AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF SADDLE CLOTHS AND NUMNAHS OR CAVALRY BLANKETS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wilkinson, the younger, of St. Helen's
Mills, Hunslet, Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF SADDLE CLOTHS AND NUMNAHS OR
CAVALRY BLANKETS."
Scaled the 18th June 1869, and dated the 21st December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wilkinson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st December 1868.
I, JOHN WILKINSON, the younger, of St. Helen's Mills, Hunslet,.
Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF SADDLE CLOTHS AND NUMNAHS
OR CAVALRY BLANKETS," to be as follows:-
In manufacturing saddle cloths and numnahs from felted cloth it has.
been found difficult to produce as light an article as was desired, because
a certain thickness was necessary to give the requisite strength or
tenacity to the fabric, the imperfect cohesion of the fibres of which was:
availed of to produce the requisite shape under tension. I find, however,

page_text: that by the use of a pecular character of fabrio I am enabled to retain
the yielding or moulding property of ordinary felt, and at the same time
to secure the desired tenacity with the expenditure of a greatly reduced
quantity of fibres. These advantages I attain by felting upon opposite
sides of a woven fabric, by preference that known as scrim cloth, and
then subjecting this material to the process for which Letters Patent
were granted to mo in conjunction with my father, bearing date
Nov. 13th, 1855, No. 2553. The saddle cloth is finished by a line of
stitches or a binding round the edge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILKINSON, the younger, of St. Helen's Mills, Hunslet, Leeds, in the
County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Wilkinson, Her special
licence that I, the said John Wilkinson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Wilkinson, 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, excrcise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
SADDLE CLOTHS AND NUMNAHS OR CAVALRY BLANKETS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Wilkinson, my exccutors 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 Scal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Wilkinson, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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):
In manufacturing saddle cloths and numnahs from felted cloth it has
been found difficult to produce as light an article as was desired, because
a certain thickness of fabric was necessary to ensure the requisite
amount of strength or tenacity, the imperfect cohesion of the fibres of
the felted cloth being availed of to give to the article the requisite shape
under tension. I find, however, that by the use of a peculiar character
of fabric I am enabled to retain the yielding or moulding property of
ordinary felt, and at the same time to secure the desired tenacity with the
expenditure of a greatly reduced quantity of fibres. These advantages
I attain by felting upon opposite sides of an open woven fabric, by
preference that known as serim cloth, and then subjecting a length of
this material to the process for which Letters Patent were granted to
me in conjuntion with my father, bearing date November Thirteenth,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, No. 2553, in order to mould
the same to repeats of the shape required for converting the material
into saddle cloths and numnahs, that is to say, instead of operating upon
pieces of the compound fabric cut to a suitable size to form one given
article I strain a length of the fabric, while saturated with moisture, over
a shape equal in length to that of the fabric to be treated, and presenting
in profile several repeats of the counterpart of the figure which it is
desired to impart to the fabric. The edges of the fabric I hold down
with tenter hooks carried by adjustable bars, and having thus secured
the wet fabric I leave it to dry. The effect of thus drying the fabric at
tension will be to give a permanent set thereto, and when dry the length
may be cut up into pieces to form any given number of saddle cloths or
numnahs. The edges have then to be trimmed to complete the shaping
of the article, after which I finish them by a line of stitches run in near
the edge by any suitable sewing machine, and by applying a binding
round the edge.
It will be understood that the scrim cloth or open woven fabric
embedded in the woollen fibres will impart tenacity to the felted cloth,
while at the same time it will be free to yield to the unequal tension
put on the cloth when damped and applied to the tentering machinc to
bring it to shape, and that therefore by its introduction into the body

page_text: of the compound felted cloth I am enabled to secure the requisite
strength and tenacity for moulded saddle cloths and numnahs with the
use and greatly diminished amount of the woollen or felting fibres.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Manufacture of Saddle Cloths and Numnahs or. Cavalry Blankets," and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I
claim, the improved manufacture of saddle cloths and numnahs above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilkinson, have hereunto set 1
my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
GEO. WRIGHT,
Headingley.
JOHN WILKINSON, JR. (L.S.)