IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING LOOPED FABRICS SUITABLE FOR THE MAKING OF GLOVES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, both of Nottingham,
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
LOOPED FABRICS SUITABLE FOR THE MAKING OF GLOVES AND OTHER ARTICLES"
Sealed the 3rd April 1857, and dated the 8th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ball and John
Wilkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 8th January 1857.
We, THOMAS BALL and JOHN WILKINS, both of Nottingham, Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING LOOPED FABRICS, SUITABLE FOR THE MAKING OF GLOVES AND OTHER
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manufacturing looped
fabrics, suitable for the making of gloves and other articles. For these pur-
poses, when making warp-looped fabrics according to this Invention, a warp
of woollen yarn and a warp of spun silk yarn are used; the warp threads of
woollen yarn are looped on to the needles to make the woollen fabric, whilst
the yarns of spun silk, which are to be on one surface, and are to be formed
into a pile or raised into a nap or fleece after the fabric has been milled or
felted, are not looped on to the needles; and when making knit-looped fabrics
according to this Invention, the woollen yarn is laid on to and sunk between
the needles, so as to produce a woollen fabric, and the spun silk yarn is worked

page_text: in as a pile, or so as to be raised, after the fabric has been milled or felted. The
fabrics thus produced are to be milled or felted, and raised in the ordinary
manner. By these means a peculiar woollen looped fabric with a silken nap
or fleece will be produced, very applicable to the making of gloves and parts
of garments.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Ball and John Wilkins in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
BALL and JOHN WILKINS, both of Nottingham, Manufacturers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, Her special license that we, the said
Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, our exccutors,
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 MANUFACTURING LOOPED FABRICS, SUITABLE
FOR THE MAKING OF GLOVES AND OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, 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 we, the said Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manufacturing looped

page_text: fabrics, suitable for the making of gloves and other articles. For these pur-
poses, when making warp-looped fabrics according to this Invention, a warp
of woollen yarn and a warp of spun silk yarn are used; the warp threads of
woollen yarn are looped on to the needles to make the woollen. fabric, whilst
the yarns of spun silk, which are to be on one surface, and are to be formed
into a pile or raised into a nap or fleece after the fabric has been milled or
felted, are not looped on to the needles; and when making knit-looped fabrics
according to this Invention, the woollen yarn is laid on to and sunk between the
needles, so as to produce a woollen fabric, and the spun silk yarn is worked in
as a pile, or so as to be raised, after the fabric has been milled or felted. The
fabrics thus produced are to be milled or felted and raised in the ordinary
manner. By these means a peculiar woollen looped fabric with a silken nap
or fleece will be produced, very applicable to the making of gloves and parts of
garments.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
In manufacturing warp fabrics according to our Invention, we prefer to
employ one warp thread or yarn of wool to each needle of the machine, and
such warps are carried and actuated by a single guide bar, having as many
guides as there are needles in the warp machine, and such guide bar is to be
actuated in the ordinary manner as heretofore practised when making warp
fabrics of wool suitable to be felted or fulled. And in order that pile surfaces
may be produced on such fabrics, a warp of soft spun silk (silk waste) is
applied to work with each needle, and such warps of spun silk are carried by
the guides of a second guide bar, which is actuated in such manner as not to
loop the spun silk warps on the needle, as is well understood and before prac-
tised in the manufacture of other pile fabrics. The fabrics having been thus
made in a warp machine, are next to have the pile on the silk side raised, by
teazles or wire cards, and then to be milled or fulled, tentered, raised, cropped,
and finished, as is well understood in finishing woollen cloths.
We would state that it is not essential that the pile warps should be wholly
of spun silk, as other fibre may be used therewith. By this mode of manu-
facturing looped fabrics it will be understood that the body or ground is in
each case a felted woollen fabric, whilst the fleece or pile on one side in each
case is of silk, or it may be silk with other fibre; and it is the manufacture
of a felted looped fabric of wool with a fleece or pile of silk, or partly of silk,
which constitutes the peculiarity of the first part of the Invention.
The second part of the Invention consists of the manufacture of a similar
manufacture of looped fabrics when using knitting machinery.

page_text: In carrying out this part of the Invention, a yarn or thread of wool and a yarn
or thread of soft spun silk (silk waste) are laid on to the needles or worked into
a fabric in such manner that the two surfaces of each fabric may be produced,
the one by the wool and the other by silk, as is well understood, and the same
separately is not new; the fabrics thus produced are to be raised on the silk
side to produce a pile of silk; the fabrics are then to be milled or fulled,
tentered, raised, cropped on one or both sides, and finished. It is preferred
that the threads or yarns used should be dyed in the fleece or in the yarn, and
it will be evident that each fabric may be of different colors or of the same
color on the two sides. The wool surface of each fabric may or may not be
raised and cropped, or otherwise finished, after fulling.
This part of the Invention consists in producing a fulled or milled knit
fabric of wool with a piled or fleeced surface of spun silk or partly of spun
silk.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Ball and John Wilkins, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
THOMAS BALL.
(L.S.)
JOHN WILKINS. (L.S.)