Improvements in Woven and Knitted Fabrics.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Dec., 1895-Accepted, 1st Aug., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Woven and Knitted Fabrics.
I, ANTON VODEL, of Greiz in the Empire of Germany, Merchant do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to a health-preserving material consisting of woven or
knitted woollen, cotton, linen ramee (china grass fibre) or silk fabrics, no matter
how the textile fabric may be arranged or joined.
The object of this invention is to provide health preserving material for clothing
or wearing apparel, the textile fibre, such as wool, cotton, linen, ramee or silk,
being, for the purpose, woven or knitted together in a perfectly novel and peculiar
manner, calculated to impart to the fabric certain extremely valuable properties in
a hygienic or sanitary respect.
The main features of the invention may be stated as follows:
1. Unlike the woollen or worsted goods hitherto known, the improved material
has its threads of wool intertwined or interlaced, by weaving or knitting, with
cotton, ramee, linen or silk threads in such a manner that the woollen threads,
prior to the further treatment of the material, are, at certain distances apart,
wound or covered with linen, cotton, ramee or silk threads, so that the woollen
fabric is as it were interrupted by those linen or other threads which, at the corre-
sponding parts, are in immediate contact with the body, upon which they exercise
a beneficient cooling action, without interfering with the absorption of perspiration
by the wool.
2. Owing to this peculiar distribution or display of the various kinds of textile
fibre named above the fabric acquires a porosity calculated to promote and accelerate
the evaporation of the perspiration absorbed, so that the body is constantly
surrounded or enveloped by a layer of heated air which maintains a healthy
warmth around it.
3. Owing to the intersection of the vegetable fibre, and more particularly
by reason of the partial encasement of the wool in a covering of linen, cotton,
ramee or silk threads, any felting and shrinking of the fabric are obviated.
The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing,
in which the improved sanitary material forming the subject of this invention is.
shown.
Figures 1 and 2 show a woven fabric made according to this invention.
Figure 3 shows the threads twisted or wound together and
Figure 4 shows a knitted fabric.
As stated the threads in Figure 3 are shown twisted or wound together the
winding thread d¹ being adapted, no matter what the kind or nature of the textile
fibre employed may be, of being wound either double or single, the cotton and
other threads a forming the warp, while a woollen thread 6', wound with a linen
thread forms the weft thread. The thread d' is interlaced passing alternately
over the threads c' and then under a¹, the same result being effected viz.: that both
threads come into contact with the body of the wearer. The meshes or interstices
for the passage of air may in this fabric be of any convenient width.
The fabric may be formed either, as shown in Figure 1, by employing cotton,
linen, ramee or silk threads, such as b for the warp, and woollen threads such as a,
for the weft, such woollen threads being wound with linen threads c; or, as shown

page_text: in Figure 2, by employing alternately, in combination with warp threads of cotton,
linen, ramee or silk, such as e, one weft thread, such as d of wool only, and one weft
thread d², of wool wound with linen threads, and one weft thread f, of linen cotton,
ramee or silk.
Where the material is made in accordance with Figure 4, by knitting, the
loop-sinking process is in preference adopted, the threads of the knitted fibre
corresponding to the weft threads for example of the woven fabric, being made
with the textile fibre varieties of which those weft threads would consist, and may
be wound with linen threads, the wool threads g and n being in this case also employed
either pure or wound with linen threads k and the like and alternating in any suitable
order of succession with cotton, linen, ramee or silk threads hm.
Woollen fabric for underclothing do indeed act as absorbers of perspiration when
placed in contact with the body, but they at the same time are attended with the
disadvantage of continually heating the body owing to the uninterrupted contact of
the skin with wool fibre; and they are further apt to "felt" and gradually to
shrink, i.e., to become less inside, shorter and narrower, the consequence being a
proportionate diminution of their porosity.
Half wool underclothing also is a good absorber of perspiration, but is also apt
to "felt" and shrink, and also to lose part of its porosity, like the wool.
Cotton, linen and even ramee fibre underclothing also to a certain extent
are capable of absorbing perspiration, but they do not yield it up again in a
satisfactory manner, so that the underclothing in question continues damp, as
linen, cotton and ramee enable the excretions of the skin to evaporate only
partially and leave the ill-smelling fatty acids on the skin, with the result that the
wearer is inconvenienced by the sensation of damp material touching his skin
and runs the risk of catching cold through the unsatisfactory evaporation of his
perspiration.
All silk underclothing is practically out of the question altogether, for one
thing, because it is too expensive for general use, while another important reason
is that it has an exciting or irritating action upon the nervous system of the
wearer.
Those substances which are sometimes used for adding weight and imparting
smoothness to fabrics of this class are altogether unsuited for underclothing.
inasmuch as being apt to soften and clog the pores, they would of course
interfere with the porosity and power of absorption of the various kinds of fibre
employed.
From the foregoing remarks the advantages of that which forms the subject of
the present invention will be obvious. Owing to the fact that the wool threads
are wound with linen, cotton, ramee or silk threads, prior to the further treatment
of the material, and also to the circumstance that they suitably alternate with
linen, cotton, ramee or silk threads in binding the material together, this
result is obtained, that there combines with the well known sweat absorbing power
of the wool, the beneficient cooling action owing to the direct contact of the
linen, cotton, ramee or silk threads with the body; an effect which it has not,
as yet, been possible to obtain, and which may therefore be claimed as perfectly
novel.
In consequence of the peculiar distribution of five different classes of textile
fibre (wool, cotton, linen, ramee and silk) the material is also effectually prevented
from stretching under the action of the cotton threads, while felting and
shrinking, which might set in were wool only employed, are also obviated owing
to this combination of various materials, so that the porosity required for evaporation
of the absorbed perspiration is ensured.
It will of course be understood that so far as the composition of the fabric,-
whether woven or knitted, is concerned, many modifications may be introduced in
the manufacture without departing from the principle of the invention. The wool
threads, for example, may be wound with linen threads, or the like, while at the
same time the cotton threads may also be wound with linen.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
A health-preserving fabric, either woven or knitted, wherein by the com-
bination of cotton, linen, ramee or silk threads with woollen threads surrounded
by or wound with linen threads or the like, lasting porosity and power of sweat
absorption are ensured, the fabric being capable of neither shrinking nor felting
while it will keep the wearer's body dry and maintain the skin at a normal
temperature.
Datel thi ond 1
1005
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.