Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 12th June, 1886.
Complete Left, 10th Mar., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 19th Apr., 1887.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the firm of A. M. and Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in a process of treating woven and other fabrics, yarns,
cordage and ropes for the purpose of rendering the same proof against putrifactive
decay or rot and of imparting antiseptic qualities, and the Invention consists in
submitting the goods to be treated to a process of fumigation.
nated this 10th T 100R
A. M. CLARK.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Process of Treating Woven and other Fabrics, Yarns, Ropes, and
Cordage for the Purpose of Rendering the same Non-putrefactive
and Antiseptic.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of the firm of A. M. and Wm. Clark, of
53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention (a communication to me from
abroad by Louis Philippe Audouard of Mantes Franco Retired Captain of Artillery,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to a process of treating all kinds of woven and felted fabrics,
fibrous or filamentous materials including ropes, cordage, fishing nets, etc., for the
purpose of rendering the same proof against putrefaction without in any way affecting
their suppleness or appearance and without any preliminary preparation. The fabrics
employed for making tents, sail cloth, bed-ticks, mattress-cases, awnings, or tilts,
sand-bags for military use, bags for containing grain, seed, cement or lime, fire
buckets, litters or ambulances girths etc.; cannot very well have a preservative
coating applied on account of the increased weight and other disadvantages con-
sequent thereon, and they are therefore liable to become rapidly destroyed by rot, due
to fermentation, more especially when they are exposed to damp, or the inclemency
of the weather, or are kept stowed away.
The Invention consists in a process of fumigation with wood smoke, whereby the
materials subjected to the operation become thoroughly impregnatod with the antiseptic
and tarry products contained in the smoke, and are thus effectually preserved from
decay without any appreciable increase in their weight, or any alteration in their
original flexibility, strength, and other qualities and appearance, except that fabrics
treated in this manner acquire a yellow brown tint which is, in many cases, of great
advantage, more especially in the case of military tents, as their color being similar to
that of the ground renders them invisible at any great distance, whereas tents of the
light color now employed can be seen for a very long distance, which is a great
objection from a strategical point of view as it enables the number of troops in any
cainp to be easily counted. Moreover, fabrics treated according to this Invention are less
hygro-metric than ordinary fabrics and absorb very little water after being exposed to
dew or rain, whereas military tents of the ordinary kind under the same conditions,
absorb a considerable quantity of water which may be estimated at about one pound
per shelter tent when struck added to the weight to be carried. Fabrics treated by
the process of this Invention also acquire hygienic properties due to the antiseptic
matters with which they are impregnated. The superiority of these new products is
incontestable from an economic point of view, as, owing to the non-putrefactive
property they acquire by being completely saturated with antiseptic and tarry
matters, fermentation is prevented. The process also has the further advantage of

page_text: purging fabrics of all impurities. Products thus treated are also rendered more
ilurable and therefore more economical. All the fibres or constitutive elements of the
fabrics and materials subjected to the treatment of this Invention are impregnated
with the antiseptic principles contained in the wood smoke, without being weakened,
burnt, or otherwise injuriously affected.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1st. The herein-described process of treating fibrous or filamentous materials,
fabrics, and articles; which consists in submitting them to the action of wood-smoke
for the purpose of preventing decay, and the absorption of moisture, as specified.
2nd. The improved products resulting from the treatment of fabrics, and other
articles made of fibrous or filamentous materials, by fumigation with wood smoke as
herein-before described, the said products being more particularly applicable for
military, naval, ambulance and public services.
A. MELVILLE CLARK.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agents.