AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HATS AND CAPS WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF MACHINERY
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROBINSON WILLIAMS, of Norfolk Street, in the Parish of Saint Clement
Danes and City of Westminster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-six, in the seventh year of His reign, did, for Himself,
His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Robinson
Williams, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Robinson
Williams, my exors, adñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING HATS AND CAPS WITH THE ASSISTANCE
OF MACHINERY;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear..

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Robinson Williams, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in a certain machine or apparatus to be attached to
a carding engine for the purpose of winding the slivers of wool or other
materials taken from the doffer cylinder of the carding engine on to blocks of
certain irregular figures suited to the forms of the intended hats or caps, which
said machine or apparatus is represented in the several Figures of the Drawings
hereto annexed.
Fig, 1 is a side view of the carding engine, with the winding apparatus.
connected thereto. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, and Fig. 3 an hori-
zontal or plan view of the operative parts of the winding apparatus as
connected to the carding engine. The doffer cylinder is covered with fillets of
cards divided into two, three, or more spaces extending round its periphery, as
shewn in Fig. 2, the object of which division is to separate the sliver into two,
three, or more breadths, which are to be conducted to and wound upon distinct
blocks in the manner about to be described. The principal cylinder of the
carding engine is made to revolve by a rigger upon its axle, actuated by a
band from any first mover as usual, and the subordinate rollers or cylinders
belonging to the carding engine are all turned by pullies and bands and gear,
as in the ordinary construction. The wool or other material is supplied to the
feeding cloth a, and carried through the engine to the doffer cylinder b, as in
other carding engines. The doffer combe c is actuated by a revolving crank d
in the common way, and by means of it the slivers are taken from the doffer
These
cylinder, and thence received on to the surfaces of the blocks e, e.
blocks, of which two only are shewn, to prevent confusion, although the doffer
is here designed to feed three, are mounted upon axles supported by suitable
bearings in a carriage f, f, and are made to revolve by means of a band g,
leading from a pulley on the axle of a conical drum, which will be described
hereafter. The band g passes over a pulley h affixed to the axle of one of the
blocks, and another pulley i upon the same axle gives motion by means of
bands to as many other blocks as are adapted to the machine. As it is neces-
sary, in winding the slivers on to the blocks, to cross them in different directions,
and also to pass the sliver over the hemispherical ends of the blocks, in order
that the wool or other material may be uniformly spread over the surface, in
forming the cap or hood for the shell or foundation of the intended hat, the
carriage, with the blocks, is made to traverse to and fro in lateral directions

page_text: upon rollers k, k.
This alternating motion of the carriage is caused by a
horizontal lever 1, 1 (see Fig. 3), moving upon a fulcrum pin at m, which lever
is attached to the carriage at one extremity n, and at the other end has a
weighted cord j, which draws the side of this lever against a cam wheel o.
This cam is made to revolve by means of a band and pulley p, which turns the
shaft and endless screw q, and this endless screw, taking into a toothed wheel r
on the axle of the cam o, causes the cam to revolve, the periphery of which
cam running against a friction roller on the side of the lever causes the
lever to vibrate, and the carriage f, f, attached to it, to traverse to and fro
upon the rollers k, k, as described. By these means the slivers are laid in
oblique directions (varying as the carriage traverses) over the surfaces of the
blocks. The blocks being conically formed, or of other irregular figures, it is
necessary, in order to wind the slivers with uniform tension, to vary their speed
according to the diameter of that part of the block which is receiving the
sliver. This is effected by giving different velocities to the pulley on the axle
of the conical drum s. Corresponding with s, there is a similar conical drum t,
placed in a reverse position in the lower part of the frame, which is ac-
tuated by a band from any convenient part of the machine, passing over a
pulley upon the axle of t. From the drum t to the drum s there is' a
band v, which is made to slide along the drums by the guidance of two rollers
at the end of the lever l. It will now be seen that when the larger diameter
of the cam wheel o forces the lever outwards, the band will be guided on to
the smaller part of the conical drum t and the larger part of 8; consequently
the drum s will at this time receive its slowest motion, and the band g will
turn the blocks slower; also the reverse end of the lever having by the
same movement slidden the carriage into that position which causes the slivers
to wind upon the larger diameter of the blocks, when the smaller diameter
of the cam is acting against the side of the lever the weighted cord j draws
the end of the lever to the opposite side, and the band v will be guided on to
the larger part of the cone t and the smaller part of the cones; consequently
the quicker movement of the band 9 will now cause the blocks e, e, to revolve
with a corresponding speed; the carriage will also be moved upon its
rollers h, k, to the reverse side, and the sliver of wool or other material be now
wound upon the smaller parts and ends of the blocks, at which time the
quicker rotation of the block is required. It may be here observed that the
cam wheel o should be differently formed according to the different shaped
blocks employed, so as to produce the requisite movements of the lever and
carriage suited thereto. It only remains to state that there are two beavy
conical rollers w, w, bearing upon the peripheries of the blocks e, e, which turn

page_text: loosely upon their axles by the friction of contact, for the purpose of pressing
the slivers of wool or other material on the blocks as it comes from the
doffer cylinder of the carding engine, and when the blocks have been coated
with a sufficient quantity of the sliver the smaller end of the pressing rollers
is to be raised while the cap is withdrawn from the block. The process is now
continued as before, and the formations of other bodies or caps is effected in
the manner above described. After the caps or bodies of hats, &c. are
formed in the above-described machine, they are folded in wet cloths, and
placed upon heated plates, where they are rolled under pressure, for the
purpose of being hardened.
Fig. 4 represents the front of three furnaces, a, a, a, the tops of which are
covered with iron plates, b, b, b. Upon these plates, which are heated by the
furnace below (or by steam), the bodies wrapped in the wet cloths c, c, c, c, are
placed, and pressed upon by the flaps and covers d, d, d, sliding upon guide
rods, to which flaps a traversing motion is given by means of chains attached
to an alternating bar e, e. This bar is moved by a rotatory crank f, which has
its motion by pulleys from any actuating power.
Fig. 5 is a top view of the flaps, and the rod or joint upon which they slide,
with their chains and alternating bar. When any one of the flaps is turned
up, to remove the bodies from beneath, the chains hang loosely, and the flap
remains stationary. These caps or hat bodies, after having been hardened in
the manner above described, may be felted in the usual way by hand, or they
are felted in a fulling mill by the usual process employed for milling cloths,
except that the hat bodies are occasionally taken out of the fulling mill, and
passed between rollers, for the purpose of rendering the felt more perfect.
Having described the whole of my apparatus, and the process by which I
manufacture hats or caps, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any
novelty in the construction of the carding engine; but I claim the following par-
ticulars as my Invention, and the subject for which this Patent was granted :—
First, the apparatus or machinery above described as attached to a carding
engine for winding the slivers of wool or other materials on to blocks of any
suitable figure, calculated to form hats or caps of every shape.
Second, the apparatus for hardening the said bodies after they have been so
formed. And,
Lastly, the felting of the same by means of a fulling mill.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
THOMAS (L.S.) ROBINSON WILLIAMS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of March, in
the year of our Lord 1827, the aforesaid Thomas Robinson Williams came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.