Furnishing Fabric
1900-1949 (manufactured)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This is a piece of leathercloth, or artificial leather, made by Crocketts & Co, the successors to JR&CP Crocketts, of West Ham, Essex, England and formerly of Newark, New Jersey in the USA.
All forms of artificial leather seem to be made by coating a woven cotton backing with something that can be pigmented and marked with lines to imitate leather grain. The process which is probably the oldest, developed in 1884, used cellulose nitrate which is explosive if the nitrogen content exceeds 13%. Since the Second World War it has been more common to use Polyvinyl Chloride [PVC] as the coating. This plastic material is made from the basic chemicals found in salt, water and petroleum. Rudimentary experiments were begun in 1840 in France but it was not developed until the Dow Chemical Company began systematic work on it in the USA in 1939.
Artificial leather is used extensively in upholstery, including vehicle interiors, and in book-binding.
All forms of artificial leather seem to be made by coating a woven cotton backing with something that can be pigmented and marked with lines to imitate leather grain. The process which is probably the oldest, developed in 1884, used cellulose nitrate which is explosive if the nitrogen content exceeds 13%. Since the Second World War it has been more common to use Polyvinyl Chloride [PVC] as the coating. This plastic material is made from the basic chemicals found in salt, water and petroleum. Rudimentary experiments were begun in 1840 in France but it was not developed until the Dow Chemical Company began systematic work on it in the USA in 1939.
Artificial leather is used extensively in upholstery, including vehicle interiors, and in book-binding.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Woven cotton laminated with either cellulose nitrate or PVC |
| Brief description | Laminated woven cotton furnishing fabric, manufcatured by Crocketts & Co, West Ham, Essex, 1900-1949. |
| Physical description | Furnishing fabric, woven cotton laminated with cellulose nitrate or PVC. Light blue-grey textured ground, undecorated, with a backing of off-white cotton plain weave. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by Dr Philip Sykas |
| Summary | This is a piece of leathercloth, or artificial leather, made by Crocketts & Co, the successors to JR&CP Crocketts, of West Ham, Essex, England and formerly of Newark, New Jersey in the USA. All forms of artificial leather seem to be made by coating a woven cotton backing with something that can be pigmented and marked with lines to imitate leather grain. The process which is probably the oldest, developed in 1884, used cellulose nitrate which is explosive if the nitrogen content exceeds 13%. Since the Second World War it has been more common to use Polyvinyl Chloride [PVC] as the coating. This plastic material is made from the basic chemicals found in salt, water and petroleum. Rudimentary experiments were begun in 1840 in France but it was not developed until the Dow Chemical Company began systematic work on it in the USA in 1939. Artificial leather is used extensively in upholstery, including vehicle interiors, and in book-binding. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.38-2004 |
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| Record created | February 3, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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