IMPROVEMENTS IN an on Barmera CLOTHS EMPLOYED IN DRESSING FLOUR."
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Bracegirdle, of Congleton, in the County
of Chester, Silk. Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
an on Barmera CLOTHS EMPLOYED IN DRESSING FLOUR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Bracegirdle at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th December 1855:
I, CHARLES BRACEGIRDLE, of Congleton, in the County of. Chester, Silk
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOLTING CLOTHS EMPLOYED IN DRESSING
FLOUR" to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in manufacturing bolting cloths of hard spun
and twisted silk wire, as being, cleaner and better adapted for dressing and
sifting wheat flour than the materials heretofore employed in the manufacture
of bolting cloths; and further, by the use and employment of bolting cloths
made of the above improved material I am enabled to produce a better
quality of flour and a considerably larger quantity thereof in a given time
than by the use of bolting cloths as heretofore manufactured. The above-
mentioned improved material may be woven in a common broad silk loom...

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Bracegirdle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th June 1856.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
BRACEGIRDLE, of Congleton, in the County of Chester, Silk Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Bracegirdle, Her special licence, that I, the said Charles Bracegirdle,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Bracegirdle, 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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BOLTING CLOTHS EMPLOYED IN DRESSING FLOUR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Bracegirdle, my executors 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 In-
vention, 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 Charles Bracegirdle, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements consists in manufacturing bolting cloths of hard spun and
twisted silk wire, as being cleaner and better adapted for dressing and sifting
wheat flour than the materials heretofore employed in the manufacture of
bolting cloths; and further, by the use and employment of bolting cloths made
of the above improved material I am enabled to produce a better quality of
flour and a considerably larger quantity thereof in a given time than by the
use of bolting cloths as heretofore manufactured.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, as follows:-
i

page_text: The description of silk which I employ in and for the manufacture of
bolters is that known as China threads. The mechanism employed for
weaving the cloth is similar to that commonly employed in the manufacture
of cylindrical cotton wicks for lamps, and both the warp and weft are of the
same material. I would remark that I am aware of a quality of silk known
and distinguished as Italian silk, either alone or in combination with worsted,
having already been employed in the manufacture of bolters. This mode of
manufacturing bolters has, however, been found not only very expensive,
owing to the fineness of the silk, requiring to use from 20 to 30 threads
thrown together to obtain the proper strength, but when combined with
worsted bolters made therefrom, and employed for dressing flour, become
oozy, and the flour neither runs quick nor clear. I desire it, therefore, to
be distinctly understood that I lay no claim to the use of silk in and for the
manufacture of bolters, except when such silk is of the quality or description
known and distinguished by silk manufacturers as China threads; and I
hereby claim to use such said China threads in the manufacture of bolters, as
being a considerably cheaper material, capable of dressing a much larger
quantity of flour in a given time and in a better manner than by the use of
bolters made from Italian silk or other materials, either separately or com-
bined, as above stated.
And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new, and never before used within this realm, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this
my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or
disguise with the proviso contained in the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent; wherefor I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to
my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Bracegirdle, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
CHARLES BRACEGIRDLE. (L.S.)
Witness,
W STONEHEWER,
Fountain Street, Congleton.