IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OB APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR FELTING OR PLANKING' THE BODIES OF HATS, BONNETS, OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD, WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FELTING WOOLLEN CLOTHS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Dunkerley, of Audenshaw, in the County
of Lancaster, and Benjamin Dunkerley, of Stockport, in the
County of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OB APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR FELTING OR PLANKING' THE BODIES OF HATS,
BONNETS, OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD, WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO
APPLICABLE FOR FELTING WOOLLEN CLOTHS."
Sealed the 22nd March 1870, and dated the 24th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Dunkerley
and Benjamin Dunkerley at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 24th November 1869.
We, JOSEPH DUNKERLEY, of Audenshaw, in the County of Lancaster,
and BENJAMIN DUNKERLEY, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR FELTING OR PLANKING THE BODIES OF

page_text: HATS, BONNETS, OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD, WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO
APPLICABLE FOR FELTING WOOLLEN CLOTHS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists principally of an endless chain or band of
latticework passing round three rollers, (two above and one below), and
hanging loosely down between the two upper rollers, one of the upper
rollers being capable of being moved nearer to or further from
the other, and the lower roller also capable of being raised and
lowered. The bottom rollers being slightly raised and the top rollers.
separated the roll of hat bodies or other articles to be felted is placed
in the bag or bight of the endless lattice or band between the top
rollers, which are then brought nearer together. The bottom roller is
now forced downwards, which will have the effect of straining the
endless lattice tight and drawing the roll of hat bodies firmly up
between the two top rollers, which latter are then set in motion, and the
combined action of the endless lattice and the rollers will have the
desired effect of felting or planking the hat bodies or other articles under
operation. By the use of this arrangement either wool, fur, or mixtures
of both can be felted with the greatest facility, as the pressure can be
increased or diminished at pleasure by moving the top rollers further
from or nearer to each other, so as to draw the roll. closer up into the
nip" of the rollers, or let it hang lower down as may be required, and
the use of cloths also to roll the hat bodies or other articles in can be
dispensed with.
"
The endless band or lattice may be made in a variety of ways so long
as it is flexible, and is provided with transverse projections or ribs; but
one which we have found to answer well is made of a series of wooden
rods pierced with holes, and strung on to ropes or cords of coir or cocoa-
nut fibre, knots being made in the rope between each rod to keep the
latter asunder, or wooden beads might be threaded on between the rods
for the same purpose. A plank or table is provided for rolling and
turning the hat bodies on, and also a cistern or vessel for containing the
hot acid liquor in which they are dipped.
A double machine on this principle might be made by having three
top rollers on a level, the central one being stationary, and the outer ones
each movable independently of the other.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Dunkerley and Benjamin Dunkerley in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
DUNKERLEY, of Audenshaw, in the County of Lancaster, and BENJAMIN
DUNKERLEY, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Dunkerley and Benjamin
Dunkerley, Her special license that we, the said Joseph Dunkerley and
Benjamin Dunkerley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Joseph Dunkerley and Benjamin Dunkerley, our
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 MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR FELTING OR
PLANKING THE BODIES OF HATS, BONNETS, OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD,
WHICH MACHINERY IS ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FELTING WOOLLEN CLOTHS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Joseph Dunkerley and
Benjamin Dunkerley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or one of our, 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 Joseph Dunkerley, on behalf of
myself and and said Benjamin Dunkerley, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,.
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
This Invention consists principally of an endless chain or band of
latticework passing round three rollers (two above and one below), and

page_text: hanging loosely down between the two upper rollers, one of the upper
rollers being capable of being moved nearer to or further from the other,
and the lower roller also capable of being raised and lowered. The
bottom roller being slightly raised and the top rollers separated the
roll of hat bodies or other articles to be felted is placed in the bag or
bight of the endless lattice or band between the top rollers, which aro
then brought nearer together. The bottom roller is now allowed to fall
or is forced downwards, which will have the effect of straining the
endless lattice tight and drawing the roll of hat bodies firmly up
between the two top rollers, which latter are then set in motion, and the
combined action of the endless lattice and the rollers will have the
desired effect of felting or planking the hat bodies or other articles
under operation. By the use of this arrangement either wool, fur, or
mixtures of both can be felted with the greatest facility, as the pressure
can be increased or diminished at pleasure by moving the top rollers
further from or nearer to each other so as to draw the roll closer up into
the "nip" of the rollers, or let it hang lower down as may be required;
and the use of cloths also to roll the hat bodies or other arcles can be
dispensed with.
The endless band or lattice may be made in a variety of ways so long
as it is flexible, and is provided with transverse projections or ribs; but
one which we have found to answer well is made of a series of wooden
rods pierced with holes and strung on to ropes or cords of coir or cocoa-
nut fibre, knots being made in the rope between each rod to keep the
latter asunder, or wooden beads might be threaded on between the rods
for the same purpose. A plank or table is provided for rolling and
turning the hat bodies on, and also a cistern or vessel for containing the
hot acid liquor in which they are dipped.
A double machine on this principle might be made by having three
top rollers on a level, the central one being stationary, and the outer
ones cach movable independly of the other.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention for "Improve-
ments in Machinery or Apparatus employed for Felting or Planking the
Bodies of Hats, Bonnets, or other Coverings for the Head, which
Machinery is also applicable for Felting Woollen Cloths," we will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to
be or may be performed or carried into practical effect; and in order
that the same may be clearly understood, we have annexed hereunto

page_text: a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof :-.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 represents a vertical section, Fig. 2
a front elevation, and Fig. 3 an end view of our improved machine or
apparatus when in action; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the same when
out of action, with the upper rollers separated, and the lower roller
raised.
The framing a, a, of the machine carries three rollers b, b, c, c, and
d, d. The roller b, b, revolves in fixed bearings, and is driven by a
strap passing round the driving pulley e, e, keyed on the axle thereof.
The roller c, c, is mounted in bearings in a horizontal slot in each side
frame, and is capable of being moved nearer to or further from the
roller b, b, by the following means:-Each end of the axle of the said
roller c, c, passes through a slot or eye in a lever f, f, and these two
levers are connected together at their upper ends by a rod g, g, passing
through a slot in a weighted lever h, h. The upper part of the slot of
this lever is formed with rack teeth or notches, which hold the rod g, g,
(and consequently the roller c, c,) in any position in which it may be
placed, and it will be evident that upon raising the lever h, h, the
rod g, g, may be pushed back to its full extent, and the roller c, c, with-
drawn from the roller b, b, for removing or replacing the roll of hat
bodies or cloth, as shown at Fig. 4. The axis of the lower roller d, d, is
carried in bearings moving in vertical slots in the side frames, being partly
supported by levers i, i, attached to a treadle in the side frames, being
partly supported by levers i, i, attached to a treadle, k, k. The endless
band of latticework 1, 1, passes round theso three rollers, being held in
its place endwise by the rollers j, j, and hangs down in a bag or bight
between the two upper ones, and it is into this space or bight that the
roll of hat bodies or cloth 8, 8, to be felted is placed, the machine being
in the position shown in Fig. 4, and the foot of the workman upon the
treadle k, k. He then takes hold of the rod g, g, and pulls the roller c, c,
forward, placing the rod in one of the notches in the slot of the lever h, h.
He next withdraws his foot from the treadle k, k, and the machine
assumes the position shown at Figs. 1 and 3, and may at once be set in
action, the latticework revolving in the direction indicated by the arrows.
For coarse work where additional pressure is required weights m, m, are
hung on the ends of the axle of the roller d, d, and in cases where less

page_text: pressure is required than the weights of the roller give, these weights
may be hung to the brackets n, n, at the opposite ends of the levers.
For very fine work where the tension of the lattice itself would be suffi-
cient to give the requisite pressure the bottom roller may be suspended
entirely by hooks o, o, as shown at the detached view Fig. 5. It will
thus be evident that this machine is equally adapted for all kinds of
work from the coarsest to the finest material. p, p, is the hot liquor
cistern or kettle; q, q, the table or plank, and r, r, is a splash board to
arrest the splashes thrown off by the lattice, and also to catch the roll
of hat bodies or cloth should it at any time be forced out between the
top rollers by the action of the lattice.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed
or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that we claim
as our Invention, the general arrangement and construction of felting or
planking machine shown in the Drawings and above described, and
more especially we claim the use or employment of an endless lattice
passing round rollers, substantially and in the manner and for tho
purposes herein-before more particularly set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Dunkerley, on behalf of
myself and the said Benjamin Dunkerley, liave hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.
JOSEPH DUNKERLEY. (L.S.)