IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND BLOCKING DRAPERY GOODS, PAPERHANGINGS, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Boase, of Ferris Town, Truro, in the
Duchy of Cornwall, Draper, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND BLOCKING DRAPERY GOODS, PAPERHANGINGS,
AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES."
Sealed the 31st July 1866, and dated the 2nd February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Boase at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1866.
I, WILLIAM BOABE, of Ferris Town, Truro, in the Duchy of Cornwall,
Draper, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS POR MEASURING AND BLOCKING DRAPERY GOODS, PAPERHANGINGS,
AND BUCH LIKE PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in arranging within a portable framing two or
more geared rollers, having in connection therewith a counter or recording
apparatus for measuring the length of the material passed between them, and
a winding off and folding or rolling up apparatus for receiving the fabric or

page_text: material after it is measured, so as to enable the complete and self-contained
machine to be placed upon a shop counter for ordinary retail use. Within
two side frames of metal or wood properly stayed and framed together I
mount two rollers, each of such a diameter and circumference as that a
completed revolution will give an exact proportion of an imperial or standard
yard, a mètre, or some other required measure of length; these rollers are
geared together to prevent slipping and errors of measurement. The upper
roller should be so mounted in its bearings as to be capable of ready removal,
as also to enable the requisite amount of pressure to be brought to bear either
by means of screws, weights, or adjustable springs. Upon the outer end of
the axle or spindle of the lower roller a pinion or a cam, crank, or excentric
should be mounted so as to act upon the counter or train of measuring gear
by which the quantity of stuff passed through or between the rollers is
recorded. Any of the ordinary and well-known forms of counting apparatus
in use may be employed. In addition to the two measuring rollers there may
be a third roller to give the proper direction to the fabric or stuff in its
passage from one part of the machine to the other. The fabric or material
to be measured may be placed in a box or receptacle within the frame, or
where it has been rolled or wound upon a roller or board the roller or board
may be placed between two "centres," chucks, or carriages free to turn as
the material is drawn off. At one end of the frame of the machine is mounted
a spindle with a crank handle or its equivalent in suitable bearings or carriages,
upon which the material after it has passed between 'the rollers and been
measured is wound; or where a solid roller or a broad board is employed for
receiving, rolling, or lapping up the fabric or material a pair of adjustable
toothed, grooved, or clip chucks may be substituted for the spindle. Upon
the cross framing.adjustable guides are placed at a width to suit the width of
the fabric or material under operation. Between the rollers and the winding
off and winding up apparatus may be fitted so as to slide back and forth upon
the frame a box capable of receiving folds of cloth or other material, and by
means of a moveable top or cover to which pressure can be applied so
enable the operations of, unwinding, measuring, and recording, rewinding,
or rolling, aud folding and pressing to be accomplished within the same

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Boase in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BOASE, of Ferris Town, Truro, in the Duchy of Cornwall, Draper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Boase, Her special license that I, the said William.
Boase, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Boase, my executors, administrators, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AND BLOCKING DRAPERY GOODS, PAPER-
HANGINGS, AND SUCH LIKE PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) tliat
I, the said William Boase, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Boase, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:-
=
This Invention consists in arranging within a portable framing two or more
geared rollers, having in connection therewith a counter or recording apparatus
for measuring the length of the material passed between them, and a winding
off and folding or rolling up apparatus for receiving the fabric or material
after it is measured, so as to enable the complete and self-contained machine
to be placed upon a shop counter for ordinary retail use. Within two side
frames of metal or wood properly stayed and framed together I mount two
rollers, each of such a diameter and circumference as that a completed
revolution will give an exact proportion of an imperial or standard yard, a

page_text: mètre, or some other required measure of length; these rollers are geared
together to prevent slipping and errors of measurement. The upper roller
should be so mounted in its bearings as to be capable of ready removal, as
also to enable the requisite amount of pressure to be brought to bear either
by means of screws, weights, or adjustable springs. Upon the outer end of
the axle or spindle of the lower roller a pinion or cam, crank, or excentric
should be mounted so as to act upon the counter or train of measuring gear
by which the quantity of stuff passed through er between the rollers is
recorded. Any of the ordinary and well-known forms of counting apparatus
in use may be employed. In addition to the two measuring rollers there
may be a third roller to give the proper direction to the fabric or stuff in its
passage from one part of the machine to the other. The fabric or material
to be measured may be placed in a box or receptacle within the frame, or
where it has been rolled or wound upon a roHer or board, the roller or board
may be placed between two "centres," chucks, or carriages free to turn as
the material is drawn off. At one end of the frame of the machine is
mounted a spindle with a crank handle or its equivalent in suitable bearings
or carriages, upon which the material after it has passed between the rollers
and been measured is wound; or where a solid roller or a broad board is
employed for receiving, rolling, and lapping up the fabric or material a pair
of adjustable toothed, grooved, or clip chucks may be substituted for the
spindle. Upon the cross framing adjustable guides are placed at a width to
suit the width of the fabric or material under operation. Between the
rollers and the winding off and winding up apparatus may be fitted so as to
slide back and forth upon the frame, a box capable of receiving folds of cloth
or other material, and by means of a moveable top or cover to which à pressure
can be applied, se enable the operations of unwinding, measuring, and
recording, rewinding, or rolling, and folding and pressing to be accomplished
within the same machine.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a
machine or apparatus constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a
side elevation thereof; Figure 3 is a plan; and Figure 4, a longitudinal section
taken on the line a, b, Figure 1. In all these Figures identical parts or
mechanisms are denoted by the same letters of reference.
A, A, is the upper portion of the counter or platform upon which the
apparatus is fitted; B, B, is the framing of the apparatus, being made by
preference of cast iron, and containing the whole of the mechanisms belonging
to the machine or apparatus. This framing is formed by two side frames

page_text: B, B, consisting (if made of cast iron) of a web and suitable strengthening
ribs and fitted upon the counter by means of screws, bolts, keys, or in any
other suitable manner; and the side frames B, B, may be tied and held
together by means of a number of stays or cross bars c, c. They also form
the seats for the bearings of all the axles or spindles required for the motion
of the organs of the machine. The framings of the machine or apparatus I
prefer to make 4 feet and six inches long, and place them 3 feet 2 inches
apart, but I do not mean to confine myself to these dimensions, as the propor-
tions of the framings and mechanisms may vary according to the places and
circumstances for which the apparatus or machine may be designed. C is the
box, casing, or receptacle into which the goods or fabrics about to be
measured are placed, either loose or rolled on a roller or blocked on a board,
as the case may be; the outer part of the casing C forming a reversible
shutter c. D, D¹, are the two rollers between which the fabric passes while
the process of measuring is taking place. I prefer to make these rollers of
iron and with smooth surfaces, although the latter may be grooved or otherwise
arranged, and the rollers may consist of any suitable material besides iron.
The upper roller D is removable and its axis adjustable by means of springs,
screw's, or other mechanical means, so that this roller is continually kept in
close contact with the lower roller D'. Upon the axis of each of the two
rollers a toothed wheel is fixed, both wheels d, d, forming together a gearing
calculated to assist in the transmission of the motion from one roller to the
other.
The extremity of the axis of the top roller D has fitted upon it an indicator
hand or pointer e denoting on a dial h connected with the gearing the number
of yards, metres, ells, or other units of measure over which the stuff or fabric
has travelled during the operation. The fabric having passed between the
rollers D, D', will be wound up on a roller or blocked on a board connected
with the axis I' set in motion by hand by means of a crank f, the arrangement
of which, as shewn in Figure 1, enables the operator to measure off as much
as forty yards per minute. The hand or pointer e (which may be set in
motion by means of an excentric or pinion and one toothed wheel or other
suitable mechanism enclosed in a small case y), I prefer to arrange in such
a manner that it may indicate one unit of measure after every two revolutions
of the rollers D, D¹.
On either side of the rollers D, D¹, and at a suitable height above the
level of the counter or platform, a finger bar E, E', is fitted between the
side frames B, B. Each of the finger bars may be made of wood or metal,

page_text: and into the openings provided therein pegs, bolts, or pins g, g, may be fitted
for the purpose of guiding the stuff as it travels through the machine, one pin
to be placed on either side of each finger bar and at such a distance from
the longitudinal axis of the machine or apparatus as will be suited to
the respective width of the fabric to be measured. I prefer to construct
the finger bar E¹ of a wooden board of suitable dimensions fitted between the
two side frames B, B, while the finger bar E is to form a portion of a boxing
or casing also made of wood, and so connected with the box or receptacle C
that the stuff or fabric may be guided over it on its way to the rollers D, D'.
Inside this casing a right and left handed screw F is fitted between the side
frames B, B, in appropriate bearings; the bosses of the two guide pieces G, G,
form the nuts of this screw, and in turning the latter by means of a small hand.
wheel H the guide pieces or arms G, G, will be either brought closer together
or set further apart, so as to become suited to the width of the stuff or fabric
to be measured.
A graduated scale or guage denoting the width of the fabric in inches, nails,
centimetres, or other subdivisions of the unit of measure is affixed to the top
of the finger bar E, and I prefer to put the holes for the guide pins or
pegs 9, 9, at such distances from each other as will correspond to these
subdivisions. The same graduated scale or guage I prefer to reproduce on
the cross bar I (made by preference of square iron) laid down in bearings i, i,
connected with the framings B, B, and furnished with adjustable guide
pieces j,j, sliding thereupon and fixed upon it by means of thumbscrews 0, 0,
at distances equal to those at which the pins or pegs 9, 9, are set apart, so as
to correspond to the width of the stuff or fabric and guide it in its course.
The latter on emerging from the rollers D, D¹, will be guided. over the finger
bar E fitted like E, and may continue its course over the cross bar I',
arranged in a manner identical to I, that is to say, furnished with sliding
pieces j, j, and thumbscrews Ŏ', 81, and connected in any suitable manner
with the roller on which the stuff or fabric is wound up or the board on which
it is blocked.
In order to measure laces, ribbons, or other goods or fabrics of minor
width I construct the machine or apparatus upon principles identical to those
explained heretofore, but reduce the width of the apparatus to such propor-
tions as to adapt it to the width of the kind of fabric to be measured.
Having now described my said Invention of "Improvements in. Apparatus
for Measuring and Blocking Drapery Goods, Paperhangings, and such like
Purposes," and illustrated the same by the several Figures on the accompany-

page_text: ing Sheet of Drawings, I wish it to be understood that what I claim is the
use or employment of the machine or apparatus herein described, and
illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, constructed and used for
the several purposes as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Boase, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
WILLIAM BOASE. (L.s.)
Witness,
E. A. BLACKIE.