A NEW OR IMPROVED FIBROUS SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR TO BE USED FOR ALL THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR IS NOW USED, AND ALSO FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Werner Staufen, of George Street, Portman Square,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
FIBROUS SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR TO BE USED FOR ALL THE
PURPOSES FOR WHICH HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR IS NOW USED, AND ALSO FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 21st August 1863, and dated the 27th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Werner Staufen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th February 1863.
I, WERNER STAUFEN, of George Street, Portman Square, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
NEW OR IMPROVED FIBROUS SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR TO BE
USED FOR ALL THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR IS NOW USED,
AND ALSO FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS," to be as follows:-
I take the fibres of the leaves of the Elæis Guineensis or of the leaves of
palms of the same family, and I treat them with a hot solution of caustic soda
in order to remove the resinous matter. After this process the fibres are
dyed any desirable colour or bleached. They are next sorted according to their
length. These fibres are then ready to be used for all the purposes for which
human and other hair is now used, and can be used either alone or mixed with
real hair in any proportion. These fibres can, when prepared as above de-
scribed, be likewise manufactured into textile fabrics as well alone as mixed
with silk, flax, wool, cotton, or other fibrous substances, vegetable and animal,
or with a combination of various vegetable fibres, or of various animal fibres,

page_text: or of both. Although I prefer to use these fibres after they have been sub-
jected to the treatment or preparation herein-before described, such fibres
may at once be used for the purposes above mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Werner Staufen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WERNER
STAUFEN, of George Street, Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Werner Staufen, Her special licence that I, the said Werner Staufen,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Werner
Staufen, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED
FIBROUS SUBSTITUTE FOR HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR TO BE USED FOR ALL THE
PURPOSES FOR WHICH HUMAN AND OTHER HAIR IS NOW USED, AND ALSO FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Werner Staufen, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under his, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Werner Staufen, 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):-
That my said Invention consists in so preparing the fibres of the leaves of the
Elais Guineensis and the fibres of the leaves of palms of the same family that
they, when properly prepared, will form a valuable article of commerce, as

page_text: they can be used for various purposes, more especially however as a substitute
for human and other hair, and as fibres from which textile fabrics can be made.
Such fabrics can be made wholly and purely from the said fibres, but the
latter may also be mixed in various proportions with silk, flax, wool, cotton,
or other fibrous substances, vegetable or animal, or with a mixture of various
vegetable fibres, or of various animal fibres, or of both. The leaves of the
Elais Guineensis and of palms of the same family are gathered from the trees,
and the fibres are extracted from the green leaves by the ordinary machinery
used for similar operations in the preparation of other vegetable fibres. After
the fibres have been thus extracted from the green leaves, they are, when
intended to be used as a substitute for human and other hair, treated in the
following manner:-To about 90 gallons of water I prefer to take about 25 lbs.
of soda, and when the soda is dissolved I add about 3 or 4 or more lbs. of
lime, and allow the whole to boil for about half an hour to form an alkali;
this liquid is then allowed to cool and to settle. The clear liquid is next
drawn off, and is diluted in the proportion of about five parts of water to one
part of the liquid. Into this last mixture the fibres are placed and allowed
to boil during about three quarters of an hour. The said fibres can then be
dyed any desirable color, and when they have been dried, either in the open
air or by artificial means, they are passed through a hackling machine and
drawn according to the different lengths of the fibres, after which they can be
used as a substitute for human and other hair, either alone or mixed with real
hair in any proportion. The above-described chemical preparation can also
be used for preparing the fibres of the leaves of the Elais Guineensis and of
the leaves of palms of the same family when the said fibres are intended to be
manufactured into textile fabrics. I prefer however for this latter purpose
to treat them as follows:-I mix lime and carbonate of soda in the proportion
of 1 lb. of soda to half lb. of lime with water, and allow the preparation to stand
till it settles; the clear liquid is then drawn off and separated from the solid
matter or sediment, and should, when used, indicate from 1 to 2 degrees of
Twaddle hydrometer. In this liquor the fibres extracted from the
green leaves,
as above mentioned, are immersed during from thirty to fifty minutes, more or
less, and when dried are ready to be manufactured into textile fabrics like
any other vegetable fibres.
I wish it however to be understood that I do not confine or limit myself to
any particular chemical preparation or proportion of ingredients, as the same
may be considerably varied without altering the nature of my said Invention ;
but that what I claim as the Invention to be secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-

page_text: Firstly, the sole use of the fibres of the leaves of the Elais Guineensis and
of the leaves of palms of the same family as a substitute for human and other
hair, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as described.
Secondly, the sole use of the fibres of the leaves of the Elais Guineensis and
of the leaves of palms of the same family for the manufacture therefrom of
textile fabrics, in the manner and for the purposes substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Werner Staufen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WERNER STAUFEN. (Ls.)