IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCOIS
VOUILLON, of Princes Street, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Silk Mercer, send greeting.
⚫ WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of June, in the second year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francois
Vouillon, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Francois Vouillon, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Francois Vouillon, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL WOVEN
FABRICS," communicated to me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Francois Vouillon,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Francois Vouillon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon
(that is to say):-
The Invention relates to the application of fine fabrics of glass as orna-
mental weft, in weaving other fabrics of silk, wool, cotton, or other fibrous
material; and in order to give the best information in my power, I will pro-
cecd to describe the means pursued, and which fully answer the purpose, and
I believe will be found the best for performing the Invention. The looms I
prefer for weaving are what are called jacquard looms, but the Invention is
equally applicable to other looms wherein ornamental or figured fabrics are
woven; and I would here state, that the Invention does not alter the
mechanism of the loom, nor the arrangement of the threads of the warp; and
the mode of working may be assimilated to working with two or more colors
where two or more shuttles are used; and in order to make the mode of
working most clear, I will suppose that a jacquard loom is fitted up for
weaving silk damask, of two colors, blue and gold color, and that the general
ground or surface is to be satin, with ornamental figures of the yellow. In
such case the warp would be arranged suitably for that purpose, and the
pattern either worked by separate cards or by the same cards as the ground,
all which is well understood in weaving; and I will suppose that in place of
having the gold color in silk yarn (in a suitable shuttle, to be used in con-
junction with the shuttle for the weft of the same color as the warp for
conjointly producing the ground of satin fabric), I am to employ fibres of glass
of a gold color as the ornamenting weft; and I will suppose that the loom has
been at work, and that a shed of the warp opened, into which a weft of glass
fibres is now to be brought across from selvage to selvage, taking care that the
weft of glass fibres is somewhat wider than the fabric, in order to leave the
ends of the weft protruding beyond either selvage till the fabric is woven, when
the same are to be cut off; and in order conveniently and readily to place the
weft of glass fibres in the shed when opened to receive it, the workman with
his right-hand passes the hook A from the right-hand selvage through the
opened shed beyond the left-hand selvage, and takes the end of a weft of glass
fibres in his left-hand, places it in the hook, and continues to hold the end of
the weft over the hook; he then with his right-hand draws the hook together
with the weft through the shed till the other end of the glass weft reaches
beyond the right-hand selvage, when he disengages the hook and gently moves
the glass weft up with the reed; another shed of the warp is next to be opened
by the workman, and a weft of silk thrown across by the shuttle, and the same

page_text: is to be beaten up by the workman with the reed; and it will be seen that by
such means the glass weft will be materially protected from the action of the
reed by the weft of silk. The workman then proceeds to introduce another
weft of glass fibres in a shed according to the pattern, and again a weft of silk
is thrown across, and so on, till the fabric is completed; and it should be
remarked, that whatever be the pattern woven, care should be observed in
beating up that a weft of silk or other yarn should be introduced between the
reed and the ornamental weft of glass before fully beating up; and although I
have mentioned satin as the ground of the fabric, any other ground may be
used, and I have only mentioned satin as an instance, as I might equally have
taken any other class of weaving; for it will now be seen that the Invention
does not materially interfere with the process of weaving a particular fabric,
other than in respect to the material employed as the ornamenting weft, and
although I have above described the weft as proceeding from selvage to selvage,
it will readily be understood, that.if the ornamenting pattern only requires to
be at particular places, and not requiring the weft to run from selvage to
selvage, in such cases the workman uses a shorter hook, and where the shed is
opened for the ornamental pattern, he draws a length of weft through the shed
sufficiently long to protrude at the back of the fabric beyond the shed so opened,
taking care that the warp is suitably arranged to tie in such weft, as is the
case when using small hand shuttles in making like descriptions of ornamental
weavings.
Daving thus explained the mode of producing ornamental weavings accord-
ing to the Invention, I will proceed to explain the manner in which the fibres
of glass are treated by me, in order to render the same more suitable for the
purpose of becoming the ornamental weft of fabrics produced of yarn or thread
of silk, wool, cotton, or other fibrous materials.
The glass having been spun, as is well understood, into any desired lengths
according to the width of the fabric, and into exceedingly fine fibres, as
is well understood, I treat such glass fibres in the following manner :-
Figure 1 is the section of a strong vessel of copper, tinned on the inside, the
lower part being double, and a, a, a, are a series of bars of glass on suitable
projections formed on the sides of the vessel; on to these bars are placed
bundles of the glass fibre opened out in order to the vapours, bereafter
explained, passing. amongst such fibres freely; b is a bent tube, having a stop-
cock c; the tube at one end opens into the double bottom of the vessel, and at
the other end it opens into the vessel itself; by this means the steam from the
double bottom can be permitted to flow into the vessel from time to time, in
order to slightly damp the glass fibres under operation, and the slightest

page_text: possible quantity is admitted at short intervals of a few minutes; and d is a
pipe leading from a steam boiler, the temperature in such boiler being kept
about boiling point; and the pipe d opens into the double bottom or case of the
vessel in which the glass fibre is placed, and the vessel is closed air-tight by a
cover e. Supposing the vessel to be closed and to contain the glass fibre to be
treated, and that the glass bulbf to contain four ounces liquid ammonia (a
saturated solution of ammonia), and that the glass bulb 9 contains a mixture,
three ounces of sulphuric acid, two and a half ounces of spirits of wine, about
fifty-four over proof, and that a spirit lamp were lighted under each of the
bulbs f, g, the vapours generated respectively in those bulbs woulil, by their
glass pipes h, i, be conveyed into the vessel, and the glass fibre therein would
'be thereby acted on, and by such means be cleansed and rendered more pliable
and suitable for the purposes of the Invention, the workman from time to
time allowing a small quantity of steam to flow into the vessel amongst the
glass fibre; and this operation is to be continued from half an hour to an hour,
till there appears white vapours in the bulb 9, when the process is to be imme-
diately stopped by removing the heat of the lamps from the bulbs f, g, and
shutting off the steam from the steam boiler. The quantities of materials
above given is for ten pounds of glass fibres. j, k, are two pipes and stop-
cock, in order from time to time to draw off the condensed steam, one com-
municating with the double bottom or steam case of the vessel, and the other
with the interior of the vessel itself. In using glass fibre as weft in spinning,
the workman divides the bundles of fibres into as many equal parts as possible,
each part to constitute one weft, and the quantity so used as a weft should be
such as to be equal when woven into the fabric to the thickness of silk or
other yarn which would otherwise be used. In employing fibres of glass as
an ornamental weft, various colors of glass may be used, depending on the.
taste of the manufacturer, and it will be evident that various colored wefts of
glass may be used in forming a particular ornamental pattern, or part of a
pattern; for it will readily be understood that in producing ornamental weaving
various colors of silk and other yarns, according to the fabric which is to be
made, may be used conjointly with weft of glass in forming ornamental
patterns, in like manner to what is at present practised in weaving with
several colors of weft. When the fabric is taken out of the loom, it is placed
in a frame having a horizontal roller at each end, with ratchet wheels and
clicks or catches to retain the rollers in any position. The fabric is wound on
to one of the rollers, and made fast to the other, whereby the fabric can be
wound off the full roller on to the empty one. The rollers are about six feet
apart, and the fabric between the rollers is finished off in the following

page_text: manner: When the fabric is stretched out the workman picks off any knots
or ends of the warp and weft, and then with a smooth surface of soft leather
he rubs the fabric all over, and with a brush he removes all loose fibres; and
in order that no loose fibre of the glass may remain, he passes a dry sponge
over the surface; the quantity of surface so acted on is then wound up, and a
fresh surface is then treated. These operations are performed, first, on the
back surface of the fabric and then on the front surface.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, I would remark that I
lay no claim to the construction of looms or machinery for weaving, nor do
I claim the mode of preparing the glass, and although I have described the
best means I am acquainted with for introducing weft of glass in weavings of
other fibrous materials, the same may be varied without departing from the
Invention; but what I claim is the mode of weaving ornamental fabrics of
silk, wool, cotton, or other fibrous materials by the application of weft of glass,
as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francois Vouillon, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
FRANCOIS (L.S.) VOUILLON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1889, the aforesaid Francois Vouillon came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.