IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOFFERING AND ROUCHING MACHINES, IN ORDER TO RENDER THem Sele-RegiSTERING AND SELF-INDICATING
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Wheatcroft, of Brudenell Place, New North
Road, County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOFFERING AND ROUCHING MACHINES, IN ORDER
TO RENDER THem Sele-RegiSTERING AND SELF-INDICATING."
Sealed the 8th September 1859; and dated the 11th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Wheatcroft at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th March 1859.
I, SAMUEL WHEATCROFT, of Brudenell Place, New North Road, County
of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOFFERING AND ROUCHING MACHINES,
IN ORDER TO RENDER THEM SELF-REGISTERING AND SELF-INDICATING," to be as
follows, that is to say :—
I propose to add certain machinery to the present goffering and rouching
machines, so that the quantity of fabric which passes through in the operation
of goffering or rouching may be accurately measured and indicated. I effect
this by connecting the axles of the said machines with a series of toothed
or geared wheels and pinions, so as to convey or transmit the motion of rotation
of the said axles; this toothed gear works into and communicates this motion
by means of a lever or a series of levers; or their equivalents;. to an endless
screw, or its equivalent, which in its turn actuates another series of geared
wheels, so as to transmit or communicate the said motion to an index or dial

page_text: plate properly graduated, which indicates the amount of fabric which has
passed or is passing through the machine; the dial plate and machiney may
also be regulated so as to allow fixed and determinate quantities only to pass
through. It will be evident that as the dial or index is placed nearer or farther
from the machine or from the part of the axles where the motion is received,
there will be less or more transmitting gear required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Wheatcroft in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th September 1859.
·
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WHEATCROFT, of Brudenell Place, New North Road, County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Wheatcroft, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Wheatcroft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Wheatcroft, my executors, administrators, and 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOFFERING AND ROUCHING MACHINES, IN ORDER TO RENDER
THEM SELF-REGISTERING AND SELF-INDICATING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Wheatcroft, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly 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 I, the said Samuel Wheatcroft, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the fol-
lowing statement, that is to say :-Up to the present time when it is required
that each portion of goffered or rouched material should contain a definite

page_text: length of the fabric in its plain state, the mode in which this has been effected
has been either by measuring off the lengths by the successive superposition of
the measuring rod or line, or by winding the lengths on to a reel of which a
certain circumference coincided with a certain length of the fabric required,
and by increasing or decreasing the radious of the reel the lengths were
increased or diminished at pleasure; the material is then unwound from the
reel and passed through the goffering or rouching machine, and as each
revolution of the reel corresponds with the assigned length of material for
the goffered piece upon the completion of each revolution, the portion which
has during that time passed through the machine is cut off, and in this
manner it is known that the goffered piece contains the determined amount.
My Invention consists then in appending apparatus to the goffering or
rouching machine, so that it shall itself, when properly adjusted, indicate when
the determined quantity has passed through the machine, and also that it will,
if necessary, cut off or detach this goffered portion, which, will then contain
the predetermined length; and also that when necessary by additional
indicating apparatus it will shew the actual amount of plain material which
has daring any specific time passed through the machine, or, in other words,
has been goffered. It will be apparent to any mechanician that this can be
effected in numerous ways, by any of the usual and well-known methods of
applying toothed gear or trains, or by levers and wheels in combination, and
similar other easy determined means; therefore I do not propose to claim
any particular method of effecting this; but in order to shew more clearly the
nature of my Invention, I have appended to this Specification the accom-
panying Drawings, which are intended to illustrate one of the most simple
methods of producing the results stated, although, as before mentioned, the
same may be obtained by different modifications of the plan, and by substi-
tuting for any of the several parts other well-known equivalents, or other well-
known analogous devices. The Drawing appended is the end elevation of a
goffering machine with part of my apparatus applied. a is the driving axle of
the machine upon which I mount the toothed wheel b, which gears into and
drives the wheel'c, which has around its boss a series of notches or projecting
studs d, d, d, d; these studs act upon the lower end of the lever e, which rotates
round the centre f, and has attached to its other extremity a fang or pallet 9,
the free end of which presses against the teeth of the wheel h, which turns on
an arbor in the side frame k, upon which is also supported the wheel c; j is a
small counterbalance on the lever e. The apparatus has now to be graduated,
and this is effected by passing a determined length of fabric through the
machine. The motion of the axle a, which drives the goffering machinery,

page_text: carrying with it the wheel b,-causes the wheel c to revolve, and each stud as
it passes over the end of the lever e, causes the prong to urge .the wheel p, the
length of a tooth round.; when the measured fabric (say one yard) has passed
through the machine, the number of teeth, or the arc through which the
wheel h has turned, is noted and marked, thus giving the unit of goffered stuff
corresponding with a unit of plain material. The various multiples of it are
then marked on the face of the wheel, so that at any future time, if the wheel
be started at the initial number or zero number, or at any noted number-on
the index, it can.at once be determined when any required amount of material
has passed through the machine, by noting when the number agreeing with
that amount arrives at the point of the prong. It will be observed that
unless it happens that the lengths required are easy commensurable multiples
of the circumference of the wheel h, the wheel, after each length is run off,
must always be brought back to the zero point again; but as portions containing
various lengths are frequently wanted, by this arrangement the plan of
bringing back the wheel to the initial point must be adopted for each successive
length. When it is desired to avoid doing this with the hand, the following
is one of the simplest modes of obtaining the result:-A series of holes are
made in the wheel h, or upon a fixed and separate index in front of it at the
various divisions according with the lengths, and a pin is put in the hole
agreeing with the length required; the fang is now made partially forked or
having one side to project on the face of the or index, the other or pallet side
working as usual in the teeth; a small spring is attached to the inner face of
the wheel, the action of which is to urge the wheel back to the initial point
when it has been forced round by the prong. With this arrangement then
the machine being in motion, the wheel h is urged round by the fang until the
pin comes in the way of the end of the fang, which, forcing the fang back,
prevents the pallet part of it from catching the tooth, and the wheel acted
upon by the spring returns to the initial point, and the operation is repeated
again and again; by putting the pin in at any of the holes it is evident that the
parts run off each time will be those indicated by these numbers. I make the
same movement work a cutting apparatus by causing the said pin as it
gradually rises to act upon the moveable leg of a cutter or pair of shears, so
that at the moment the wheel h is set free, the leg falling cuts off the length
of the material, or the leg may be actuated by a cam upon or in combi-
nation with the said pin. In order to obtain a register of the whole amount of
fabric which passes through the machine in any time, I work from a pinion on
the axle of the wheel c, an endless screw, and transmit this motion to a train of
wheels similar to the index of a gas meter, and having first graduated them

page_text: by observing the number of rotations of the wheel c, corresponding to a known
quantity of plain material, I regulate the pinions and wheels of the train
accordingly, and make the index in a similar manner.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my Invention and
how the same may be constructed, put together and acts, I wish it understood
that what I claim and want secured by the before in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
First, the application of apparatus to rouching and goffering machines by
means of which they will indicate when any definite length of goffered or
rouched material has passed through them, an example of which is described
in the Specification, and generally illustrated in the Drawings appended
thereto.
Second, the application of apparatus to rouching and goffering machines,
by means of which they will indicate and mark off when any successive equal
portions of goffered or rouched material has passed through them, as described
in the Specification, and generally illustrated in the Drawings appended
thereto.
Third, the application of apparatus to rouching and goffering machines, by
means of which each successive equal portion passed through the machine
shall be indicated, and further apparatus by means of which each successive
equal portion of material as it emerges from the machine shall be cut off or
detached.
Fourth, the construction of goffering or rouching machines with or without
the foregoing apparatus and in addition the application of apparatus by means
of which the whole quantity of material which has passed through the machine
in any given period shall be indicated and registered.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Wheatcroft, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, in the year One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
SAMUEL WHEATCROFT. (L.S.)