IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING SHIRTING FABRICS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tillie, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, and John Henderson, of the same place,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING SHIRTING
FABRICS."
Sealed the 4th August 1854 by Order of the Lord Chancellor, and
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tillie and
John Henderson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition on the 25th April 1858.
We, WILLIAM TILLIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, and JouN HENDERSON, of the same place, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING
SHIRTING FABRICS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the so arranging the designs and the
fabrics from which printed shirts are to be made up, that the body of
the shirt and the various trimmings," as the fronts, collars, wrist-
bands, and ornamental finishing pieces or "tabs," may be simultaneously
printed with a more effective result in the after process of manufacture
than hitherto. According to the existing plan of printing such goods,

page_text: the various trimmings are so arranged on the same piece of cloth that
all the available space on the piece may be fully economised when the
piece is cut up for making into-a shirt. But hitherto the collars have
always been printed in two separate or distinct halves, so that it has
been necessary to sew or stitch the pieces together when the collar is
made up. Now according to one modification of these improvements
the same general arrangement of the several details is kept up, but the
collars are so laid down on the pattern that they may each be printed
in one undivided piece, this doing away with the seam in the centre of
the back of the collar top. Again, by another modification the main
body of the piece, hitherto printed separately, may be printed at the
same time and by the same roller as the whole of the trimmings. To
do this the roller carrying the whole of the required design is arranged
to print the piece as it were in the length of the shirt. On one end of
the roller, are the patterns for the several minor-trimmings, which are
thus printed along one edge of the piece, whilst the main body of the
roller carries the body and front design. Then in printing a lot of
shirts in this way a set of pieces are first printed, with the trimmings
thereon, and then a set of narrower pieces are printed to produce body
fabric for the arms, the pieces being just the width of the body pattern
only on the roller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
and of the above Order, filed by the said William Tillie and John
Henderson in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 10th August
1854..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
WILLIAM TILLIE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
anil JOHN HENDERSON, of the same place, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by-Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in 'the
year
of our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth s
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successor's, give and
grant unto is, the said William Tillie and. John Henderson, Her special

page_text: license that we, the said William Tillie and John Henderson, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Tillie and John Henderson, our executors, administrators, or
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 SHIRTING
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Tillie and John Heuderson, by an instrument in writing, under 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 we, the said William Tillie and John
Henderson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being ha
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:-
.
Our said Invention relates to the so arranging the designs and the
fabrics from which printed shirts are to be made up, that the body of the
shirt and the various trimmings, as the fronts, collars, wristbands, and
ornamental finishing pieces or "tabs," may be sinfultaneously printed.
with a more effective result in the after process of manufacture than
hitherto. To to do this the roller carrying the whole of the required
design is arranged to print the piece as it were in the length of the
sliirt. On one end of the roller are the patterns for the several minor
trimmings, which are thus printed along one edge of the picce, whilst
the main body of the roller carries the body and front design. Then
in printing a lot of -shirts in this way a set of pieces arè first printed
with the trimmings thereon, and then a set of narrower pieces are
printed to produce body. fabric for the arms; the pieces" being just the
width of the body pattern-only on the roller,
--

page_text: And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we
shall now proceed to describe the Sheet of Drawings hereunto attached,
and representing the fabric as printed with one repeat of the entire
roller pattern in readiness for being cut up to make a shirt, the pieces
for the arms only being absent. The two collar band pieces A, which
are intended to be cut out and placed with their blank sides in contact,
to exhibit both surfaces as printed in the finished shirt, are arranged
to be printed by one extreme end of the printing roller upon one side
of the fabric. These collar bands are disposed in reverse directions,
and so as to occupy a long narrow space alongside the edge of the
fabric. They are not printed as straight pieces in the manner already
practised, but are curved or of a segmental form, and they occupy the
whole circumference of the rollers end. Next to these collar bands are
the four side plaits B for the shirt breast, disposed so as to run round
the printing roller in two continuous lines. Then when the printed
fabric is converted into a shirt, these two long lines of plaits, as con-
tained within the limits of each repeat or separate shirting piece, are
cut through at their centres transversely to produce four separate plaits
of the necessary length. The central plait carrying the buttons or
studs, or the holes for such fastenings is represented at C, parallel to
the two lines B. This plait C occupies by its length abount one half
of the length of of the repeat of the fabric, the remaining portion being
taken up by the cluster of trimming details D, E, F, and G. The
piece D represents the solid or seamless collar, and the two parts E
next to it are intended to be cut out for lining the collar D, so as to
present a printed surface on each side; or instead of such an appro-
priation, these pieces E may be used as separate and independant
collars. The tab F occupies a space within the concave curvature of
the two pieces E, and next to this tab F are the two wristbands G.
The rest of the fabric H is taken up by the body of the shirt, and
has the ground or other ornament printed upon it. By this peculiar
arrangement of the trimmings great economy in the shirting fabric is
secured.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention and the mannon in which the same is on modo ha cad

page_text: or carried into effect, we would observé, in conclusion, that we do not
confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details or arrangements which
we have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may bo
made therefrom, without deviating from the principles or main features
of our said Invention; but what we consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangements and printing of shirting fabrics, as
herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of printing shirting fabrics wherein the
rest of the shirt, with the exception of the sleeves, is printed at the same
time and by the same roller as the whole of the trimmings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Tillie and John Hen-
derson, have hereunto set our hands and scals, the Eighth
day of August, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
W TILLIE.
(L.S.)
JOHN HENDERSON. (L.S.)