THE MANUFACTURE OF A VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL HAIR FROM A PRODUCT NOT HITHERTO USED FOR THAT PURPOSE.
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Marc Antoine François Mennons, of the Firm of
Mennons and Telescheff, Home and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, and 53, Rue de la
Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire of France, for the Invention of
"THE MANUFACTURE OF A VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL HAIR FROM A
PRODUCT NOT HITHERTO USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. "A communication from
Werner Staufen, residing at No. 16, Rue Auber, Paris, in the Empire of
France.
-
Sealed the 23rd June 1868, and dated the 31st December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Marc Antoine François
Mennons at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 31st December 1867.
I, MARC ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the Firm of Mennons and
Telescheff, Home and Foreign Patent Agents, of No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, and 53, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin
Paris, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "THE MANUFACTURE OF A VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL
HAIR FROM A PRODUCT NOT HITHERTO USED FOR THAT PURPOSE," (a communication)
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of a species of vegetable hairfrom
the fibrous material which grows through and proceeds from the bark situated
near the foot of the palm known as the Levistonia Chinensis Roxb.or Latania
[Price 8d.]

page_text: Chinensis Jacq. To this end the fibrous material and adherent bark as
imported in the rough state,being first disintegrated byanopeningmachine,iś
boiled in an alkaline lye which may be composed of, say, from five to ten
pounds weight of soda or potash dissolved in one hundred gallons of water,
This operation which may occupy from one half to two hours, according to
to the strength of the lye,is continued until the gummy,resinous, and ligneous
matters adhering to the fibres are completely removed. The material thus
cleansed is exposed to the action of a mordant preparatory to its removal to
the dyeing vat charged with the required color, to which may be added a
certain proportion of soapy matter, say, from one to four pounds of oil soap
for every hundred pounds weight of fibre. The dyeing process being com-
pleted the mass is dried in the open air or artificially, and is thereafter sub-
mitted to the action of ordinary opening and combing machinery by which
the filaments are glazed and divided to the required degree of fineness. The
fibrous material thus obtained may be applied to the different purposes for
which horsehair, bristles, and other kinds of hair have hitherto been employed
as articles of commerce. When intended as a substitute for bristles (as, for
instance, in the manufacture of brushes) the coarser fibres are selected and
left straight, but when intended for stuffing and similar purposes in lieu of
horsehair they are curled in the saine manner as the latter, after which they
are steeped in water till softened, and finally baked at a high temperature
(say, about one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit). The finer fibres
may be mixed when so desired with other animal or vegetable fibrous or
textile matters, the proportions of such mixtures being varied according to
circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Marc Antoine François Mennons in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS [SHALL COME, I, MARC
ANTOINE FRANÇOIS MENNONS, of the Firm of Mennons and Telescheff, Home
and Foreign Patert Agents, of No. 3, Southampton Buildings, in the County
of Middlesex, and 53, Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin, Paris, in the Empire of
France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of

page_text: Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
the said Marc Antoine François Mennons, Her special licence that I, the
said Marc Antoine François Mennons, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said Marc Antoine, François Mennons,
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 "THE MANUFACTURE OF A VEGETABLE
SUBSTITUTE FOR ANIMAL HAIR FROM A PRODUCT NOT HITHERTO USED FOR THAT
PURPOSE," a communication from Werner Staufen, a person resident at No.16,
Rue Auber, Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Marc Antoine François Mennons, 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 Marc Antoine François Mennons, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the manufacture of a species of vegetable hair
from the fibrous material which grows through and proceeds from the bark
situated near the foot of the palm known as the "Levistonia Chinensis" Roxb.
or "Latania Chinensis" Jacq. To this end the fibrous material and adherent
bark as imported in the rough state, being first disintegrated by an opening
machine is boiled in an alkaline lye which may be composed of, say, from five
to ten pounds weight of soda or potash dissolved in one hundred gallons of water.
This operation which may occupy from one half to two hours, according to the
strength of the lye is continued until the gummy, resinous, and ligneous matters
adhering to the fibres are completely removed. The material thus cleansed
is exposed to the action of a suitable mordant preparatory to its removal to the
dyeing vat charged with the required colour, to which may be added a certain
proportion of soapy matter, say, from one to four pounds of oil soap for every
hundred pounds weight of fibre. The dyeing process being completed the
mass is dried in the open air or artificially, and is thereafter submitted to the
action of ordinary opening and combing machinery, by which the filaments are
glazed and divided to the required degree of fineness. The fibrous material

page_text: thus obtained may be applied to the different purposes for which horsehair,
bristles, and other kinds of hair have hitherto been employed as articles of
commerce. When intended as a substitute for bristles (as, for instance, in the
manufacture of brushes) the coarser fibres are selected and left straight, but
when intended for stuffing and similar purposes in lieu of horsehair they are
curled in the same manner as the latter, after which they are steeped in water
till softened, and finally baked at a high temperature (say, about one hundred
and forty degrees Fahrenheit). The finer fibres may be mixed when so desired
with other animal or vegetable fibrous or textile matters, the proportions of
such mixtures being varied according to circumstances.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention,
and the process by which it may be carried into effect, I declare that what
I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is, the manufacture, substan-
tially as above set forth, of a species of vegetable hair from the fibrous matérial
which grows through and proceeds from the bark situated near the foot of the
palm known as the "Levistonia Chinensis "Roxb. or "Latania Chinensis"
Jacq.
M. F. MENNONS. (L.S.)