THE USE OF A NEW VEGETABLE MATERIAL FOR RAISING THE NAP AND DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND WEBS AND TISSUES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sir Charles Edward Grey, residing at No. 88, Rue
du Mont Thabor, in the City of Paris, and Empire of France, for the
Invention of "THE USE OF A NEW VEGETABLE MATERIAL FOR RAISING
THE NAP AND DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND WEBS AND TISSUES."
Sealed the 29th April 1856, and dated the 1st December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Edward Grey
at the Office of the 'Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st December 1855.
I, Sir CHARLES EDWARD GREY, residing at No. 38, Rue du Mont Thabor,
in the City of Paris, 'and Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for THE USE OF A NEW VEGETABLE MATERIAL POR RAISING
THE NAP AND DRESSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND WEBS AND TISSUES, to be 'as
follows:-
The Invention consists in the application or use of 'the seed vessels and other
prickly parts of the plant commonly known in the British West Indies by
the name of the nicker bush, or horse eye, and called by some botanists the
guilandina bonduc, to the same purposes in the raising of the nap, and the
dressing, preparation, and manufacture of woollen cloths and webs and tissues,
to which teazles and king teazles have long been and are now applied, and;
as nearly as possible, according to the 'sanie method and in the same manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Edward Grey in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Sir CHARLES
EDWARD GREY, residing at No. 38, Rue du Mont Thabor, in the City of Paris,
and Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First 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 IIerself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Sir Charles Edward Grey, Her special license that I, the said Sir Charles
Edward Grey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Sir Charles Edward Grey, 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
"THE USE OF A NEW VEGETABLE MATERIAL FOR RAISING THE NAP AND DRESSING
WOOLLEN CLOTHS AND WEBS AND TISSUES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Sir Charles Edward Grey, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Sir Charles Edward Grey, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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 Invention or discovery which I desire to secure by Letters Patent
consists in the novel application or use of the seed vessels and other prickly
parts of the plant commonly known in the British West Indies by the name
of the "nicker bush," or "horse .eye," and called by some botanists the
"guilandina bonduc," to the same purposes in the raising of the nap, and
the dressing, preparation, and manufacture of woollen cloths and webs and
tissues, to which teasles and king teasles have long been and are now applied,
and, as nearly as possible, according to the same method and in the same
manner.
The above plant may be found under the name of "guilandina bonduc" in

page_text: the "index of species "to Professor Lindley's work, entitled." The Vegetable
Kingdom, &c.;.octavo: London, 1846. In Maycock's "Flora Barbadensis,"
it is called "guilandina bonduca," and also "nicker," .by.which name it is
commonly known in the British West Indies. The negroes call it "horse
eye," from the form and color of the: seed, which is globular, about the size of
a small marble, such as boys play with; and of a bluish grey tint.
The bush is of common and spontaneous growth in the Windward and the
Leeward Islands, and in Jamaica, but with a little care it may be made to
grow with unusual luxuriance and perfection in Barbadoes. The seed pods,
which are generally between the size of large filberts and.of. walnuts, and also
the stalks and tlie backs of the leaves are covered with bristly prickles, thorns,
or spiny bracks, of varving length and strength, which on their first appearance
are green, tender, and pliant, but by degrees become less and less so, till at
length they grow to be stiff, spiny, sharp, and hard, with slight curves or books
towards their extremities, and are of a reddish brown color.
The above-mentioned parts of the nicker plant may be divided into portions
or sizes of similar dimensions to those parts of the teasel "plant or "dipsacus
fullonum," which are so extensively used in the dressing and finishing processes
called "teasling" in woollen cloth manufactories, the principal object of which
is to form the nap of the cloth. For that purpose, and for every purpose for
which teasles and king teasels are now used, the seed pods and other parts
above mentioned of the nicker plant may be employed either conjointly with
teasels or separately by themselves, in precisely the same manner in which
teasels are, either by being fixed in such frames as are now used for teasels, so
as to form a sort of comb or brush, which may be used by hand or by being
fixed in other sorts of frames, or fastened upon cylinders, as teasles now are,
and then being moved by machinery, whilst the cloth is drawn over the
prickles, or by any other of the operations which are included in the processes
called "teasling" in woollen cloth manufacture.
In the woollen manufactories of the United States, France, Germany, the
United Kingdom, and elsewhere, teasels are at present contracted for by the
million, and are sometimes extremely dear, and many attempts have been
made in vain to imitate them in metal, wire, and by other means, and Patents
have been taken out both in France and England for various schemes for
dispensing with the use of tensels, but these plans have not, however, been
successful.
The nicker bush may be grown in any quantity within the Tropics, and it
thrives well in poor soil, and near the sea coast; an acre would sustain several
thousand plants, and produce several millions of the seed pods, &c. Tho

page_text: produce is much increased and 'improved by a little care and cultivation, and
some care and judgment would also be required in picking the parts of
the plants, so as to obtain the prickles in different stages of softness or of
hardness.
Having now described my Invention or discovery of a new vegetable
material, applicable for raising the nap or pile of woollen cloths and webs
or tissues, and also the means of carrying the same into effect, I would
observe that I do not lay claim to any-new.Invention as to the method or
manner of using the "teasling" material, but only to the Invention or discovery
of the fitness of a material never used before for that purpose, and which I
believe to be much superior to the teasel itself, especially in respect of its
supplying the prickles or spines in more various degrees of elasticity or of
stiffness, from the pliancy of bristles to sharp, hard, and minutely curved
thorns; I therefore claim, 'in conclusion, as the Invention or discovery secured
to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid, the use and application for raising the
nap or pile of woollen cloths and webs or tissues of the parts above mentioned,
of the nicker plant or guilandina bonduca.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sir Charles Edward Grey, have here-
unto set my hand and 'seal, the Twenty-second day of May, in the 'year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
CHARLES EDWARD GREY. (L.B.)
Witness,
THOMAS PICKFord,
Consular Her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris.
Stamp.