FIBROUS FABRICS. 189 



fabric or tissue was coated with the vulcanized compounds, the 

 same obstacles of chafing and peeling from the fabrics con- 

 tinued to exist as before. 



The great liability of the gum to peel from all woven cloths, 

 has been well known to all manufacturers, since the first manu- 

 facture of India rubber. This difficulty was not removed by 

 the discovery of the vulcanizing process, and the sanguine 

 hopes that were entertained, that gum-elastic could be made a 

 substitute for animal leather, to any considerable extent, were 

 for a time nearly abandoned. For many years the inventor 

 sought to surmount the difficulty, by applying the gum to every 

 description of fabric that could be found, that would be likely 

 to answer, and to others which he had made expressly for the 

 purpose, at great expense, without attaining the object. The 

 difficulty remained until it was obviated by the manufacture of 

 the fibrous fabrics. In these goods the fibre is so completely 

 incorporated with the gum that it is impossible to peel it. 



The primary importance of the vulcanizing process has been 

 repeatedly alluded to ; but it has become generally available 

 and extensively applicable, chiefly in consequence of the inven- 

 tion of the fibrous fabrics here described. The invention of 

 these fabrics is only secondary to that of vulcanization, and is 

 as important iii the mechanical combination of the materials as 

 vulcanization is in their chemical combination. 



These fabrics, and their uses, are so various, answering the 

 widely contrasted uses to which paper, cloth, and leather are 

 applied, that a description of them under the general head of 

 fibrous fabrics, would not be sufficiently explicit. They are 

 therefore described according to their thickness, as tissue, 

 vellum, plated fabrics, felt, and corded fabrics. Perhaps the 

 most valuable application of gum-elastic, is its substitution for 

 leather. It could not be so substituted, to any considerable 

 extent, previous to the invention of the fibrous fabrics. 



