UTRECHT VELVET

Stamping Utrecht Velvet -- Embossing Utrecht Velvet -- Terry Edging

Amongst the many persons who had seen my castings from Nature coated with copper, at the Museum, was a member of the old-established firm of decorators, Messrs. Pratt, of Bond Street; and being at that time in search of someone to carry out an idea of his own, he sought an interview with me. He explained his object, and asked me if I thought it possible to produce an imitation of a particular material which he required, showing me at the same time some splendid old specimens of figured Genoa velvet with a satin ground. Mr. Pratt's idea was to produce an imitation of this beautiful fabric on Utrecht velvet, woven plain, and to have the desired patterns produced thereon by stamping, after the manner of the embossed cotton velvet so much in fashion at that time. He told me that various qualities of Utrecht velvet had been tried for him by the best manufacturers of embossed cotton velvet, but all attempts to produce a permanent effect on this stubborn material had utterly failed, and he had abandoned the idea of getting it made, until he had by chance seen the metal castings from Nature before referred to. Explaining this circumstance to me, he complimented me by saying that the idea at once struck him that the man who had found out how to produce such marvellous castings would, in all probability, soon discover how to emboss Utrecht velvet.

The result of this interview was that Mr. Pratt left with me a specimen of his woven Genoa velvet, a copy of which I undertook to try and produce by heat and presssure on a plain fabric. This Utrecht velvet is a long-piled, very harsh and stubborn worsted material, as, indeed, every one would at once recognise who had seen chairs covered with it, and sat upon for years, without the pile being flattened down.

I provided myself with a flat brass die, or plate, engraved nearly a quarter of an inch deep, each of the parts sunk in it having vertical sides and a flat bottom, so that the pile at certain parts was left wholly untouched by the die, and therefore in its normal state; while those parts which came in contact with the plate were crushed down. All this was perfect enough, as far as it went; but I, like others, failed to produce a permanent effect, for in two or three days the pile so pressed down would partially rise again, and the pattern almost disappear. Many things were tried, but neither hot water nor steaming, nor the application of alkaline solutions, were of any avail, and I began to fear that I should be no more successful than others had been in dealing with this material. Further consideration, however, and a little study of the nature and properties of hair and wool, led to the idea that these substances were really of the nature of horn; and this material, I knew, was capable of semi-fusion at high temperature, and was, in that condition, suitable for being moulded into various ornamental shapes, which permanently retained, when cold, the forms thus impressed upon them in a heated state. I now felt that I was on the right scent, and believed that if I could rapidly submit the material to a very high temperature, and then move it away as quickly, a partial fusion of the part in contact with the hot surface of the die would take place, and produce a glossy surface like satin, which would never again stand up as pile.

I had no sooner got this view of the subject than I took measures to put it to a practical test. The result went to show that by maintaining the metal surface, which was in contact with the velvet, at a very high temperature for a short and definite period, and acting under a carefully regulated amount of pressure, the process could be made a perfect success. These experiments also proved that the temperature must be so high as to produce a semi-fusion of the wool, and that if continued for a fraction of a minute too long the fabric would be destroyed.

The next step was to devise a machine in which these very critical conditions could be practically carried out on a commercial scale. This I undertook to do at my own cost, in consideration of the very liberal price per yard offered me for embossing the velvet. I erected, on my own premises, the machine I had designed, and personally regulated its operations. The apparatus consisted mainly of a massive iron frame, in which was mounted a very deeply-engraved hollow roller of cast iron, having a plain or unindented paper roller running in contact with its under-side. The iron roller was not heated by steam, as the temperature absolutely necessary was too high for that mode of heating; so I had to apply a powerful Bunsen gas-burner, extending the whole length of the interior of the open-ended, hollow-engraved roller, and by that means I kept it at a constant temperature just short of what would be destructive to the fabric. Now, a cast-iron roller working in the open air is not a thing to which one can apply the glass bulb of a thermometer, and ascertain the precise temperature of its external surface; consequently, the accurate control of the temperature of the roller presented many difficulties; but, after some study of the question, I found a most satisfactory way of ascertaining this all-important fact.

I was aware that metallic lead fuses at a temperature of 640 deg. Fahr., and by additions to that metal of tin and bismuth, in varying proportions, its melting temperature can be lowered until the alloy will fuse at the boiling point of water, viz., 212 deg. With these facts before me, I had simply to form a standard alloy, fusible at, say, 450 deg. Fahr., that being the required temperature of the roll. This we may call alloy B; another alloy, A, was made that would fuse at 10 deg, lower than B, and a third, C, was made whose melting temperature was 10 deg. Fahr. higher than B. These three alloys were made into rods about the length and size of a black-lead pencil. Their use was extremely simple. When commencing to heat up the roller for working, one end of the most fusible rod, A, was pressed against the hot iron roller as it revolved, and as soon as the first symptom of the fusion of the end of the rod manifested itself, it was known that the roller was within 10 deg. of its proper working heat. Care was then taken to gradually regulate the gas supply, and when the end of the standard or working rod B was found to fuse on being pressed against the roller, the machine was put in motion at the exactly ascertained speed, thus producing with certainty a beautiful figured fabric that twenty years after would be found in much the same condition, less the amount of wear and tear to which it had been subjected.

The first practical working of this new process was upon a beautiful design, for which Messrs. Pratt had obtained an order for furnishing a suite of apartments at Windsor Castle, so that the new material, under so favourable an introduction, was certain to become fashionable.

In those palmy days of Utrecht velvet embossing, I was paid six shillings a yard for putting fabric through the rolls; but gradually this very high price was reduced, and when it came down to a shilling per yard immense quantities were embossed. Prices were still on the decline, when my machines and the stock of engraved rollers were purchased from me by Messrs. Gillett, Lees and Company, the well-known Utrecht velvet weavers of Banbury. A general taste for this material soon afterwards set in; prices for embossing were lowered ultimately to one penny per yard, and many persons may still remember, some forty years ago, seeing the cushions of cabs and omnibuses covered with this decorative fabric. It is curious that the present fashion for antiquated furniture has again brought it into use, and it may now be seen in many of the best houses.

The original specimen of figured Genoa Velvet brought me by Mr. Pratt had what is called a narrow edging of "Terry," or uncut velvet, forming a series of little ribs which surrounded each leaf or scroll in the design, and made a sort of natural shading between the dark untouched pile of velvet, and the bright and satiny pressed-down surface of the ground on which the design was formed. A very beautiful specimen of my imitation of this "Terry" edging came into the possession of my niece, Mrs. Ada Alien, of Wingerworth Hall, and this she kindly presented to me; it has some historic interest, being the design of Mr. Pugin for covering the benches in the House of Lords; the roller was engraved by myself, and it was the first attempt to produce an imitation of the "Terry" edging in this new fabric. A photographic reproduction of this old specimen is given in Fig. 15, Plate VII., and it shows that after the many years' use of the fabric the design still retains marked tracing of the "Terry" edging.

In the early part of these pages, I referred to the fact that the origin of many important inventions and manufactures was lost in the "mist of ages," but here we have an example of one that has passed out of memory whilst its originator is still living: for I venture to say that few indeed of the thousands who daily lounge in their easy chairs on embossed Utrecht velvet would ever suspect that this material issued from the same room in "Baxter House" in which all my first steel experiments were made; and that the same hand which regulated and controlled the fiery steel converter also drew the first few hundred yards of that very beautiful material through the rolls.