Improve- MENTS IN SPINNING AND TREATING YARNS FOR VELVETS, SEWING THREADS, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Bradford, in the
County of York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "Improve-
MENTS IN SPINNING AND TREATING YARNS FOR VELVETS, SEWING THREADS,
AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 4th July 1871, and dated the 27th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th April 1871.
I, SAMUEL Cunliffe Lister, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING AND TREATING YARNS FOR VELVETS, SEWING
THREADS, AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object spinning and treating yarns for
velvets, sewing threads, & other purposes.
Spun silk for many purposes has not sufficient strength and lustre
when spun by itself. I obviate this by using a thread of raw silk along
with the waste silk. The raw silk thread is passed through the front

page_text: rollers of the spinning frame and twisted together with the waste silk as
they pass simultaneously through the front rollers of the spinning
frame. The compound yarn can then be doubled and dyed in the
ordinary way. I find this kind of yarn to answer admirably for sewing
threads and velvets.
Carded spun silk yarns have not hitherto been used for warps for
velvets, as they will not stand the friction in weaving, but by passing
them through a solution of soap and water in a trough placed behind
the front rollers of a spinning frame and putting eight or ten turns more
twist into the yarn it weaves well.
Another plan is to size it; but this plan requires great care, or the
pile is apt to be much injured with the size. I find animal size to
answer best. After being woven, if the pile is stuck together, which
is very often the casc, the pieces should be gently steamed so as to
soften the size and then carded or brushed, or both, so as to open out
the pilc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Bradford, in the County of York, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-onc, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, Her
special license that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Cunliffe
Lister, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPINNING AND TREATING YARNS FOR VELVETS,

page_text: SEWING THREADS, AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention has for its object improvements in spinning and
treating yarns for velvets, sewing threads, and other purposes.
Spun silk for many purposes has not sufficient strength and lustre
when spun by itself. I obviate this by using a thread of raw silk along
with the waste silk. The raw silk thread is passed through the front
rollers of the spinning frame and twisted together with the waste silk as
they pass simultaneously through the front rollers of the spinning frame.
The compound yarn can then be doubled and dyed in the ordinary way.
I find this kind of yarn to answer admirably for sewing threads and
velvets.
In carrying out my Invention I take for example a thread of raw
silk of a number, say of about 400, and with this I combine about an
equal quantity of silk fibre obtained by combing silk waste; the thread
of raw silk being led in at the front rollers of the spinning frame as
above described. The yarn so obtained is subsequently doubled and
afterwards dyed in the ordinary manner.
By combining raw silk with spun silk as above described I am
enabled to obtain silk yarns of fine numbers at less cost than heretofore,
as when spun silk alone is used so much twist has to be put into the yarn
to obtain the requisite strength when spinning to fine numbers that it
cannot be made at much less cost than a yarn of the same number from
raw silk alone, but by combining a thread of raw silk with combed
waste silk less twist is required, in fact, only about one-half of the
amount of twist required when spun silk only is used, consequently the
cost of production is materially lessened, and in addition a stronger yarn
is produced.

page_text: A thread of mixed raw and combed waste silk made as above
described also possesses special advantages for being used for forming
the pile of silk velvets both over threads produced from spun silk alone
or from the more expensive raw silk. It is superior to threads of spun
silk alone, as such threads cannot be spun sufficiently fine and do not
possess the requisite strength, and it is both cheaper and possesses
better filling properties, that is to say, forms a closer pile than threads
of raw silk.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of October
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.