AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE- MAMORATE POD SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gray, of No. 19, Hill's Cottages, Union
Road, Wandsworth, in the County of Surrey, Manufacturer of Paper-
making Materials, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE-
MAMORATE POD SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 21st January 1862, and dated the 23rd July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
July 1861.
I, THOMAS GRAY, of No. 19, Hill's Cottages, Union Road, Wandsworth,
in the County of Surrey, Manufacturer of Paper-making Materials, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF PRE-
PARING FLAX FROM OLD MATERIALS FOR SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
I take old tarpaulin or sail cloth, or canvass and old floorcloth, or oil or
painted cloth, and boil the same in a strong solution of soda ash or other
alkali for about the space of three hours, whereby the mineral and resinous
matters contained therein are decomposed. I then cleanse the same by
washing and rinsing in hot or cold water to clear the flax fibre from all
impurities; I then dry the woven fabric, which is then to be run through a
machine called a breaker, with the cylinder working either in water or not as
may be preferred according to the material, in such manner that the woof or
weft shall be torn or separated from the warp. The material is then to be

page_text: passed through a tucker or tenter-hook revolving machine for the purpose
of opening the threads and preparing the material for the next process,
which is to pass it through a carding machine as often as may be required,
according to the purpose to which the flax fibre is to be applied. The
material may be bleached after undergoing the first, or any subsequently
described process, if intended to be used in an uncolored state. The fibre
is then in a fit condition for spinning purposes, or for making wadding,
or for any other purpose for which cotton or flax fibre may be used, and
the flax so prepared, when spun, is, from its soft texture and glossiness,
fit to be worked up with silk, where silk is used in mixed fabrics. The waste
flax, which is not fit for spinning or making wadding, can be converted into
pulp for paper making.
I claim as my Invention the preparation of flax fibre from old sail canvass,
tarpaulin, floorcloth, and other flax woven fabrics in the manner above
described, and the application thereof to the manufacture of new fabrics either
spun or woven, and for making wadding.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GRAY, of No. 19, Hill's Cottages, Union Road, Wandsworth, in the County
of Surrey, Manufacturer of Paper-making Materials, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Gray,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Gray, 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 "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF PREPARING FLAX FROM OLD MATERIALS FOR SPINNING AND OTHER PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Gray, iny executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of

page_text: their hands and seals, 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 Gray, 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 fol-
lowing statement, that is to say :-
I take old tarpaulin or sail cloth, or canvass and old floorcloth, or oil or
painted cloth and other materials manufactured wholly or in part from flax,
and boil the same in tanks or boilers in a strong solution of soda ash or other
alkali for about the space of three hours for the purpose of decomposing and
removing from the material all mineral and resinous matters contained therein,
and when the material has thus been sufficiently boiled to attain that object,
I then cleanse the said material by washing and rinsing it in hot or cold water
until the material is freed from all impurities. The material so boiled and
washed is then to be dried; after which it is to be cut into strips or pieces
of a convenient size or sizes, which strips or pieces are then to be run through
a machine known as and called a breaker with the cylinder working either
dry or in water as may be preferred and according to the material, in such
manner as that the woof or weft shall be torn or separated from the warp,
and thereby securing a greater length of fibre and a saving of waste. The
material, after passing through the breaker, is then to be passed through a
tucker or revolving tenter-hook machine for the purpose of opening the threads,
and preparing the material for the next process. I then pass the material
through one or more carding machines as often as may be required according
to the purpose to which the flax fibre is to be applied. The fibre so obtained
is then in a fit condition for spinning purposes, or for making wadding, or for
any other purpose for which cotton or flax fibre may be used in manufactures,
and the flax, when prepared as above directed, is, from its soft texture and
glossiness, better adapted to be worked up with silk, where silk is used in
mixed fabrics, than flax fibres which have not undergone my process.
Where the material operated on is required to be used in a pure white or
uncoloured state, it may be bleached after undergoing the first or any other
subsequently above described process in the ordinary chlorine gas or bleaching
liquor until the desired purity is attained. The waste flax produced by passing
the material through the machines, and which cannot be used for spinning or
making wadding, is available for making pulp for paper manufacturing.

page_text: I claim as my Invention the preparation of flax fibre from old sail cloth or
canvass, tarpaulin, floorcloth, and other flax fabrics in the manner above
described, and the application thereof to the manufacture of new fabrics, either
spun or woven, and for making wadding therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 23rd day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.
THOMAS GRAY. (L.S.)