200 GOODYEAR ON GUM-ELASTIC. 



QUILTED FABRICS 



Are made of the laminated fibrous fabrics, in a manner very 

 similar to the method of manufacturing air-work, already de- 

 scribed. The goods are quilted in any desired pattern, by cut- 

 ting the patterns either by hand or machine punches, from bats of 

 cotton or wool ; these are next placed upon the surface of the 

 fabric, at the distance of from one eighth to one fourth of an inch 

 apart ; another sheet of the fabric of the same size as the first, 

 is then laid over the whole, and pressed down either by hand or 

 by machinery, the callenders or rolls of which are covered with 

 an elastic substance. The effect is that the two pieces of the 

 fabric adhere together in the spaces between the patterns cut 

 out of the wadding. 



If tubes are inserted into articles of this kind, they form the 

 safest and best kind of air-work, with the exception that the 

 goods made in this way are not quite so light and portable as 

 those which are inflated with air only. These goods have, how- 

 ever, one recommendation, which is of more importance than 

 portability or lightness ; they are safe, and may be depended on 

 as life-preservers. 



A newly invented description of garments are made in this 

 manner, which are convenient to be worn, and yet may be con- 

 sidered infallible life-preservers, whether they are inflated by the 

 tubes or not. Air is necessarily inclosed in the cells of these 

 garments with the wadding, in the manufacture. A cape, coat, 

 or poncho, which is divided into a thousand cells or compart- 

 ments, might be damaged or perforated in five hundred different 

 places, and it would yet infallibly prevent the wearer from 

 sinking in the water. For further description see Vol. II., 

 page 



