Improvements in the Manufacture of Lace and other Reticulated and Woven Fabrics.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd May, 1889
Specification Acceoted, 8th June, 1889
QOMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Lace and other Reticulated
and Woven Fabrics.
I, FREDERIC HUNGERFORD BOWMAN, of Union Mills, Pellon Lane, Halifax, in the
County of York, Cotton Spinner, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of lace and
other reticulated and woven fabrics made from silk, wool, mohair, or of other
animal fibres; or of cotton, jute, hemp, flax, or other vegetable fibres; or of gold,
silver, or other metallic wire, tinsel, or other drawn metals, mixtures, or alloys, which
are used for embroidery, dress, or other purposes; and also in the preparation of
yarns so that they can be used in weaving or embroidering of fabrics either by them-
selves, or in combination with other yarns not so prepared for the purpose of obtaining
novel effects in the finished article.
The principal object of this invention is to produce a novel kind of lace or other
fabric, but it is also applicable for the production of other fabrics which may be woven
or felted in such a manner, as to permit of a portion of the woven or felted fabric
being removed and the remainder still maintaining its position.
For one of the purposes of my invention, I first prepare a suitable groundwork or
base, made of cotton or other vegetable fibre, which I immerse in a chemical solution
which renders this base capable of disintegration, or carbonization, under the action
of heat. After this base is dried at an ordinary drying temperature, it may be cut
up into any required lengths; or the lengths themselves may be specially prepared as
above, and upon this base there is afterwards embroidered in any of the materials
before mentioned, that is, silk, wool, mohair, and other animal fibres; or of cotton,
jute, hemp, flax, or other vegetable fibre, or of gold, silver, or other metallic wire,
tinsel, or other drawn metals, mixtures, or alloys, by means of an embroidering
machine, or by hand; care being taken that the continuity of the pattern shall be
such that there are no isolated pieces of embroidery, but that all the adjacent parts
of the pattern shall be so connected together, and supported that they would form, a
lace or other reticulated fabric of the material used, if the whole of the ground or
base upon which it is worked were removed.

page_text: After the fabric has been duly embroidered, or the weaving and felting completed,
the whole of the base with the embroidery upon it is subjected to a temperature of
200 degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts, and by means of this heat the base which
has been acted upon by the chemicals, is disintegrated or carbonized until the whole
of it is capable of being reduced to a fine powder or dust by any mechanical process
of beating agitation, or shaking. This mechanical agitation may be performed in
any suitable manner, and the lace is then left with the base entirely removed, and
may be dyed or finished in any required manner. By this process which uses the
chemically prepared base and as low a temperature for the destruction of this base
as possible, the materials which are used for embroidering upon it are not injured in
any appreciable degree, or subjected to the injurious action of any chemical process;
so that the embroidered figures may be made of materials which have been dyed, or
possess different colours in themselves; and these colours as arranged in the
embroidery will be but little affected by the process of the disintegration of the base;
and in this manner an almost infinite variety of different coloured and other figures
may be produced in the finished article.
For the other purpose of my invention, in the production of the yarns which are
to be used in making certain woven laces and other fabrics, the yarn itself before it
goes into the machinery or is used by hand for the purpose, is subjected to a chemical
process similar to that which is used for preparing the base as before described;
and after the process of manufacture is complete, this yarn can be removed out of
the structure by subjecting the fabric to a temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, or
thereabouts, so that in cases where it is necessary the whole base itself may be
woven out of this prepared yarn; but its principle application as a yarn is intended
to be for use in that class of woven or knitted lace fabrics, into which during the
process of weaving or manufacture certain threads of cotton or linen or other
vegetable fibre are introduced, called "draw" threads or drag" threads, for the
purpose of forming peculiarities in the pattern. These draw threads not being
required to appear in the finished article have hitherto been removed from the fabric
either by the hand or by mechanical means of a tedious and expensive character;
but by the use of my invention, these draw threads being chemically prepared before
they are used, can be removed by the simple warming to the temperature above
described for a suitable period of time without any difficulty, by the simple process
of beating and shaking or other suitable mechanical process.
«
In the preparation of the base for the purposes of this invention upon which the
embroidery as before described is afterwards to be worked, I take a piece of cotton
cloth or other cloth made out of a vegetable fibre having a cellulose base, and
immerse this in a solution of aluminium chloride. The solution itself which I have
found to answer the best for thin cloth, or muslin such as is used as the base on
which to embroider patterns for fancy laces, is a solution of the aluminium chloride
in water; the solution having a density of about 8 degrees "Twaddel," or there-
abouts, but it is obvious that the strength of this solution may be made to vary
with the character of the cloth which is used for the base. I have found aluminium
chloride to be the most advantageous, because when the cloth is dipped in this
solution as before described and afterwards dried at the lowest drying temperature
which ought never to exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or thereabouts, it does not
alter the appearance of the cloth or injure its tenacity; so that it can be made in
large quantities, and if kept in a cool place will remain comparatively uninjured until
required.
The solution I have found to work best somewhere about 60 degrees Fahrenheit,
though with thicker cloth the temperature may be used rather higher. I do not
however confine myself to the use of aluminium chloride, because it is obvious that
several other similar metallic chlorides such as zinc chloride, and others well known
to chemists will answer the purpose though not so well; and also the cloth might be
dipped in very weak solutions of sulphuric, hydrochloric, or other mineral acids or
mixtures of them.
When these acids are used, I have found that the best results are obtained with a

page_text: mixture of the ordinary liquid hydrochloric acid, or sulphuric acid of commerce,
with about 60 times their volume of water; but in this case as in the case of the
aluminium chloride, the strength of the solution may be made to vary with the
nature of the base which is employod for the embroidering purposes, and the length of
time which must elapse between the base being thus chemically prepared and its use
for embroidery.
In cases where these acids are used, the very greatest care must be taken to dry
at the lowest possible temperature, otherwise the tenacity of the fabric will be
injured before it can be used; and as they will not keep well even under the most
favorable circumstances, aluminium chloride is the salt which by preference I employ.
In cases where the embroidery yarns are of delicate nature or colours, it may be
necessary to size the prepared base so as to prevent contact of the chemically
prepared base with the material forming the embroidery-so that when the decom-
position of the chemical used in the base occurs, it will communicate with the
embroidering in the least possible degree.
In the preparation of yarns for weaving a base, where it is not woven first and
prepared afterwards, I use the strength of the aluminium chloride and the tempera-
ture at which it is dried, exactly the same as in the case of its employment for
preparing the base as before described. The same precautions when any other
re-agent than aluminium chloride is used, such as the acids before mentioned, must
be observed with regard to drying and immediate use, otherwise the yarn will be
tendered.
When the yarn is prepared with aluminium chloride, after it has been thoroughly
dried, it may be required to be sized, and this in some instances is advantageous
where very delicate tissues have to be used in the embroidery, so as to prevent as far
as possible contact between the embroidered threads and the base upon which they
are embroidered. The disintegration of the fibre by the decomposition of the
aluminium chloride occuring beneath the coating of size which does not appreciably
interfere with the removal of the disintegrated fibre after the heating operation
hereinafter to be described has taken place.
In all cases where yarn is thus prepared, it should be dried at the very lowest
possible temperature.
;
As soon as the base has been chemically prepared as before described, and is
thoroughly dry, the operation of embroidery upon the surface may be commenced
and this embroidery may be done in any of the materials before-named or mixtures
of them, and in any colours which may be required, or any mixture of them. The
embroidery is then taken out of the frame, (if it has been done by a machine), and
placed in a chamber where the temperature is 200 degrees Fahrenheit or thereabouts.
I have found that the operation may be conducted at even 100 degrees Fahrenheit
and all intermediate stages, but where a lower temperature is employed a greater
length of time is required. As a rule in this case the lowest temperature which can
be employed for the fabric is the best, because it has the least injurious effect
upon the embroidery which is worked on the base, and thus neither injures its
lustre nor colour.
The length of time to which the embroidery is to be subjected to this temperature,
depends on the nature of the base; a longer time being required for thick than thin
fabrics. The completion of the operation, at which point the prepared base is
completely tendered, or carbonized, so as to be ready for the disintegrating operation
hereinafter to be described, is usually indicated by a slight change in the colour of
the base if it is white, to a greyish or brownish yellow grey hue, but the best
method I am acquainted with of determining how long the heating process must be
employed, is to take a small portion of the base off one of the pieces and rub it
between the fingers; so soon as the base crumbles to dust when rubbed between the
fingers, no advantage is gained by carrying the operation of heating further.
In some cases the operation of heating the fabric so as to disintegrate or carbonize
the base, is best performed by passing the fabric round rollers heated by steam or

page_text: otherwise; the fabric being covered with a coating of cloth on the outside so as to
retain the heat in the base."
The various methods before described of applying the heat must be determined
by the nature of the fabric which is to be heated; but it will be seen that in long
lengths, by this process the operation may be made continuous.
In most cases where a moderately fine base is employed, I have found 20 minutes
or thereabouts a sufficient length of time to complete this operation.
As soon as this result is obtained, the fabrics are reinoved from the heating
chamber, and the whole of the base may be easily taken away either by subjecting
the tissue to a blast of air, or a jet, or spray of water, or dry steam; or the fabric
may be placed between two pieces of thick cloth or other material, or wrapped up
in the cloth so as to preserve the reticulated fabric, and beaten until the whole of the
carbonized cotton base is removed in the form of a fine dust; leaving the embroidery
in the form of an open lace or reticulated fabric, which is then ready for dyeing or
finishing as the case may be.
The process when the wrapper is used, is materially assisted by frequent removal
of the fabric from the wrapper, and by shaking the fabric either by hand or other-
wise, which assists in the removal of the dust. Care should be taken to prevent this
dust from coming freely into the place where the operation is carried on.
It should be removed by artificial currents or otherwise, so as to prevent it from
being inhaled by any operator, as it would be injurious to health.
Where fabrics are to be treated which are not embroidered on a base, but the
prepared yarn has been woven or worked into them in the operation of their manu-
facture, the same method of removing the yarn whether in the form of draw threads
or as a part of the fabrio itself is employed; and the finished manufactured article
is subjected to the same range of temperature as before described, and by any of the
mechanical means which are given, the disintegrated and now useless threads may
be removed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed; I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. In the process of embroidery the use of a chemically prepared base upon
which the materials used to embroider are not themselves subjected appreciably to
any chemical process before or after embroidery, and the removal of the chemically
prepared base by the subjection of the embroidered fabric to a requisite degree of
heat so as to cause the disintegration of the base without appreciable action on the
materials used in the embroidery and subsequent removal by mechanical means,
substantially in the manner as herein before set forth.
2. The use of a chemically prepared yarn before its employment in the process of
manufacture whether it be employed in weaving a base upon which the embroidered
design is afterwards to be worked, or whether it is woven or embroidered into the
manufactured article and intended to be removed afterwards when the purpose for
which it was employed is completed all substantially in the manner as hereinbefore
set forth.
Dated this 27th day of April 1889.