordant which I use is entirely colorless; and as I use cloth as
white as it can be made, so as to clearly shew the finest tints, it is
important in the practice of the art, inasmuch as a mordant prepared
of sulpho-muriate of tin is tinged with yellow, and imparts its color to
the cloth. The picture should be commenced with the lighter shades
first, and finished with the darker ones, allowing each color, after it is
put on, to dry before another is put over it; and thus great richness is
given to the picture which is being painted on the cloth, whilst the
mordant retains its chemical affinity for the colors, and fixes them
permanently in the cloth successively as they are laid on.
The most expeditious and economical manner of putting on the
figures or designs is to have the outline, or so much of the figure as
may be necessary, lithographed, and stuck on to the cloth, by which
means any number of copies of the same design may be produced, and
which will obviate the necessity of employing artists to sketch out the

page_text: figures; for, with a copy before the operator, and the outline esta-
blished, the colors may be easily blended in.
As yet, not having largely entered into the manufacture of this new
article, or this new art, and, indeed, no further than to fully and com-
pletely establish the feasibility of the operation, I use very crude
instruments for putting on and blending the colors, and which' time
and experience may greatly improve or change; but, as I have accom-
plished the object with them, any others more neatly made may be
considered only as their equivalents. I use, for the purpose of sketch-
ing in the figures (when not lithographed), and for many of the sharper
lines, a gold or common quill pen or style, a brush, and a small roll
of felt or other cloth; and sometimes, for pressing or working in the
colors more deeply into the cloth, I use a small piece of wood, ivory,
or glass, which may be easily cleaned, and not affected by the colors.
I may here state that up to this part of the operation the colors are.
neither fully developed, nor permanently. fixed, nor set; and that, after
the figure, landscape, design, or ornament of any kind is fully painted
on the surface, the cloth is stiff with the gum and colors, and it must
then be rolled in a damp cloth, or laid between damp cloths to soften
and moisten it. Each piece is then separately rolled in a clean white
cloth, and suspended in a steam chamber, so that the rolls shall not
touch each other, or the sides of the chamber. This is necessary, to
prevent the colors from running, or mixing with each other..
The steam chamber being tightly closed, the steam is allowed to
enter the chamber, and the rolls or cloths to remain therein from forty-
five to ninety minutes, or in proportion to the bulk or size of the piece
to be operated upon.
This steaming may require one, two, or more separate operations;
although, as a general thing for small articles, one will serve the purpose.
When, two operations are necessary, the rolls or goods should be
turned upside down, or reversed end for end, to prevent the colors-from
running; this may be more economically done by machinery, from the
outside, as it may be found necessary to keep the rolls in continual
motion in the chamber, and it would obviate the necessity of opening the
chamber, or handling the hot rolls or goods while being steamed.

page_text: After the painted cloths are properly steamed for brightening and fixing
the colors thereon, they are taken out and exposed to the air for
twenty-four hours, more or less, to dry, and to allow such of the colors,
as blue and green, which require the re-oxygenation of the air to be
brightened, and to give them life, and fully develope themselves.
Smaller articles will, of course, require less time.
After the steaming and drying operation, the fabrics are allowed to
lie in clear water, until the gum therein dissolves; after which they
are dipped up and down in the water, until the color ceases to run; and
for this purpose a running stream of water is the best.
When well washed or rinsed, as above, they are rolled in a clean
white towel or cloth, and beaten by the hand, or otherwise, to drive
out the water; and if any color remains in the towel, wash and dry it
again, until the excess of coloring matter, or that which the mordant
has not combined with, is entirely washed out; brush the fabric lightly
with the grain of the cloth, and put a piece of white paper over it, and
iron it with a moderately hot iron, being careful not to scorch or injure
the cloth or colors. The colors are now fully developed, and perma-
nently fixed or set, and the article is ready for the market.
Many modifications of the general plan of operations above described
may be developed by experience, and much of the manual labor may,
perhaps, be performed by machinery. I wish it to be understood,
therefore, that I do not intend to confine myself to the precise process
or manipulation herein set forth, but to modify the same according
to circumstances, so long as I retain the general principles of the
operation herein set forth.
I again repeat that the present Invention differs from block or roller
printing in this that by blocks or rollers one color cannot be put
upon another; that for each separate color a separate block or roller
must be used. In this Invention, however, the colors may be laid
one upon another, with the same implements, at pleasure, and to any
extent, preserving the tints of all, and giving tone to the picture. It
differs from oil painting on canvass, or water painting on silk, satin, or
velvet, as these are on the surface, and are therefore perishable, and
therefore the articles or fabrics to which they are applied can only be

page_text: ornamental, whilst in the fabrics ornamented by the improved process
the colors are in the body of the cloth, and imperishable, and therefore
the fabrics may be both ornamental and useful.
Having thus fully described the nature of this new and useful dis-
covery, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters
Patent, is the painting upon cloth previously prepared with a mordant,
as hercin described, that will combine chemically with the colors laid
on one over another, and blended as described, by which I give great
richness to the figures, whilst the tint of each is carefully preserved. I
claim, also, developing and fixing permanently the colors by steam,
and restoring the cloth to its natural pliable state, by washing out the
gum, and excess of coloring matter, as herein described.
Any ordinary steaming apparatus will serve the purpose, such, for
instance, as are used for steaming worsted goods, merinos, cashmeres,
and other similar fabrics. The chloride of lime water is used to
oxidate and combine the mordant of tin with the cloth.
In witness whercof, I, the said Herbert Taylor, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
HERBERT TAYLOR. (L.S.)
Witness, T. CHAMPION.