An Improved Fabric for Garments.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd June, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Mar., 1894-Accepted, 16th June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Fabric for Garments.
I, FERDINAND LINNEBORN, of Hagen, near Allendorf, Germany, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
One of the most important conditions for the health of man is the keeping open
of the pores of the skin. It is therefore of extreme importance that clothing, and
especially underclothing should be manufactured in such a manner that the skin will
always be kept as cool, clean, and dry as possible.
When woollen underclothing is worn, the natural texture of the wool causes it
to become fluffy or produce fluff or fine loose fibres which clog the pores of the skin.
The consequences of this are known.
The aim of the present improvement is to produce a fabric for garments which
shall have properties adapted to keep the skin cool, and thus obviate excessive
perspiration, and further, which is made of a material which does not possess the
property or disadvantage of forming or causing fluff, and which finally, keeps the
skin dry, that is to say, absorbs the perspiration produced, in such a manner that
the layers of fabric in immediate contact with the body shall remain dry.
The materials employed by me in this manufacture are;-Linen (flax, hemp,
tow, nettlefibre) and wool (vicuna) and cotton.
I have discovered by numerous practical experiments that wool and cotton wool
have the property of absorbing moisture, but that wool deprived of oil has this
property in a considerably greater degree. But cotton has the disadvantage (to be
seriously considered in this connection) of producing fluff and thus clogging the
pores of the skin.
Consequently the cotton must be woven in the fabric in such a
manner as not to come in contact with the skin, whilst however at the same time, it
can absorb the moisture.
According to my invention the surface of the fabric which comes in direct contact
with the skin is made of linen or flax fibre, because the flax fibre is, by reason of
its natural texture, an excellent material for keeping the skin cool.
I weave a fabric with the inner threads (that is to say the surface or side next
the loom) of linen or flax fibres, whilst the outer threads (that is to say the surface
or side nearest the workman at the loom) consist of wool, and thus there is
produced a fabric which fulfils perfectly all the previously mentioned conditions
with respect to hygiene.
The fabric can be made in the piece or in the form more or less of the garment
or article required, in any loom, simply by drawing in two threads (linen or flax) on
the side next the loom.
The manufacture of this fabric is so cheap that this improvement really constitutes
a considerable advance in hygiene.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1893.

page_text: COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Fabric for Garments.
I, FERDINAND LINNEBORN, of Hagen, near Allendorf, Germany, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The object of the present invention is to produce an improved fabric well adapted
for under garments intended to fit directly to the body, and which in consequence
of the materials of which it is made acts with beneficial sanitary and hygienic
effects upon the wearer.
The improved fabric is knitted and has on its inner side which is destined to be
in contact with the body, loops of linen, its outer side being of wool. The fabric
is produced by putting on each needle N of the knitting machine wherewith the
fabric is made at each motion thereof a linen thread a, Fig. 1, and a woollen
thread b, thus augmenting the loops of the machine, and in this way the two threads
are worked together so that the one thread a always appears ou the one or inner
side, and the other b on the other or outer side of the finished fabric. A fabric thus
produced is called a "platted web," and having inside linen and outside wool, when
made up into an under garment acts with very desirable effect on the human body
for the following reasons:
The layer of linen which lies next to the skin keeps the same cool, and any
perspiration passes through the interstices between the linen fibres because these
do not absorb it, they having little or no absorbing power, and passes into the wool
fibres, which first receive it and then cause it to evaporate immediately. In this
way all drying of perspiration on the skin is avoided.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is :-
An improved fabric well adapted for sanitary under garments consisting in
knitting or manufacturing same in two layers, one of linen, the other of wool platted
together, so that one side is entirely of linen, and the other of wool, substantially as
and for the purposes above set forth.
Dated this 22nd day of March 1894
J. C. CHAPMAN,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Filing Agent.