IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augustus Stenger, of 4, Gresham Street, in the
City of London, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS.""
Sealed the 14th August 1868, and dated the 24th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augustus Stenger at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.on
the 24th February 1868.
I, AUGUSTUS STENGER, of 4, Gresham Street,, in the City of London,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS AND PARASOLS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the adaptation and application to:
the manufacture of umbrellas and parasols of a material which has
been hitherto employed in the lining of garments. The material.
intended to be adapted and applied to this purpose is known in.
commerce as "Italian cloth," in either a satin twill or serge texture,.
and in order to adapt this material for the purpose it is manufactured.
with a warp of cotton, differing from the cotton warp hitherto used

page_text: in cloth for tailoring purposes by its superior quality and greater
evenness of thread, as required to secure its necessary regularity of
transparency when seen against the light.
In the selection of the woollen weft, which is by preference prepared
from Silesian wool, with a view of increasing brilliancy of face and 5
lightness of texture, the same amount of care is used as in the case of
the cotton warp, and for the same object. The texture of the material
thus produced is of such a nature as to prevent its ready absorption of
wet when in use as applied to umbrellas & parasols.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Augustus Stenger in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 21st August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTUS
STENGER, of 4, Gresham Strect, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Augustus Stenger, Her special licence
that I, the said Augustus Stenger, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Augustus Stenger, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN UMBRELLAS
AND PARASOLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Augustus Stenger, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Augustus Stenger, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say)
My Invention of "Improvements in Umbrellas and Parasols," has
for its object the adaptation and application to the manufacture of
umbrellas and parasols of a texture which has been hitherto employed
in some of the forms mentioned hereafter for the lining of garments.
The texture intended to be adapted and applied to this purpose. is
known in commerce as Italian cloth, in either a satin twill or serge
texture having a satin face; and in order to adapt this texture
for the purpose it is manufactured with a warp of cotton. differing
from the cotton warp hitherto used in Italian cloth for tailoring
purposes by its superior quality and greater evenness of thread, as
required to secure its necessary regularity of transparency when seen
against the light.
In the selection of the woollen weft, which is by preference prepared
from Silesian wool, with a view of increasing brilliancy of face and
lightness of texture, the same amount of care is used as in the case
of the cotton warp, and for the same object of securing its necessary
regularity of transparency when seen against the light. In order to
obtain the necessary regularity of transparency, it is moreover requisite
that the warp and weft above referred to should be more evenly.
balanced in thickness than is usual in the manufacture of Italian cloth.
Also to this end the knots or naps in either warp or weft which aro
usually picked out in manufacturing Italian cloth should be left on.
The texture thus produced is of such a nature as to prevent its ready
absorption of wet when in use as applied to umbrellas and parasols.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
to describe more particularly in what manner the same is to be per-
formed or carried into effect by describing the processes of weaving
different textures of the kind referred to.
The main object to be attained is the throwing of the weft on to the
surface of the texture so as to give the appearance of satin, and for this
purpose the following processes of weaving are or may be employed
Process No. 1.-In this case the texture is woven with five shafts
and five healds, the warp is drawn into the healds straight gate over,
viz., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and worked with five tappets thus, 1, 3, 5, 2, 4,

page_text: .
having always four ends of warp down and one end of warp up, and
producing a twill running from right to left, or
with the warp drawn into the healds in this
woven straight, viz., to tread 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
it may also be woven
order, 1; 3, 5, 2, 4, and
Process No. 2.-This is the same process as the last only reversed,
causing the twill to run from left to right, for example, if the warp
is drawn into the healds straight gate over, it is worked thus, 5, 3, 1, 4, 2,
or drawn into the healds 5, 3, 1, 4, 2, and worked 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Process No. 8.-The texture herein is woven with five healds and
'five tappets, having always four ends of warp down and one end up. 1
The warp is drawn into the healds straight gate over, and is woven
thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Process No. 4.-This texture is woven with eight healds and eight
cards with heald engine, producing an eight end double twill.
Process No. 5.-This texture is woven with cotton warp and woollen
weft. It is woven pick and pick with five or any other required
number of shafts, and produces a cloth with weft face on both sides
of the texture, and can be made to shew a different color on each
side:thereof.
The foregoing is a description of the most useful modes of producing
the textures.referred to, but they may be varied so long as the materials
employed are the same, and the effect aimed at is the same, viz., a
satin face on the texture.
"Textures woven in a manner similar to processes Nos. 1 and 2, have
been well known by the name of Italian cloth and used extensively
for tailoring purposes; but in order to adapt them for the purpose of
covering umbrellas and parasols, alterations in the manufacture are
required, which will do away with the ordinary irregularity of trans-
parency when such textures are held up to the light, and which will
.also diminish the undue amount of elasticity usually possessed by such
cloths. For this purpose extra evenly spun cotton of good quality
is selected for the warp, and the same attention is paid to the selection
of the wool for the weft, taking by preference, Silesian wool carefully
and evenly spun. Besides this, it is requisite to have the warp and
weft more equally balanced in thickness than in Italian cloth, as the
'necessary regularity of transparency when held up to the light can
only be attained by such means; and in order still further to adapt
the texture for covering umbrellas and parasols by securing the required

page_text: regularity of transparency, and to avoid the appearance of small holes,
it is necessary that knots or naps existing in the warp or weft should
not be picked out as is usual in manufacturing ordinary Italian cloth
to be used for tailoring purposes. By more evenly balancing the
thickness of the warp and weft, not only is the transparency of the
texture rendered more regular, but the elasticity is reduced as compared
with Italian cloth, and for the same.
e-purpose the texture is woven in
narrower widths, say, in widths of 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, and 26 inches,
in which widths there is also less waste in cutting out for the purpose
of covering umbrellas and parasols. The application of a condensed
warp at the edges of the texture producing what is called an "invisible
border," also tends considerably to increase the firmness of the cloth
and to diminish the elasticity. The cloths above described may
be woven with or without stripes or ornamental borders. The
fabrics thus woven are to be cut up and formed into covers to fit
umbrella and parasol frames, and the umbrellas or parasols thus
manufactured will more nearly resemble silk umbrellas and parasols
than umbrellas and parasols made of any other mixed fabric hitherto
produced.
The cloth manufactured as above described is distinguished from
alpaca cloth as used extensively for umbrella covers by its greater
smoothness and brilliancy (its surface consisting almost entirely of
And
wool) which tends to prevent the absorption of wet when in use.
this distinction results from the difference of manufacture, for whereas
alpaca cloth is made of strong "bright hair" wool, and woven so as
to shew cotton and wool alternately on the surface, the cloth above
described is manufactured with a weft of fine Silesian or other soft wool,
and woven so as to prevent the cotton warp from being visible on
the surface.
Owing to the difference thus stated, the cloth may be produced in
richer and more silk-like colors than can be produced in alpaca. In
effect the cloth manufactured as above stated is manufactured from
a different class of wool, woven in a different way, also dyed and finished
in different ways from alpaca.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I would remark that the above-
described modes of weaving my improved cloth so as to adapt it for
covering umbrellas and parasols may be varied so long as the same

page_text: materials are employed with a view of producing a satin face on the
texture; but I hereby declare that what I claim as of my Invention
is, the adaptation and application to the manufacture of umbrellas and
parasols of a cloth composed of a cotton warp of the kind described,
and a weft of Silesian or other soft wool, also of the kind described and
manufactured in such a manner as to produce a satin twill or serge
texture, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augustus Stenger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.
AUG. STENGER. (L.S.)