CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING OF CALICO AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PRESTON, of Sunnyside, in the County of Lancaster, Operative Calico
Printer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Majesty King William the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the sixth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Preston, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Preston, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said William Preston, my exors, admors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING OF CALICO
AND OTHER FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said William Preston, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within

page_text: six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Preston, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in a new arrangement of the blanket used in cylinder printing
machines, by which the wear and tear of such blanket, in proportion to the
amount of goods printed, is greatly diminished, and the manner in which the
same is performed and carried in effect, is shewn in the annexed Drawings
and the following description thereof. The scale to which the annexed Draw-
ings are made is marked thereon, and similar letters and figures of reference
are used to indicate similar parts throughout the whole of the Drawing.
Figure 1 in the annexed Drawing represents a side view, and Figure 2 a
front view of a two-coloured cylinder printing machine, in which many of the
ordinary parts are delineated, for the purpose of shewing the position and
mode of applying my Certain Improvements in Printing of Calico and other
Fabrics. In Figures 1 and 2, A represents the ordinary bowl, which is
provided with lapping; and a, a, the two cylinders from which the impression
is received on the surface of the calico. or other. fabric in the process of
printing. The course of the calico or other fabric is indicated by small arrows
marked b, b, b, b, proceeding from the roller B under the bowl A and forward
to the drying stove in the direction of the arrow b. Between the calico or
other fabric to be printed and the blanket is passed a grey piece of calico or
similar cloth, which is rather wider than the piece to be printed; for the
purpose of defending the blanket from the impression from the printing
cylinders a, a. This grey piece is placed on the roll C, and proceeds forward
in the direction of the arrow c, c, c, c, to the arrow c¹, where it is either
deposited on the floor or carried forward to the stove and dried as occasion
may require. Immediately in contact with the lapping on the bowl A and
under the grey piece C is placed the endless blanket d; d, d; d; which passes
over the revolving cylinder D, by which it is adjusted and held at the required
tension; and the direction in which this blanket moves when the machine is
in operation is also indicated by small arrows.
Having described the arrangements of the various parts by which my im-
provements in printing of calico and other fabrics are carried into effect, it will
be remarked that one essential difference between the arrangement described.
and the ordinary arrangement of printing machines of this nature is, that the
blanket D is much shorter than an ordinary blanket, and that it does not at

page_text: all enter into the drying stove. The grey piece C may or may not be carried
through the stove, according to the nature of the color used in the printing
process, some of which would be injurious to the fabric if subjected to the
heat of the stove. But this and similar minor arrangements are well known
to printers and persons conversant with the subject, and must depend on the
judgment of the parties to whom such machine is intrusted.
I shall now proceed to point out some of the advantages gained by the
application of my improvements. In the first place, the blanket not passing
into the stove does not impart heat to the printing cylinder, which is known in
practice to be considerable in the ordinary arrangement and to present
difficulties which this arrangement obviates, at the same time that the whole
of the power required for moving an ordinary blanket, together, with the oil
and the wear and tear of rollers in the stove through which the blanket
passes, are entirely saved. And, moreover, I have found that by the use of a
grey piece of calico or other similar material I am enabled to run the short
blankets D, set forth and described in the foregoing Specification, to a much
greater extent, or in other words, to print a much greater amount of goods
from the same amount of blanket than has been heretofore effected in the
ordinary process where the blanket is subjected to the heat of the stove.
Now, although I have described, in reference to the annexed Drawing,
several ordinary and well-known parts of the printing machinery in common
use, for the purpose of making the nature and mode of application of my
Invention better understood, yet I do not claim any such well-known parts as
of my Invention, or the use of a grey piece between the blanket and the
fabric to be printed; but what I do claim as my Invention, the novel
arrangement of the blanket D, which effects all the purposes of an ordinary
blanket without passing into the drying stove, in conjunction with the use of
the grey piece C; which combination of parts being new and never before used
in that part of His Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, and this my Specification complying, as I fully believe, in all
respects fully and without reserve or disguise with the proviso in the said
herein-before recited Letters Patent contained, I do hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Preston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
WILLIAM (L.S.) PRESTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of September,.
in the year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid William Preston came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord One