IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS OF SILK OR PARTLY OF SILK
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Wilson, of 87, Walbrook, in the City
of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING FABRICS
OF SILK OR PARTLY OF SILK."-Partly a communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Wilson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd October 1852.
I, JAMES WILSON, of 37, Walbrook, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRINTING FABRICS OF SILK OR PARTLY OF SILK " to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the production of a new class of
printed piled fabric where the pile is composed of silk, and consists of
weaving the fabric as heretofore without pile, and then raising the pile
either before or after printing, and finishing the printed piled surface
thus obtained.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Wilson, Her special licence that
I, the said James Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said James Wilson, 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 PRINTING FABRICS
OF SILK OR PARTLY OF SILK," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Wilson, 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 James Wilson, do hereby declare
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 thereof (that is to say):
This Invention has for its object the production of a new class of
printed fabrics where the pile is composed of silk, and consists of
weaving the fabric as heretofore without pile, and then raising the pile
either before or after printing, and finishing the printed piled surface thus
obtained.
The fabrics above mentioned are commonly called "tissue," which is
woven either with a silk or cotton warp, and shute of net or spun silk,
which is thrown or floated upon the surface in the process of weaving.
When woven, the piece is strained in a frame to the tension required,
and a pile or nap is raised (from the face of the fabric on which the
silk appears) by the application of cards and teazles. The piece having
thus undergone the raising process, the pile or nap, if required shorter,

page_text: is then passed through a cropping or shearing machine as many times
as may be required to reduce the nap or pile to the length desired,
after which it is ready for the printer.
And I would here state that the above manufacture of fabrics is not
new, and separately I make no claim thereto. And I would also state
that my Invention consists of combining with such fabrics the process
of printing, by which a new and peculiar manufacture of printed silk
piled fabric is obtained, differing from printed velvets and such like
fabrics (composed of silk or partly of silk) where the pile is produced
by the act of weaving. And I would further state that I make no
claim to the processes of preparing such fabrics for, or the process of
printing, when separately considered, they being (subject to some modi-
fications to adapt them to the peculiar fabric) similar to processes of
preparation and printing resorted to when printing other fabrics.
PROCESS FOR PRINTING.
The fabric is first soaked for two hours in a solution of muriate
or oxymuriate of tin, diluted with water to the specific gravity of
2" Twaddell's hydrometer, and is then well washed in running water,
which is expressed by rollers; the fabric is then brushed to lay the pile,
and is to be slowly dried in a room without heat.
Previous to the printing, the pile is laid even and smooth by brushing
with a moderately hard brush, and the fabric is passed through a cold
callendar which imparts a more even surface. The pile is not only
smoothed with a brush after being callendered, but a weak solution of
gum dragon is applied, which holds down the pile during printing.
The printing is best performed by surface blocks laid on either by
hand or by a machine. If the back or body of the fabric be of cotton,
care is required in using muriate of tin or oxalic acid sparingly, so as
not to injure and weaken the cotton back.
The colours may be thickened with gum or starch. "Black" is ob-
tained from a concentrated decoction of logwood with a small addition
of nitrate of iron. "Scarlet reds," from solutions of cochineal acidulated
with oxalic acid. "Pinks," solutions of cochineal in strong liquid am-
monia. "Blues," from cyanite, or red prussiate of potash. "Yellow."
"

page_text: from the precipitate yielded by a strong solution of quercitron bark
treated with muriate of tin. "Greens," by adding to yellow a blue
colour made from extract of indigo. "Lilacs" are obtained from archil.
"Morone" and "browns," by well incorporating red and yellow with
black. These are all well understood.
When the printing is completed, the material is suspended by woollen
threads or very fine hooks in an open chamber or box; two or three
blankets are extended to close the open top, and a wooden cover is
placed over all, and pressed down close by weights. Steam is then
admitted by a perforated opening at the bottom of the box, and is kept
up for one hour. When the fabric is much covered with printing, or
when it has a colored ground, it is taken out at the expiration of thirty
minutes, aired for ten or fifteen minutes, and is then replaced for another
steaming of thirty minutes. The fabric is then well washed to remove
the superfluous gum or thickening, and passed through rollers or a
hydro-extractor to discharge the water, and is rinsed in a back of
water slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, brushed and dried.
The pile is again brushed to restore it to its normal state, and the
fabric is again subjected to the cutting machine, if necessary, to remove
any superfluous nap or pile. After which it is either dressed by hand
with hot irons or in the usual manner by cylinders, and delivered to the
warehouse.
In witness whereof, I, tho said James Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JAMES WILSON. (L.B.)
Witness,
S. CARPMABL.