US Patent No. 6,372, granted April 24, 1849, for a process of turning jute (Calcutta hemp) into a fibrous "vegetable wool" that can substitute for animal wool. The inventor was Henri Meneau de Villeneuve of Paris, and the patent was taken out by his administrator William O'Connor of Jersey City. The specification describes hard-twisting the hemp, beating it under fulling-mill beaters or rollers, combing it, and bleaching it in a chloride of lime bath. The fiber can then be carded, spun, dyed and woven into fabrics such as mousseline de laine, rugs, carpeting and blankets.