AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE ANTEDL " PROAL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomson Pagan and Thomas Benjamin
Willans of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Flannel Manufac-
turers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE
ANTEDL
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomson Pagan and
Thomas Benjamin Willans at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 26th February 1861.
We, JOHN THOMSON PAGAN and THOMAS BENJAMIN WILLANS, of Rochdale,
in the County of Lancaster, Flannel Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FLANNEL," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of an improvement in the manufacture of flannel consists in
mixing cotton with wool in the carding or scribbling process preparatory to the
spinning of the woollen yarns of which the flannel is made.
By thus combining cotton with wool in this manufacture several important
advantages are obtained, one of which is that flannel so manufactured will not
shrink when wetted or washed. The fabric also has a much finer appear-
ance than if made entirely of wool, and there is of course a considerable economy
in the prime cost of the material, and moreover the fabric is stronger, and
more durable, than if made of all wool.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thomson Pagan and Thomas Benjamin Willans
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
THOMSON PAGAN and THOMAS BENJAMIN WILLANS, of Rochale, in the
County of Lancaster, Flannel Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said John Thomson Pagan and Thomas Benjamin Willans, Her special
license that we, the said John Thomson Pagan and Thomas Benjamin
Willans, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we;
the said John Thomson Pagan and Thomas Benjamin Willans, our execu-
tors, 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, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands;
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF FLANNEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Thomson Pagan, and Thomas Benjamin Willans, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, or under the band and seal of one of us,
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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Benjamin Willans, on behalf
of myself and the said John Thomson Pagan, do hereby declare the nature
of our 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) :-
The object of this Invention is to produce a woollen fabric suitable for white
and clored shirts, dressing gowns, and other like articles which shall be less
costly, less liable to shrink, and more durable than the fabrics now used for such
purposes. These advantages we obtain by the intermixture of cotton with the
wool intended to be converted into yarn for the manufacture of this class of
goods. The cotton and wool we weigh out in the required proportions and after
passing them through the willow submit them to a carding or scribbling engine,

page_text: in passing through which engine the animal and vegetable fibres will become
intimately combined and be converted into slivers. These slivers we then convert
into yarn after the manner usually employed in the spinning of woollen yarn and
the yarn thus obtained we weave into a fabric, which we term for distinction
"white Angola flannel" and which somewhat resembles in texture the flannel
at present manufactured for shirts, dressing gowns, and such like articles.
Upon the fabric thus produced we print any desired patterns by means of
impressing rollers and we find that under pressure the fabric will take the
printing colors as readily as if there were no cotton present in the fabric. The
introduction of cotton besides affording the advantages above enumerated gives
a finer appearance to the fabric than can be obtained by the sole use of wool of
the same quality as that combined with the cotton. The proportion of cotton
which we employ will depend upon the quality of fabric required to be manu-
factured, but in general we have found that the best results may be obtained
by the admixture with the wool of from one-third to one-half its weight
of cotton.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "An Improvement in
the Manufacture of Flannel," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, we claim manufacturing flannel from yarn produced from a
mixture of vegetable and animal fibres as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Benjamin Willans, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
T. B. WILLANS. (L.S.)