CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINT- ING OR DELINEATING PATTERNS ON PRINTED CLOTHS FOR FLOOR CLOTHS, COVERS, AND OTHER USES
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of December, in the fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, an Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINT-
ING OR DELINEATING PATTERNS ON PRINTED CLOTHS FOR FLOOR CLOTHS, COVERS,
AND OTHER USES," being a communication from a Foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William
Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par.
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: 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 Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is
to say)
This Invention of Certain Improvements in Printing or Delineating Patterns
on Painted Cloths for Floor Cloths, Covers, and other Uses, and which has been
communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad, consists of a novel
method of manufacturing these fabrics, whereby they are rendered more durable
and of better quality than can be done by the ordinary modes of conducting the
manufacture of floor cloths and painted covers.
The Invention consists in depositing the pattern or design which is to form
the subject of the surface of the finished cloth upon sheets of paper, which may
be done by means of painting or printing on such sheets of paper with thick
colours laid on by hand, or by blocks stamped or impressed in the ordinary way
employed for painting and printing oil cloth and such fabrics. By these means
the prominent parts of the pattern or design will be thickly incrusted upon the
surface of the paper; and when this has become dry, thick adhesive com-
positions of colour, to form the basis or ground of the pattern, are to be laid
thereon, and upon this ground compositions of hair, wool, cotton, or other
fibrous materials, with adhesive matters, are to be spread and pressed down by
rollers or otherwise, which fibrous materials are to constitute the body of the
fabric. When this body of the fabric has become hard and dry, its surface may
be painted or otherwise coated, to form the back of the floor cloth or other
covering, which operation completes the manufacture. The fabric is then laid
down flat upon a floor, the paper surface being upwards; and after having been
well soaked with water the paper is to be completely drawn off or removed
from the fabric by rubbing or otherwise, and when perfectly cleaned the subject
pattern or design first laid upon the paper will appear as the face of the floor
cloth or other cover, imbedded in the fabric, and level with its ground colors,
thereby producing an article more level on its surface, and with a pattern more
durable than has heretofore been obtained in such manufacture.
The sheets of paper, which may be of any quality (those made of flax or
cotton fibres, and nearly white, are to be preferred), are in the first place to be
joined together at their edges by glue or paste until they form the area or
dimensions of the desired cloth. The sheet thus produced is then to be laid out

page_text: flat and coated with a thick size of gelatine or gluc, in a lukewarm state, which
may be done by a sponge or brush, after which the sheet must be dried in the
air. Fold, similar to a hein, is then made along one edge of the paper, through
which a ribbon or cord is to be passed in order to prevent the paper being torn.
This hem must be stitched without touching the ribbon or cord, in order that
it may be perfectly free. Another hem of coarse cloth is then to be stitched to
the opposite edge of the paper, taking care to leave a passage for a rod, by
which the sheet is to be suspended whilst drying, the ribbon being intended to
keep it extended below. It is upon these sheets of paper, when dry, after being
prepared in this manner, that the impression of the pattern or design is to be
made, either by means of a block or blocks, or with a pencil by hand, but with
rather thicker colors than those ordinarily used for printing floor cloths, and in
tho reverse way, it being intended to be seen on the opposite side. The smaller
or finishing touches of the pattern or design must be first put on the paper,
and upon this the broader or more solid parts of the subject, and these in
such substance that either from the thickness of the color or by making
two impressions of the same color, one upon the other, such a relict may
be obtained that the incrustation may be equal to at least a quarter
of the thickness of the intended fabric. Whem the impression of the
pattern is completed, and the colours set, the sheet should be dried either in
the open air or by artificial heat, and when perfectly dry it should be covered
by means of a brush with two or three layers of color for the ground of the
design; the first must be fixed with oil varnish, and should be laid on very
lightly, so that by drying rapidly it will not penetrate to the paper. The other
layers of more common colors, mixed with drying oil, ought to completely
hide the relief of the pattern, and when they shall have successively become
dry, a considerable body of an adhesive matter or pigment of the same color
must be applied. This adhesive matter should be previously thickened by heat,
until, when cold, it would acquire the consistence of a thick jelly. It is to
be spread upon the surface and exposed a few minutes to the air, which
will be sufficient to render it very sticky, and when in this state, the sheet
being laid out flat, is to be covered with a quantity of down, short hair, wool,
flax, tow, or other fibrous materials, which must be previously carded and made
into a wadding of the proper thickness. Immediately this wadding is applied,
the adhesive mixture lays hold of its fibres, and it may then be compressed by
means of a rolling cylinder or other means. In order to make the materials
adhere properly together, the several coatings must be well dried or hardened
between each operation. The wadding may receive a layer of drying oil,
(previously, however, covering it with a metallic cloth), which is to penetrate

page_text: all that part not impregnated with the adhesive substance; then the cylinder
may immediately be passed over the fabric several times, in order to make the
oil penetrate. When this last layer is perfectly dry it is to be covered with a
mixture composed of white, yellow, or red chalk mixed with water into the
consistence of a paste, and a sufficient quantity of drying oil added to reduce
it to the substance of a thick jelly; and when this is dry and polished, a
coat of common paint may be applied, or the back of the fabric may be
made to resemble velvet, by powdering flock or fine fibres of wool or
other matters, in the ordinary manner, upon a coating of the adhesive
pigment before mentioned. When this is complete and the whole dry,
the sheet must be turned over, placing the paper side upwards, when the
paper may be easily removed by wetting it and dissolving the glue or gelatine.
A brush or sponge rubbed well over it will remove the paper cleanly with hot
water, and this operation being finished, the right side of the cloth is laid bare
with the pattern perfectly exposed, though incrusted in the fabric; all that
remains to be done is to dry the cloth well, and give its face a light
polish with very fine pounce powder, by means of a rubber made of woollen
cloth or wool. After this, the face may be varnished with oil varnish, if
required. If it should be desired to use a woven fabric for the foundation
instead of wadding, as above described, it may be made to adhere to the
design on the paper as readily and by the same means as above described; a
thin layer of gum lac dissolved in alcohol being previously applied, the chalk
mixture is then added, and when quite hard the back may be polished, in
order to receive the last coat of either paint or velveting. If felt is required
to be used, it is necessary first to stretch it, and apply to its surface two
coats of the plaster or chalk mixture before mentioned, each being well
dried. The surface is than polished with pounded freestone, and after apply-
ing a coat of paint mixed thickly with drying oil, it is dried and polished again.
When brought into this state, a coat of gum lac dissolved in alcohol is to be
laid upon it, when the fabric as before prepared, with the pattern thereon, may
be applied to the substance of felt, and made to adhere thereto by means of a
hot cylinder; the paper may then be removed, and the surface polished and
varnished as before described. For hangings, which are required to be very
supple or flexible and light, instead of the hair, wadding or tow, fine cotton,
with about a quarter of its quantity of waste silk, may be employed. After
having applied the wadding to the adhesive mixture, and pressed the fabric
under the cylinder, it should be well dried, and that part of the cotton which
does not adhere must be removed by means of a comb, so that the back of the
hanging will then resemble a swan skin.