Uninked Ribbon Fabric: Undyed Raw Silk Weighted in Stannic Chloride (Beall, US 1,263,019, 1918)

Silk makes the thinnest, lint-free typewriter ribbon and the sharpest type. Beall used undyed raw silk, which soaks up more ink than dyed silk, and weighted it in a tin solution so the light ribbon gains body, wears longer and runs through the guides without wrinkling. Result: a thin, close silk ribbon fabric, ready for inking. Source: Beall, US 1,263,019 (1918). Not given: weave count, width, strength of the tin solution, soaking time. Picture drawn by Youblob.