CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON FRAMES OR MACHINES USED FOR SHEARING OR CROPPING OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS, AND IN THE FIXING THE SHEARS USED IN SUCH FRAMES OR MACHINES
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ADEY, of Dudbridge, in the County of Gloucester, Clothier, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of August, in the fifty-seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Adey, His especial licence that I, the said George Adey,
my exors, adiiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said George Adey,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, shall 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, the Invention, in part commu-
nicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad, together with certain
additions of my own invention, of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON FRAMES OR
MACHINES USED FOR SHEARING OR CROPPING OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER CLOTHS, AND IN
THE FIXING THE SHEARS USED IN SUCH FRAMES OR MACHINES ;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said George
Adey, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Adey, do hereby declare that the nature and particulars of the said
Invention and improvements, and the manner in which the same are to be
produced and carried into effect, are herein-after particularly set forth and
described (that is to say) :-
They consist of a certain carriage gripe or apparatus for the purpose of
holding or confining, the shears, with such adjustments thereto as will enable
the workman to fix and adjust his shears for the purpose of shearing or
cropping woollen cloths with less trouble and greater certainty and provision
than by any other means at present in use, to the best of my knowledge or
belief; and also of a new mode or method of adjusting the ledger or under
blade of the shears, so as to give it a due and proper pressure upon the cloth
to be so sheared or cropped; and, lastly, of the means which I make use of to
move the shears over the cloth or other material upon which they are intended
to operate; all or any of these said improvements are applicable or may be
applied to the frames or machines which are commonly made use of for
shearing or cropping woollen cloths, with some alterations as, to form, conse-
quently I do not include the whole of such frames or machines in the Invention
aforesaid; but I confine it entirely to the particulars above stated, and such
variations in the frame or machine as are necessary to carry them into effect,
and which will clearly appear from the following description and the Draw-
ings or Figures therein referred to and annexed hereto.
And, first, as to the carriage gripe or apparatus for holding and confining the
shears (which shears are the same as those commonly used on other frames or
machines). Figure 1 represents a front view of the said improvements;
Figure 2 an end view, and Figure 3 a top or bird's-eye view of the same, as
they appear when fixed on the frame or machine; and Figure 4 a side view of
my gripe, to be herein-after described, drawn to actual dimensions, but which
may be increased or varied. And, for distinction sake, all those parts which I
consider as belonging to the Invention aforesaid, and which I claim to be
secured to myself and my assigns under my aforesaid Patent, are coloured,
while such parts of the frame or machine which are necessarily introduced into
the Drawing to shew the disposition and situation of my said improvements,
but which are not parts of the said Invention and improvements, are left in
outline. The same letters of reference, wherever they occur, always indicate

page_text: the same parts of the machine in all the Figures. a represents the carriage,
which is of wood or metal, about twenty inches in length, its width being
regulated by the width of the top side cheek of the frame, and its height by
the height of the board upon which the cloth is stretched to be shorn or
cropped above such top side cheek, but in general about four inches high by
about five inches thick will be sufficient, though its dimensions are not very
material. b, b, are two pieces of iron firmly bolted to the two sides of the car-
riage, and as near the back as the screw adjustments will admit, having round
holes through them, which are better a little above the top of the carriage, for
the gudgeons of a small shaft, marked c, c, to work in. These gudgeons must
be accurately fitted to the holes in b, b, and on the body of this shaft is fixed
the gripe for holding and adjusting the shears. This gripe consists of the
following pieces of iron or other sufficiently strong material, viz. :-Two plates
d, d, each about five inches long, three quarters of an inch wide, and half an
inch thick, having near each of their ends holes tapped for about half-inch or
These two
three-eighth screws to work in in a perpendicular direction.
plates may either be in one piece with the shaft or firmly attached to its upper
side, so as to lay in the same plane to each other, or they may have projections
from their under side through which the shaft may pass, as in the separate
Figure D. Between these two plates d, d, is a piece e, e, (seen also sepa-
may also
rately drawn at E), called the sisters, and through which the shaft
pass or be otherwise firmly attached to it. This piece may be one inch or
more in thickness, and consequently will keep the plates d, d, at such distance
from each other, while the breadth of the sisters or uprights need not be more
than three eighths of an inch, and their distance from each other in the clear
about one and an half inch, or enough for the shank of the shears to be easily
placed between them, their height above the tops of the plates d, d, being
about four and an half inches. The four screws which work into the holes at
the ends of the plates d, d, have each three or four inches of worm, and above
that a collet or collar turned upon them, the tops of which may be a little
rounded, and above which they are cylindrical for about five eighths of an inch,
and terminate in square heads, to be worked by a socket, key, wrench, or other
contrivance for turning them. They are seen in their places at ƒ, ƒ, f, f.
Their use is to support two other plates g, g, of the same dimensions as d, d,
except that the inner plate is a few inches longer at the end h, where an
additional screw works into it, for a purpose which will be presently explained.
The plates g, g, have circular holes near their ends, which correspond with the
situation of the four screws f, f. f, f, and very nearly fit upon the cylindrical

page_text: parts of such screws, which support these plates upon their collars before
mentioned, consequently by turning these screws the plates g, g, may be
moved up or down and adjusted into any situation, since they move indepen-
dantly of the sisters. The use of the plate g, g, is to support and adjust the
ledger blade of the shears by its shank, as seen at i. is a piece of iron
fitted in between the sisters to press upon the upper surface of this part of the
shank of the ledger blade, and is for this purpose forced down by the main
screw, which is about three or four inches long, and about half or five
eighths of an inch in diameter, and has a square head or other contrivance for
turning it. This screw 7 works in a strong plate of iron, which is fastened to
the sisters k, k, by means of an iron staple, as in the Drawings and at z, or by
screw nuts or any other means sufficiently strong to resist the force of the
scrow. By means, therefore, of the screw 7 and the four screws f. f. f. f, it
is evident that the shears cannot only be cffectually secured and fixed but
accurately adjusted to any level, and that when so fixed they, with the whole
of the gripe, composed of the pieces aforesaid, will have a small motion upon
the shaft c, by which their cutting edge can be placed in any required angle
to the cloth which is to be shorn or cropped, and this adjustment is brought
about by the adjusting screw h working in the prolonged end of the iuncr
plate g, its point bearing against the top of the carriage a. To resist the
action of this last-mentioned screw h, and to cause the ledger blade of the
shears to act with that steadiness which is essential to the perfection of their
operation, I make use of a piece of iron or other metal marked, in which is
fixed on the upper surface of the ledger blade of the shears, at a sufficient
distance within the cutting edge, by means of the screw n near the talon of
such ledger blade, and not only extends the whole length of the shear blade
but a sufficient distance beyond it to carry a weight o, which may be increased
or diminished at pleasure, to cause the shears to press with more or less force
upon the cloth, and a wheel or caster to assist in bearing up the point of the
shear in running back. The opposite end of the piece m, next to n, is cranked
or bent into an arm p, at such an angle as to permit the stop or adjusting
which is placed near its end, to press upon the carriage a so as
effectually to counteract the operation of the screw and by means of these
two screws the shears may be accurately placed and fixed at any required cutting
angle upon the cloth. The other end of the piece m is affixed to the point of
the ledger blade of the shears by a gripe, as at r, or any other contrivance for
that purpose. The carriage a, together with the gripe and shears, as above
described, is made to move along the top of the front rail of the frame of
screw 9,

page_text: machine upon metal or other studs placed underneath it, as at s, which fit and
slide upon a fillet or projection of iron or other sufficiently hard material fixed
upon such top rail of the frame or machine; the opening of such studs being
in the form represented at S, and the top of the fillet nearly square, but not
fitting to the bottom of the studs, by which I effectually prevent any lateral
motion of the carriage and cause it to move with great regularity. R is a
section of this fillet, and I cause the shears, fixed as aforesaid, to pass or move
over the cloth by means of an endless chain, as it is commonly called, which
passes round a rigger or pulley & fixed at one end of the machine, and round a
small wheel having cogs which take into the links of the chain at the other.
This chain passes underneath or through a hole or hollow in the bottom of the
carriage a, which is attached to it in any situation by a bolt V, which, when
at work, draws it along the frame. When the board of cloth is shorn or
cropped the attendant draws out or detaches the bolt from the chain, and the
carriage, with its shears, is then at liberty to be run back by hand. Although
I have above described a moveable gripe for containing, carrying, and adjust-
ing the shears, yet, if the expence of a moveable one should be objected
to, it may be made more simple and less expensive by screwing the sisters and
the plates d, d, firmly to the carriage a, in which case the pieces b, b, and the
shaft which works into them, may be dispensed with, but I prefer the moveable
gripe for many reasons. It will scarcely be necessary to observe here that
any number of carriages a, with their gripes, and consequently shears, which
the machine will contain, may be connected together and worked on the fillet
at the same time, by merely multiplying the parts which have been herein-
before described, and that motion may be communicated to such carriages by
the chain, as aforesaid, or a rope, in the usual manner, from a primo mover
of any description, as must be evident to every mechanic. The Drawing
contains a scheme for this purpose by way of example, but which I do not
claim as any part of the Invention aforesaid. The shears open as in other
frames or machines, and may be closed or worked either by a bob and crank,
or in any of the usual modes or methods used for that purpose, and the frame
or machine admits of being made considerably shorter than usual when the
above Invention is made use of, and the board of stretched cloth is disposed
under the shears, in the usual manner of shearing or cropping woollen cloths.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Adey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
GEORGE (L.s.) ADEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1817, the aforesaid George Adey came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Tenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and seventeen.