IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING SILK, COTTON, CHINA GRASS, AND SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBRE, ON PREPARING AND SPINNING COLORED AND MIXED-COLORED YARNS PROM SUCH FIBRES
Year: 1859

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LETTERS PA T to Samuel Cunliffe Lister, of Manningham,
Warburton, of Addingham, Spinners, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DYEING SILK, COTTON, CHINA GRASS, AND SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBRE,
ON PREPARING AND SPINNING COLORED AND MIXED-COLORED YARNS
PROM SUCH FIBRES."
Sealed the 20th April 1860, and dated the 29th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sumuel Cunliffe Lister.
and James Warburton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th October 1859.
We, SAMUEL CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Manningham, and JAMES WARBURTON,
of Addingham, Spinners, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DYEING SILK, COTTON, CHINA GRASS, AND SIMILAR VEGETABLE
FIBRE, AND IN PREPARING AND SPINNING COLORED AND MIXED-COLORED YARNS FROM
SUCH FIBRES," to be as follows:-
Our improvements consist in dyeing waste silk before being dressed or
combed; also, after being jigged (that is, once roughly combed or dressed),
and then re-combing the dyed silk; also, in dyeing the combed or dressed
sliver of silk before being spun; also, in mixing two or more colors before
being dressed or combed, or when carding combed or dressed silk, or in the
drawing operations before being spun, or at the time of spinning; also, in
mixing dyed silk such as above described, with wool, hair, cotton, flax, or
similar fibre, the waste silk being dyed and mixed before being spun.
Another improvement consists in dyeing cotton, flax, China grass, or similar
fibre in the raw state, that is, before being dressed or combed; also, jigging
such fibres and then dyeing, and then re-combing them; also, dyeing such

page_text: fibres before being spun after being combed or dressed; also, mixing two or
more colors of different or similar fibres before being combed or dressed, or when
carding such combed or dressed fibres; also, in mixing such colored, combed,
or dressed fibres before being spun.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister and James Warburton in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 27th April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
CUNLIFFE LISTER, of Manningham, and JAMES WARBURTON, of Addingham,
Spinners, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Samuel Cunliffe Lister and James Warburton, Her special licence that we,
the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister and James Warburton, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister and
James Warburton, our 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
DYEING SILK, COTTON, CHINA GRASS, AND SIMILAR VEGETABLE FIBRE, AND IN
PREPARING AND SPINNING COLORED AND MIXED-COLORED YARNS FROM SUCH FIBRES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister
and James Warburton, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us or them, 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 Samuel Cunliffe Lister, on behalf of
myself and the said James Warburton, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-

page_text: Our improvements consist in dyeing waste silk before being dressed or
combed; also after being jigged (that is, once roughly combed or dressed) and
then recombing the dyed silk;, also in dyeing the combed or dressed sliver of
silk before being spun; also in mixing two or more colors before being dressed
or combed, or when carding combed or dressed silk or in the drawing operations
before being spun, or at the time of spinning; also in mixing dyed silk, such
as above described with wool, hair, cotton, flax, or similar fibre, the waste silk
being dyed and mixed before being spun.
Another improvement consists in dyeing cotton, flax, china grass, or similar
fibre in the raw state, that is, before being dressed or combed; also, jigging
such fibres, and then dyeing, and then recombing them; also dyeing such
fibres before being spun after being combed or dressed; also mixing two or
more colors of different or similar fibres before being combed or dressed, or
when carding such combed or dressed fibres; also in mixing such colored
combed or dressed fibres before being spun..
Having described the nature of our Invention, we will now proceed to
describe the mode we adopt for carrying out the same.
When we dye silk waste before being combed or dressed, we first discharge
the gum, care being taken not to tender the fibre by boiling it too long or at
too high a temperature, and it should be placed in canvas bags to prevent it
from being tangled or matted together; great care should be taken in this
respect, or the noil and waste made in the after process of dressing or com-
bing will be very much increased. After dyeing the waste silk, we then
prepare it upon preparing drums, and then dress or comb it, the dyed top
is then prepared and spun in the ordinary manner.
Another plan, and which we consider the best is to dye the waste silk after
being combed or dressed, and in that case we first roughly comb the silk
waste and then dye it, and after it has been dyed we re-comb it, as we find that
the dyeing operation felts it together, and also confuses and disarranges the
fibres and it is impossible to make good yarn without re-combing it. For
low yarns, where cheapness is desirable, we dye it in the slubbing or roving. -
One great object in dyeing silk waste before being spun is in order to be
able to mix two or more colors together before being spun, which may readily
be done when the silk is being dressed or combed; in that case we dye the
silk, then rough comb it, and then draw the jiggings of the two colors together,
and then re-comb them, so as thoroughly and regularly to mix the colors; or
the dyed silk may be mixed in the drawing or other operations before being
spun or at the time of spinning.
Another advantage in dyeing and treating waste silk as above described

page_text: consists in mixing it with wool, hair, cotton, flax, or similar fibre, before being
spun, as strong and beautiful yarns may thus be produced, and by dyeing the
silk and also the wool, cotton, &c., splended contrasts may be obtained.
As in almost all cases it is desirable to have the fibrous material and the
different colors thoroughly mixed, we prefer to jig the wool or other fibre and
the silk separately, and then to mix the rough combed slivers in a suitable
drawing operation, and then to re-comb the jiggings; in that way the colored
fibrous material is certain to be well mixed. The dyed silk should in all cases
as far as possible, be selected as to length, so as to suit the fibre with which it
has to be mixed. Very valuable yarn also may be made by dyeing cotton,
flax, china grass, or similar fibre, and then combing them; or, by preference,
we jig such fibres first, and then re-comb them; in some cases we dye the
roving or slubbing, but great care should be taken to keep the fibres straight,
and to prevent them from felting together. The best plan that we have yet
discovered is to place the fibrous material in canvas or other bags, as the
boiling liquid acts miore gently on it. Such fibrous material, after being treated
as above described, can then with great advantage be mixed so as to produce
yarns of various colors; sometimes we mix two or more colors of the same
fibre, or they may be different fibres; we then prefer to card such fibres of
different colors together, and then comb them, but they may be dyed and
mixed after being combed and hackled, and before being spun or in the
process of spinning.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cunliffe Lister, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
SAMUEL CUNLIFF LISTER. (L.S.)
JAMES HAMILTON, of Manningham,
in the County of York.