IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING APPARATUS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Carrick and William Carrick the younger,
both of the City of Carlisle, Hat Manufacturers, for the Invention of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Carrick and
William Carrick the younger at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 29th September 1862.
We, WILLIAM CARRICK and WILLIAM CARRICK the younger, both of the
City of Carlisle, Hat Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for planking felt hats and other goods, and consists in the use of
a vessel with curved ends for containing the hats or other goods in process
of felting, which vessel is fitted with one or more moveable or vibrating
pressers, suspended from a single point above, so as to cause them to
describe an arc of a circle, or they may each be suspended from two points
of oscillation, as may be found most expedient in practice for giving a
pressure, and causing a continual revolving motion of the goods. under
treatment. The stroke or the size-of the pressers may be varied--either by
adjusting the length of the cranks which impart the vibratory motion thereto,
or moveable pieces may be added to the faces of the pressers themselves, so that
the pressure is always regulated to the bulk of the goods.
-

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Carrick and William Carrick the younger in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
CARRICK and WILLIAM CARRICK the youuger, both of the City of Carlisle,
Hat Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Carrick and William Carrick the younger, Her special
license that we, the said William Carrick and William Carrick the younger,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Carrick and William Carrick the younger, our executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an'
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING APPARATUS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Carrick and William Carrick
the younger, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
our hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office, within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Carrick and William Carrick
the younger do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:―
.
Our said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
apparatus for "planking" felt hats and other goods, and consists in the use of
a vessel with curved ends for containing the hats or other goods in process of
felting, which vessel is fitted with one or more moveable or vibrating pressers,
suspended from a single point above so as to cause them to describe an arc of
a circle, or they may each be suspended from two points of oscillation, as may

page_text: be found most expedient in practice for giving a pressure, and causing a con-
tinual revolving motion of the goods under treatment. The stroke or the size
of the pressers may be varied either by adjusting the length of the cranks,
which impart the vibratory motion thereto, or moveable pieces may be added
to the faces of the pressers themselves, so that the pressure is always regulated
to the bulk of the goods.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood, we shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
we shall refer to the Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts.in both Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings, represents a longitudinal
vertical section taken along the line 1, 2, in Figure 2 of my improved appa-
ratus for "planking" felt hats or other goods; and Figure 2 is a transverse
vertical section of the same, taken through one end of the vessel in front of the
pressers or beaters.
A is a vessel or vat of cast iron or other metal lined with wood a, and
having the internal extremities of the vessel curved inwards, so as to facilitate
the turning of the goods during the operation of the pressers. The pressers
B, B', of which one or more may be employed (two are represented in tho
Drawings) consist of blocks of wood which are suspended near their extre-
mities by links C, C, C¹, C, let into slots or mortices. These links are con-
nected by pins c, c², with the pressers and vibrate freely upon fixed centres or
pins d, d, in the upper part or cover of the vessel. Slots are made at e, e¹, in
the bottom of the vessel, through which slots work the arms D, D¹, secured
one to each presser, and protruding some distance below the bottom of the
vessel. To these arms are jointed the connecting rods E, E¹, which are
coupled at their opposite ends to the respective crank pins F, F, carried by
the actuating shaft G. These crank pins are made adjustable in their crank
arms for the purpose of varying the throw or extent of vibration of the pres-
sers to suit the goods under treatment. H, H', are moveable covers placed
over openings, through which the goods are introduced into the vessel A.
On imparting a rotatory motion to the shaft G, the two pressers will be made
to vibrate or oscillate in opposite directions, and will produce a felting or
milling action upon the hats or other felt goods contained in the two ends of
the vessel.
A single presser may be employed, but I prefer to have two, as their action
is thereby rendered continuous upon the goods.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said.

page_text: Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as 'the Invention secured to us by
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent. is, the general construction,
arrangement, and combination of apparatus for effecting the operation known
as "planking" felt hats and other felt goods, substantially as herein-before
-described.
In witness whereof,. we, the said William Carrick and William Carrick
the younger, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-first
day of March, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.