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1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
Letters patent for carding machine
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- Description
- Copy of the Royal Letters Patent for the carding machine invented by Richard Arkwright, copied (it seems) by John Kipling (who states the original remains in the Chapel of Rolls). The function of the machine is to make "Weft" or yarn from cotton and/or wool. The patent states that Arkwright submitted his Request to King George III and it was approved: Only Arkwright and his associates would be able to control the output and selling of the machine within Great Britain for a fourteen-year period. The approval of the Royal Letters Patent is dated July the third, 1769. One condition included in the patent is: if a handwritten description and account of the machine, its parts, and its function is not submitted to "his said Majesty High court of Chancery" within four months of the approval date (July 3), then Arkwright's claim on the machine is void. What follows is a description of the machine, with parts of it described and listed with letters A-W, which correspond to the drawing on what appears to be thick vellum on the last page of the document. All three pages have an impressed seal in the mid-upper-right corner. Possible marginalia on the 3rd page: "Anguish" on the left margin.. Parchment and vellum, black ink, pages tied together at the top with a bit of reddish string. All handwritten/hand-drawn.
- Type
