IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHAWLS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHAWLS."-A communication from
abroad by Pierre Honoré Maillard, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 15th May 1866, and dated the 17th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 17th November 1865.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHAWLS," to be as follows:-
Figured shawls as at present manufactured have generally only two
fringes serving as borders to the two ends. There are some shawls fringed
on the four edges, but in these only the end fringes belong to the fabric
and are formed in its breadth by the prolongation of the warp thread, while
the fringes in the direction of the length, that is, of the two sides, are manu-
factured separately and applied by sewing. This process produces a bad
effect from the imperfection of hand labor, and the object of the present
Invention is to overcome the defect by the manufacture of the side fringes
of shawls. The essential feature of the Invention is the manufacture of
the side fringes of figured shawls in the body of the fabric. The fabric
forming a figured shawl is generally composed of a warp thread of wool
and silk or cashmere, of a weft thread of wool, and of a binding (liage) of
cotton thread. It is usually terminated at its two ends by a border called

page_text: "mignonnette," and the warp threads in extending beyond this form by
their prolongation the fringes of the shawl. The object of this Invention is
to obtain lengthwise by weaving and figuring, and simultaneously with the
piece, a "mignonnette" and a fringe differing in no way from those of the
breadth. Take as a type a shawl of the kind known as "gallery," made of
a warp of wool and colored silk, with "harlequin" fringes figured in wool
and bound (lie) with cotton. It is necessary, 1st, to produce lengthwise,
that is to say, on the sides of the shawl where the selvages are ordinarily
made, a mignonnette exactly similar in design and color to that produced
in the breadth, that is to say, that of each end of the shawl; 2nd, to
apply to this mignonnette a fringe adherent to the fabric and woven as
the rest of the shawl; 3rd, to act so that this fringe is in the material of
the warp exactly similar to that forming the fringe of the fabric.
The following are the means I adopt :-1st, to produce a mignonnette
lengthwise as brilliant in colors as that produced in the breadth, I read on
the cards all the foundations of the divisions of this lengthwise mignonnette
in an independent color pricked on a separate card. By means of this
card each division is hooked and figured in a special material whether of
larger numbers than the others employed in the shawl or with two
ends, in order that this figuring in completely covering the warp may cause
it in a manner to disappear, and I produce by this means divisions of the
mignonnette quite free from color.
2nd, to produce on the lengthwise mignonnette a fringe of wool and
silk warp exactly similar in color and material to that produced in the
breadth, I stop the cotton binding of the shawl at about 2 inches from the
head of the lengthwise mignonnette, and there I take another binding
which unites a small part of the border and the lengthwise mignonnette.
For this second binding I employ warp similar in quality to that with
which all the shawl is figured. This second binding varies in colors accord-
ing to the divisions in the mignonnette; each of them has a binding of its
own color, that is to say, the red divisions are united with red warp, the
black with black warp, and so on, the attendant having placed before him
the arrangement of the mignonnette produced in the breadth, which he
copies exactly. It is thus this coloring formed in colored warp, which
while facilitating the coloring of the lengthwise mignonnette produces a 3
fringe by its prolongation, I allow it for that purpose to pass each side of
the shawl about two or three inches, and at its extremity it is taken into
the loom. In this manner I obtain on the sides of the shawl length wise
a fringe and a mignonnette of the same kind and presenting the same

page_text: appearance as the fringe and mignonnette produced in the breadth, and,
therefore, a uniform border of fringe and mignonnette on the four sides of
the shawl..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Amelia Susannah Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, AMELIA
SUSANNAH BROOMAN, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex,
Widow and Sole Executrix of the late Richard Archibald Brooman, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, Her special
licence that I the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I the said Amelia Susannah Brooman,
my executors, administrators, and assigns should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF SHAWLS," (communicated to the said Richard Archibald
Brooman from abroad by Pierre Honoré Maillard, of Paris, France) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman,
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 Amelia Susannah Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertaind in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
Figured shawls as at present manufactured have generally only two

page_text: fringes serving as borders to the two ends. There are some shawls fringed
on the four edges, but in these only the end fringes belong to the fabric
and are formed in its breadth by the prolongation of the warp thread, while
the fringes in the direction of the length, that is to say of the two sides,
are manufactured separately and applied by sewing. This process pro-
duces a bad effect from the imperfection of hand labor, and the object of
the present Invention is to overcome the defect by the manufacture of the
side fringes of shawls. The essential feature of the Invention is the
manufacture of the side fringes of figured shawls in the body of, that is to
say in one with of the fabric. The fabric forming a figured shawl is generally
composed of a warp thread of wool, and silk, or cashmere, of a weft thread of
wool, and of a binding (liage) of cotton thread. It is usually terminated at
its two ends by a border called "mignonnette," and the warp threads in
extending beyond this form by their prolongation the fringes of the shawl.
The object of this Invention is to obtain lengthwise by weaving and
figuring, and simultaneously with the piece, a mignonnette and a fringe
differing in no way from those of the breadth. Take as a type a shawl of
the kind known as "gallery," made of a warp of wool and colored silk, with
"harelequin " fringes figured in wool and bound (lié) with cotton. It is
necessary, 1st, to produce lengthwise, that is to say on the sides of the
shawl where the selvages are ordinarily made, a mignonnette exactly
similar in design and color to that produced in the breadth, that is to say
that of each end of the shawl; 2nd, to apply to this mignonnette a fringe
adherent to the fabric and woven as the rest of the shawl; 3rd, to act so
that this fringe is in the material of the warp exactly similar to that forming
the fringe of the fabric.
The following are the means I adopt :-The shawl is woven and figured
in an ordinary loom of eight blades (lames) to which four supplementary
blades are added to make the side fringes. The mignonnette border which
is formed lengthwise at each side of the shawl and replaces the selvage is
produced by means of a second binding thread identical with the wool and
silk warp thread which forms the ordinary fringes at the ends of the shawl.
The prolongations of this binding thread form by passing outside the
mignonnette border the fringes, properly so called, to ornament the sides
of the shawl. This second binding thread begins to enter the fabric along
the length of the border at the side of the shawl towards the point at which
the cotton binding stops. Thus a little before this cotton thread which
constitutes the principal binding ceases to work, tó form one with the
fabric it is replaced by a second thread of wool and silk, which produces

page_text: the binding in the border and by passing it forms the fringe by its pro-
longation. These two threads, one the cotton thread of the principal
binding, the other the wool and silk thread which gives the side fringe,
meet and cross one another, for the second enters the fabric before the first
leaves it. The lengthwise mignonnette border is woven and figured by
means of the four supplementary blades and of a separate card pricked
according to the design of the mignonnette. The binding thread employed
is, as before stated, wool and silk, and its color is changed from one com-
partment of the mignonnette to another, imitating from point to point in
its design and colors the mignonnette of the ends, so as to have four
fringed borders quite identical. Thus the Invention consists in the manu-
facture of shawls with fringed borders on its four sides; the mignonnette
borders in the direction of the length of the shawl as well as their fringes
are produced in proportion to the weaving by means of a wool and silk
thread, which towards the lateral edges of the shawl performs the binding
in place of the cotton thread, forms the foundation of the mignonnette of
the border, and by its prolongation produces the side fringes.
The Invention is applicable to every kind of figured shawl made of
cotton, wool and silk, cashmere, or other material.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the manufacture of shawls having fringes produced on their four
sides during the operation of weaving and figuring.
Second, the mode, substantially as herein-before described, of manufac-
turing figured shawls with four fringes, such mode being essentially based
on the employment of a warp. thread which replaces towards the edges
of the shawl the cotton binding thread in the border called mignonnette,
and forms transversely by its prolongation the side fringes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
C. E. BROOMAN,
166, Fleet Street.
A. S. BROOMAN. (L.s.)