IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRICS AND ARTICLES
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I: THOMAS
BARNABAS DAFT, of Dover Terrace, Green Hays, Manchester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of July,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Barnabas Daft, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
Barnabás Daft, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Barnabas Daft, my exors, adñors, 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 expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRICS AND
ARTICLES;" in which said. Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas Barnabas Daft, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Barnabas Daft, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is
to say)-
My Invention consists of a mode of employing those classes of manufactured
caoutchouc called vulcanized or converted india rubber in the manufacture of
elastic fabrics and articles, whereby the india rubber, in the form of thin
sheets, is caused to be sewed between surfaces of fabrics, such as leather, and
woven fabrics of silk, cotton, wool, and other fibres, and in the act of sewing,
the needle passes through and through such fabrics, and also through and
through the india rubber. It is well known that within the last few years
much india rubber has been manufactured by combining sulphur therewith,
in such manner that it chemically causes a change to the india rubber,
rendering the india rubber permanently elastic, and not liable to become hard
by cold nor injured by comparatively high degrees of heat.
And my
Invention is confined to the employment of india rubber which has been so
acted on as to produce the change therein above mentioned; for I would
state that to employ the mode of combination of fabrics with such classes of
india rubber as above explained would, if applied to india rubber in the
natural state, be useless or nearly so; and therefore I do not claim the same,
and such mode of combining fabrics with india rubber may possibly have been
attempted before and failed, by reason of the india rubber not being in a state
suitable for making a manufacture such as is produced by me according to
this my Invention. The elastic fabrics or articles according to my Invention
are to be made wide or narrow, according to the purpose to which the same
is to be applied; but whatever the width, they are all made in the same
manner, which is as follows:-I take a sheet of permanently elastic india
rubber of the length and width (which will be about one third more than the
finished articles) desired, and having stretched it to about double the length,
I hold it in that state between clamps or other holders, and I place on either
side one or more thicknesses of a fabric or fabrics such as leather, or woven
fabrics somewhat wider than the india rubber in its stretched state, and then
by rows of stitches of thread passing the needle through and through the
fabrics, and also through and through the permanently elastic india rubber, by
which the whole will be combined into one fabric; and when the same is
allowed to contract, it will run up into pleats or corrugations. The fabrics
so made being such that they may be cut into any desired form, to be let into
or affixed to parts of dress, or otherwise used; and such fabrics offer an

page_text: excellent manufacture for being converted into braces, belts, garters, vest backs,
shoulder and other straps for articles or parts of dress, stay, boot, and other
gussets, and a variety of other articles.
I would remark, that I do not claim the application of permanently elastic
india rubber to the giving elasticity to the articles herein mentioned, such
classes of india rubber having before been applied to such purposes by
incorporating threads thereof in the weaving of fabrics, and parts of fabrics
have been attached by springs of such india rubber, either uncovered or
covered, by enclosing the same within tubes formed by sewing two non-elastic
fabrics together, the india rubber being only secured at its ends. And
therefore I wish it to be understood that the peculiarity of this Invention is
the combining the non-elastic fabric and the permanently elastic india rubber
by sewing through and through as described, in contradistinction to simply
holding pieces of india rubber at two ends thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.