Do you conceive the principle of printing upon yarns very useful or valuable. I think it is very valuable. It enables us to produce effects upon silks which before we were quite incapable of doing.

Does it enable you to compete with foreign markets?—Yes, with foreigners.

Have the printed silks which you have been enabled to produce, been favourites with the public?—They have been much so.

Have they superseded French patterns?—I cannot say that, but they have been sold together.

Are you acquainted with the mode of printing; how the printing is accomplished?-Not much. I have seen them printing at Mr. Woodcroft's, but am not a printer.

Do you know the nature of his patent and specifications for printing upon yarns?—I have read it cursorily.

Do you know whether the object of it can be accomplished according to his method?-Yes.

Can silk yarn be printed upon merely the yarn distended the ordinary way from the beam ?-It cannot be.

According to the patent?-Yes.

Is it usual, or absolutely necessary to have the weft shot across?—In all difficult patterns it is necessary.

Is that necessary for the purpose of weaving or washing ?-For both.
Is it necessary if you have a careful weaver?-I think it is.

Had you ever heard of any one printing upon yarns before you heard of Mr. Bennett Woodcroft's patent?-I never had.

The invention you think very valuable as a commercial question ?—I do. What effect do you imagine would be produced upon the silk trade if the patent were thrown open ?—I think it might produce so large an amount of competition as to render the article without value, and therefore to destroy the incitement to produce it.

Lord Brougham, addressing the opposer's counsel, observed, "Then we had better make the extension perpetual."

You think that articles so beautiful would not be produced?—I think not. If inferior articles are produced upon silk, what effect does that have?—I think it destroys them. Silk being an article of luxury, if they become common, the essence of luxury would be destroyed, which is peculiarity or exclusiveness.

Do you know the prices that Mr. Woodcroft charges for license for printing?-Yes, 3s. a pound.

Is that a fair price?—I think it is.

Has that had any effect in encouraging the demand?-I do not think it has.

Cross-examined by Mr. Hill: Are you a licensee of Mr. Woodcroft ?—I am no licensee; I employ a person under a verbal agreement.

You protect the interests of the public by taking a portion of this monopoly upon yourself. These goods are made in France, are they not?—They

are.

By how many manufacturers are they made in France?-I am not sufficiently acquainted to know.

Twenty or thirty?—I do not know.

There is no monopoly in France?—No.

We heard from the last witness that the French are our superiors in this manufacture, among others ?--I think they are.

When is the earliest time that you saw the French goods in this country? -About five years ago.

Mr. Justice Bosanquet: Are the French goods Lyons manufacture?Yes, they are, principally.

VOL. XVIII.

2 F

Mr. John Farey, examined by Mr. Teed: You are a civil engineer?—Yes, I am.

Are you acquainted with Mr. Bennett Woodcroft's process for printing? -I am acquainted with the specification, and I have seen the process.

Can you say whether the object can be accomplished according to the specification?-I take the object to be expressed in the title of the patent. That object can be accomplished by the process described in the specification, or rather by the directions given in the specifications.

Will you state to their lordships what you consider the advantage of the patent over the old mode of printing upon silk or cotton?-Am I to speak with relation to the old mode of printing woven cloth ?-Yes.-This invention consists, then, in printing the yarns which are to constitute the warp of the cloth previous to weaving those warps into cloth, in contradistinction to the same process of printing being applied to them after it is woven into cloth; whereby, in the ordinary process, both the warp and the weft of the cloth are printed equally. In this process the warp only is printed. The advantages of that are that the printing materials, the colouring matter, passes completely through the yarns, so that they are equally printed on each side, and that the cloth which is produced has the same appearance on both sides. Another advantage is a peculiarity of colour: that is given by the circumstance that the colour printed on the warp is interchanged, blended with the colour exhibited by the weft. Every coloured portion of the finished cloth which is woven by this process consists of a compound of the colour that has been printed upon the warp with the colour which is contained in the weft. That gives it a tint of colour that is very distinct in its character from the preceding, and, if examined with a microscope, the reason is apparent, viz., that it is a kind of basket work, whereof each division or cheque is one colour, and the other intermediate division of another colour; and it is the skill of the weaver to make those colours harmonize together, so that it produces a bloom, as the ladies call it. The nearest effect to it is the staining of glass. There is another effect: it softens the outline that is given. And another great advantage is a matter of trade; a very great advantage is, that the warps after being printed are susceptible of subdivision and re-arrangement; so that from the same copper-plate or block, which in cloth must of necessity be a representative of that block or engraved plate, you may, when the warp is printed, first have that warp subdivided into breadths, re-arranged in a new order, or interchanged with breadths from another distinct pattern, or with breadths put in from plain woven cloth. Therefore it gives the means of diversifying the patterns which are obtained or procured by blocks and engraved surfaces. That, as a matter of trade, is an immense advantage, because the skill and fancy of the weaver is brought to be available, superadded upon the skill and fancy of the printer or engraver, which, by the ordinary system, it is not, but must end with the printer. Whatever the printer designs that must go to the public, except there be an alteration of the design, and a new engraving, at a very great expense. In this plan of printing the warps after the printer has exercised his ingenuity, the weaver has an opportunity of superadding upon that his taste, skill, and ingenuity, to diversify and vary patterns to a very and almost unlimited extent, with the addition of a superior appearance from the bloom that the colour derives, as I have before stated, from the mixture of the colour printed upon the warp, and the colour that is inherent by dyeing in the weft.

Do you know the style of printing among the French?-I have seen articles of this description brought from France called chenée.

Is this calculated to enter into competition with that?-As well as we are able to compete with the French at all in articles of design, I think it is a great accession.

We could not have competed with them by printing upon finished silk cloth ?-All the printing that could be done upon silk cloth has not the same effect in its appearance, for it is more complete, more decided. This has a softness in it which, for a particular class of patterns, gives a different effect, and which ladies who wear, should very greatly esteem.

This is accomplished by the ordinary printing apparatus to be used for printing yarns?—There is no difference in the apparatus, they go through a process in submitting the yarn to printing, which differs from the process used in submitting the cloth, but it is done at a like machine.

But the printing is according to the specification? It is as printing is always practised with calicoes, without other differences than those which are described in the specification, for causing the yarns of the warp to pass into the machine in a state of regularity, and also after they have, in consequence of the printing, become gummed together so as to adhere, they are then disunited by raising every alternate thread and separating them from the others.

That is in the specification ?-The specification describes that.

Cross-examined by Mr. Hill: Will you inform me what is new in Mr. Woodcroft's patent-printing by cylinders is not new?—No, certainly not. Printing by blocks is not new?-No; I have stated that the same apparatus is used. There is another class of printing which has become extinct -printing from flat surfaces engraved copper-plates with a machine, resembling in its general character that used for painting or backs.

The printing of yarn, of which shawls were made, was done before Mr. Woodcroft's time, was it not?-I am not aware of that-I am not aware of the printing of warps before, but I should state that it was a common practice to produce an effect by partially dyeing yarns by tying knots, which has the same advantage in colouring, but is not susceptible of defining patterns. It is very much used in the carpet trade?—The carpet trade is the great use for that. I have seen it used in ribbons.

Now, taking out that which is old, just tell me that which is new in Mr. Woodcroft's patent?—I take it to be new the printing of yarns, which are afterwards to be woven into cloth, those yarns being used chiefly for warp, but occasionally for weft, if that is desirable.

Then I understand you that you take the principle to be to print yarns, which are afterwards to be woven into cloth, whatever materials the yarn may be made of?-Yes.

Whether printed by cylinder or block?-Yes; and whether that is to be used for warp, or weft, or cloth.

Then it is printing yarns in the widest sense?-It is.

You have described to my lords that by the specification and drawings, it appears that after the yarn is printed, the threads are taken, some of them above the roller, and some under the roller?—Yes.

So as to be separated?-Yes, that separation being what is made in all weaving of warps, called the lease. It is a separation by every alternate thread being depressed, the intermediate thread being elevated, so that it is divided into two portions, and that is afterwards secured by putting in a string to keep it so that it may be found in any subsequent process in that state.

Can the cross picks be used when that operation is performed ?--That has no reference to the cross picks.

If you use cross picks, and you turn on the machine in the way described in the specification, will that part of the machine work which separates the threads?-Cross picks can be used in the cylinder machine-the cylinder machine has the same reeds that the weaver uses in his loom, they keep the threads at their respective distances, so as to form one plane in the same manner as cloth would form a plane.

Can cross picks be used in any of the machines described and figured in this specification-Not in the machines figured, or perhaps described, but block printing is mentioned, which was a known art, and not commonly called machines;" they are called "apparatus ;" there being no moving power; cross picks might then be used because no reeds are used, a reed answering the same purpose as a cross pick.

Then the very drawing, and the very machine that is described by the inventor, renders it neccessary that you should give up the advantage of crosspicks? It is mentioned that you may use block printing, which is a known

art.

Is there a word about cross-picks? No.

Then am I right that that very machine described in the specification renders it necessary that the person using it should give up the advantage of crosspicks? Yes; the mention of block printing being sufficient as a known art of long standing, and perfectly understood, the machine for printing being more complicated, it seemed to be more necessary to describe it, but it is equally well known in Manchester, though not elsewhere.

When did you see those French goods first, or known of their being introduced into this country? I was not aware how they were introduced, but they were shewn to me by some ladies of my family who had purchased them. How long ago? Four years ago; and I examined them without a glass and saw they had a different effect, and my curiosity was excited.

You knew they were not printed in cloth? No. I supposed they had undergone some process which discharged a portion of the colour. If I had examined them with a glass at the time my curiosity was first excited, I must have found the fact I have here stated, that the weft shewed its colour conjointly with the warp and produced the effect, but not having examined them with a glass, my first notion was that they had a portion of the colour. There was less density; it was more like painted glass.

Lord Brougham: There is nothing new in this machinery? Nothing new, except the application of the reed, which was never used in a printing machine before. That would be inapplicable to cloth. There are several of them in the machine.

Which would include the use of the cross-pick? Yes, the cross-pick being for the old system of block printing; in the one the block is brought to the cloth, and in the other the cloth is brought to the impression. And, after it is partially coloured, the threads are all broken regularly, to destroy the adhesion, which would be pernicious; aud that is the formation of the lease which all the weavers require in the warp, to put the threads through it, that it may not get deranged; therefore all those may be said to be portions of the loom which are brought for the first time to be placed in juxta-position with the parts of the printing machine.

Mr. Hill: Will your lordship ask him whether the reed, as part of the loom, is not of known antiquity? Quite so. I have used the term "reed" as being best understood; but technically speaking, it is not a reed, but a shute, which is so like it that your lordships would not find a difference; but one is for the purpose of keeping it divided, and the other to beat it up with great force.

And each being very old? Yes.

David Roberts, a weaver, who had been employed in dressing warps to be printed on, was examined at some length as to the possibility of printing warps without cross picks. He stated that he had known them done without as well as with, but he thought it would answer better, provided it had cross picks.

Mr. Le Mare called again, examined by Lord Brougham: What was it you understood from Mr. Bennett Woodcroft had been done in France, thirteen and a half years before it had been done in this country, this description of work in chenée printing upon the yarn? Yes.

When did he tell you that? In the early part of last year.

Did he represent that it was his invention? The impression I received was that he had permitted the French to use it, that he had given them the patent right, or had licensed, or, in some way, that he claimed the origination of this invention.

In France as well as here? Yes; that is the impression I received. If I were allowed to give what I conceive the history of this, I should say that whoever claims the origination of this, though it might have been introduced by Mr. Woodcroft in 1829, yet it was not till the French took it up and worked it successfully, and began to introduce the goods here, that we felt it desirable to come into the trade, because not only have the French a great deal of taste, but there is a very decided predilection here for French goods.

Mr. Robert Gardner stated, that there was such a demand for the ginghams made from these yarns in 1830-31-32, that they could not be supplied fast enough. It was a valuable invention, as it introduced a new style. When the duty was taken off prints, the demand for ginghams ceased. He believed that there could not be much profit from the invention.

The Council Room was cleared. After some time the counsel and parties were again called in.

Lord Brougham: Their lordships do not think that in this case they are entitled to put the power of the act in force to the extent of granting a prolongation of the patent. They do not consider that, under all the circumstances of the case, sufficient proof has been given to them of merit in the patent which has been granted, to entitle them to extend it.

List of Patents

Granted by the French Government from the 1st of April to the 30th of June, 1840.

PATENTS FOR FIFTEEN YEARS.

To Kulback and Fichet, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, Advocate of the French and Foreign Office for Patents, Rue Choiseul, 2 ter., for a gas regulator.

Kirk and Wright, of Caen, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for a rotary steam-engine.

Romagny, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for improvements in the combing of wool.

Davies, of Manchester, represented in Paris by M. Perpigna, advocate, for machines for manufacturing screws and screwbolts.