CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DRESSING OR FINISHING OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS AND FABRICS REQUIRING SUCH A PROCESS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WEEKES, of Kingstanley, in the County of Gloucester, Clothier, send
greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by petition, represent unto His most Excellent Majesty
King William the Fourth that I had invented "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE DRESSING OR FINISHING OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS AND FABRICS
REQUIRING SUCH A PROCESS," and His said Majesty, being willing to encourage
all useful Inventions, did issue Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of April last, in the
seventh year of His reign, whereby the property in my said Invention is
secured to me, the said William Weekes, in the usual way, provided I duly
specify the said Invention, and cause the Specification thereof to be enrolled,
as required by and in the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the proviso referred to, I,
the said William Weekes, do hereby declare that, the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described
and ascertained in manner following:-
My improvements are intended to supersede partly or entirely the common
process of heating the cloth or fabric in water to a high temperature, or in
steam, while it is wound on a roller, for the purpose of giving a permanent
lustre to the face of the cloth. This common process is repeated several
times, seldom less than 'four repetitions being required to produce the effect
intended, and it is found that the cloth is thereby injured in the ground by
being overstrained on the roller, and made tender and liable to be easily torn.

page_text: To guard against these evil consequences in some measure, it has been found
necessary to increase the substance of the cloth or fabric by encreasing the
quantity of the material, and of course with an increase of expense.
My improvements consist in winding or lapping the cloth in a uniformly
wet state round a board or metal plate suited to the size of the press and
the width of the cloth, and then submitting it to pressure. with hot plates in
the usual manner. To lay the pile smoothly, and moisten the cloth properly
before pressing it, I cause it to be wound upon a roller at a gig. or wet
brusher in the common way. After a few hours, when not dripping wet, the
cloth is removed and creased list to list and face to face, then wound from one
end to the other upon a rectangular board or metal plate, with rounded edges
long enough to extend across the cloth, and between two and three feet in
width. The board may be about three-quarters of an inch thick, and should
be of elm, ash, or poplar, or such wood as will not stain the cloth, and and for
greater security should be covered before using it with woollen cloth, which
after being used for a few times should be washed and dried. If the fabric
to be operated upon is a piece of broad cloth exceeding twenty-five yards in
length, it will be convenient to use two boards or plates, and wind it from
both extremities. Instead of creasing or doubling the cloth longitudinally
as above mentioned, the board or plate may be long enough to extend across
the greatest width of the cloth to be rolled on it, in which case it may be
brushed as it is being wound, round and round upon the board, but in this way
a wider press will be required. The cloth being wound upon a board or plate,
or two if necessary, is submitted to considerable pressure, under which it is to
remain for from ten to twelve hours. It is then to be taken out of the press,
and wound again on the same or on other boards or plates, taking care that
those parts of the cloth which before came to the edges of the board or plate
should now come to the middle to receive their share of pressure. The
pressing is to be repeated as before. The cloth is afterwards to be taken to
the washer to receive a slight pizing, then to the gig or wet brusher to lay
the pile, and lastly, the winding and hot pressing above-mentioned may be
repeated, if deemed necessary. After the cloth has gradually cooled, it will
be found to possess a great degree of closeness of texture and firmness, which
will allow of its being subjected without injury once or even twice to the
common process of immersion in hot water or steam upon a roller, if con-
sidered expedient to ensure the perfect setting of the face. It will not be
necessary in this case to continue so long the immersion of the cloth, or
employ so high a temperature as usual; I prefer a temperature from 160 to
170 degrees of Fahrenheit, and a period of time from four to six hours. In

page_text: the mode of hot pressing hitherto practised the cloth is not rolled, but laid in
folds backwards and forwards with interposed pasteboards, metal plates, or
skins of parchment, the cloth being usually dry, and the effect produced not
permanent. Without my improvements by rolling on boards or plates as
described, the lists and folds of the cloth present insuperable obstacles to hot
pressing in the wet state. My methods of hot pressing the cloth in the wet
state are applicable when the cloth is in the same stage of the manufacture,
as when it is by the common process heated on rollers.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Weekes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-seven.
WILLIAM (L.s.) WEEKES.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named William Weekes, in
the presence of
THO. CROOME, Sol",
Cainscross, near Stroud.