THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW OR IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Duckworth and Thomas Marsden, both
of the City of Manchester, Manufacturers, for the Invention of "THE
MANUFACTURE OF A NEW OR IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC."
PROVISIONAL DRI
He said
ristopher Duckworth
and Thomas Marsden at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 13th March 1856.
We, CHRISTOPHER DUCKWORTH and THOMAS MARSDEN, both of the City of
Manchester, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW OR IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC, to be as
follows:-
The nature of Invention consists in manufacturing or producing a fabric
having a flushed or floated surface on both sides alike or similar. This
improved woven fabric, which resembles the fabrics commonly called zebras,
may be produced from any suitable textile materials or combination of
materials by weaving in the ordinary loom, the arrangement of the heddles,
and the mode of working them depending upon the length of the flushes or
floats required, and the manner in which the warp and weft threads are inter-
laced. The flushes or floats are produced by the weft threads, the warp
forming the body of the fabric and serving to bind the weft.
In performing our Invention, we prefer to make use of a loom with eight
treadles and eight heddles and one shuttle. The weft is first thrown across
the shed to form the floats on the upper surface of the fabric, the weft floating

page_text: over sixteen warp threads; the shed is then changed, and the shuttle again
thrown across to form the floats on the lower surface; these operations are
repcated twice, and then the weft is twice thrown across the shed to form the
body of the fabric; four picks are then given to form the floats on the upper
and lower surfaces of the fabric, and again two picks are given to form the
body, and these operations are repeated throughout the entire length of the
fabric. It is, however, apparent to any practical weaver that the same or
similar fabrics may be produced with other numbers of treadles, heddles, and
shuttles, and by floating the weft over more or less warp threads.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Duck worth and Thomas Marsden in the Great
Seal, Patent Office on the. 12th September 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHRISTOPHER
DUCKWORTH and THOMAS MARSDEN, both of the City of Manchester, Manu-
facturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Christopher Duckworth and Thomas Marsden, Her special license that we, the
said Christopher Duckworth and Thomas Marsden, our executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Christopher Duckworth
and Thomas Marsden, 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 "THE MANUFACTURE OF
▲ NEW OR IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Christopher Duckworth and Thomas Marsden, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their bands 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Christopher Duckworth and Thomas
Marsden, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in "what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following Specification thereof, reference being had
to the accompanying. Drawing (that is to say):-:
...
The nature of our Invention of the manufacture of a new or improved woven
fabric consists in manufacturing or producing in an ordinary loom, or by any
suitable. mechanism, fabrics having flushed or floated surfaces, on both sides
alike or similar to each other, which fabric may afterwards be printed so as
to resemble cloths called "zebras," hitherto manufactured with a plain or
twilled even surface on one side and a flushed or floated surface on the
other side.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same in an ordinary loom
The arrangement of the mechanism and harness of the loom may be varied,
but the draft given in the accompanying Drawing is that preferred by us for
manufacturing our new or improved woven fabric in a hand loom.
In weaving, according to that draft, one shuttle is required for the weft, and
one warp is employed, which is drawn into eight heddles, as indicated by the
horizontal lines in the Drawing; ten treadles are employed (represented by
the vertical lines), and tied up, as indicated on the draft, which will be readily
understood by a weaver. The weaving is to be as follows:-After the weft
has been thrown across the shed to form the floats on the upper surface of the
fabric, two binding shoots of weft are thrown across to secure the floats on the
upper surface; the shed is then changed, and the weft is thrown across to form
the floats on the under surface of the fabric; two binding shoots of weft are
again thrown across to secure the floats on the lower surface, and then the
shed is again changed for the weft to form floats on the upper surface, and
these floating and binding wefts are thrown across the sheds alternately, the
sheds being changed in the succession represented in the draft throughout the
entire length of the fabric. This we deem to be the best mode of producing
the fabric in an ordinary hand loom. The fabric thus produced may be
printed by any of the usual processes. The accompanying draft and tie up
for producing a fabric with the weft thread floating over sixteen warp threads;
it is, however, obvious that similar fabrics may be produced by varying the
draft and tie up, and by increasing or diminishing the number of heddles and
treadles, or by floating the weft over a greater or less number of warp threads.
is
We would also remark that more than one shuttle may be employed, as it

page_text: may be desirable in some fabrics to have different wefts for the binding picks
and for the floats.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is, the
manufacture of a new or improved woven fabric having a flushed or floated
surface on both sides, as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Christopher Duckworth and Thomas
Marsden, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-six.
Witness,
H. B. BARLOW,
Manchester.
CHRISTOPHER DUCKWORTH. (L.S.)
THOMAS MARSDEN.
(L.S.)