IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING-UP TAPES AND OTHER NARROW FABRICS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Smith, Manager, and Marcus Brown
Westbead, Merchant; both of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING-UP TAPES AND OTHER
NARROW FABRICS."
Sealed the 22nd October 1867, and dated the 29th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
29th April 1867.
We, ROBERT SMITH, Manager, and MARCUS BROWN WESTHEAD, Merchant,
both of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING-UP TAPES AND OTHER
NARROW FABRICS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in a method of making-up tapes and other narrow
fabrics, whereby they may be unlapped in any desired lengths without a dis-
arrangement of the whole. In order to effect this we pleat the fabric in folds;
and confine the said folds by india-rubber bands or other elastic apparatus,
and the said folds may therefore be drawn off as desired. In conjuntion with
the elastic holders side pieces of cardboard or other material may be used,
and to these may be attached metallic or other springs to confine the
folds.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
SMITH, Manager, and MARCUS BROWN WESTHEAD, Merchant, both of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Robert Smith and Marcus Brown Westhead, Her special license that we,
the said Robert Smith and Marcus Brown Westhead, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Smith and Marcus
Brown Westhead, our 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
MAKING-UP TAPES AND OTHER NARROW FABRICS," upon the condition, amongst
other, that we, the said Robert Smith and Marcus Brown Westhead, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand or seal of
one of us, 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 Robert Smith and Marcus Brown
Westhead, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that
(is to say),-
Our Invention consists in a method of making-up tapes and other narrow
fabrics, whereby they may be unlapped in any desired lengths without a
general disarrangement of the piece. In order to effect this we plait the fabric
in folds, and confine the said folds by india-rubber bands or other elastic
apparatus, and the said folds may therefore be drawn off as desired.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figures 1 and 2, sbew a method by which
our Invention may be carried out. The two ends of the piece of tape or other
narrow fabric are shewn at a, b, between which it is plaited backward and

page_text: forward, and these plaits are then confined by rings of india-rubber c. When it
is desired to use a length of the tape the end a is drawn forward, and thus the
plaits are withdrawn successively until the desired quantity has been obtained,
the bands of india-rubber c keeping the remainder compactly together.
In order to explain the manner in which the tape is folded the Drawing is
upon an exaggerated scale, shewing a space which would not really exist
between the plaits.
Figures 3 and 4 shew a slight modification of our Invention as above
described. In this instance the plaits are enclosed between two pieces of
cardboard or other rigid material d, and around them are placed the elastic
holders c, the said card-board thus constituting an additional support for the
plaits. The end a by which the successive plaits are to be drawn off* extends in
this instance beneath the band c and to the end of the piece, but it might
pass through an aperture in the card d as shewn at f, in which case the card-
board may be wider than the tape or in two pieces held by additional elastic
bands as shewn at g.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that we claim as secured to us under the above recited Letters
Patent, making up tapes or other narrow fabrics in plaits, and confining the
said plaits by india-rubber bands or other elastic apparatus, for the purpose
above set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Smith and Marcus Brown
Westhead, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-seven.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said Robert Smith and
Marcus Brown Westhead, in
the presence of
W. TUDOR MABLEY,
14, St. Ann's Square,
Manchester.
M. BROWN WESTHEAD. (L.S.)