CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS, OR FABRICS OF WHICH WOOL OR FUR FORM A PRINCIPAL COM- PONENT PART, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR EFFECTING THAT OBJECT
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ROBINSON WILLIAMS, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of February, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Robinson Williams, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, my
executors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas
Robinson Williams, my executors, admors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN
AND OTHER FABRICS, OR FABRICS OF WHICH WOOL OR FUR FORM A PRINCIPAL COM-
PONENT PART, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR EFFECTING THAT OBJECT;"
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 Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: 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.
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, is particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention of "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Woollen
and other Fabrics, or Fabrics of which Wool or Fur forms a Principal
Component Part, and in the Machinery employed for Effecting that Object,"
relates chiefly to the making of cloth by felting alone without spinning and
weaving, and consists in a new combination of machinery, apparatus, and
processes.
First, for obtaining a long, even, and uniform bat of wool or other materials
of any required length, width, or thickness suitable to be made into com-
mercial ends, or pieces of cloth, and afterwards for the purpose of producing
such fabrics or ends, or pieces of cloth composed of all the various well-known
felting substances, such as wools, furs, and the hairs of animals, and which I
use either separately or mixed up together in every possible proportion, and
sometimes with a small addition of non-felting fibrous materials, such as
cotton, silk, or flax, not exceeding one third, as best suits the description of
fabric required. The fabric or manufacture, as produced by these processes
and machinery herein first combined and described, wholly depend for their
union and strength upon the great principle or tendency of these animal
products, when properly treated, to combine and unite, or, as it is commonly
called, to felt together, and this without the usual auxiliaries of spinning and
weaving (as in the old cloth manufacture), or the use of any adhesive mixtures
being at all employed.
The raising machine I have hereafter described to be used in the finishing of
cloths is applicable chiefly to cloth made by felting alone, but is also applicable to
cloths produced by spinning and weaving. I should first observe that in the
new manufacture of felted cloths, I dispense entirely with the use of any oil or
oleaginous matter, which is generally required in the common woollen manu-
facture for assisting in spinning of yarns, and prefer that the wool should be
well scoured and dried, after which it should be teazed or willied, picked, and
scribbled in the usual way. The dry clean wool, as it is thus prepared, is then
to be weighed out into quantities for producing any required thickness and

page_text: width of goods as now described, remarking that for fine wools I prefer for
obtaining the bat the method represented at Figs. 1, and Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
and 11, and for short coarse wool and hair the method afterwards described
under Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
Fig. 1 represents a common wool-carding engine, which, to produce broad
cloths, should be made from seventy-two to eighty-four inches broad, and
A, B, C, D, two long revolving aprons of linen cloth, or any other suitable
material attached thereto, passing over the rollers or drums 1, 2, 3, 4, which
have a motion from the doffers of the card as here represented, or any other
convenient part of the engine. These aprons and drums revolve in opposite
directions, as represented by the arrows, so that the two inner surfaces a, b, of
each apron move in the same direction with uniform speed, and nearly with
the same velocity with the doffer of the card as regards their surfaces. The
wool is taken off from the doffers by the usual comb crank motion in an
attenuated sliver. This sliver is now received between the two revolving
aprons at c, d, which have a slight flooring i, i, for their support, and passes
on between them until it arrives at the further end of the aprons from the
card. A direction is then given to the sliver, so that it shall pass up and over
the upper apron A, C, and wind itself upon this apron, one sliver over the
other, until the bat has become of sufficient thickness, it being during this
operation supported and sustained in contact with the apron A, C, by the
apron B, D, for which support this latter apron is principally intended. As
the apron A, C, may be of any determinate length and width corresponding
with the card, it is evident that any fixed quantity of wool, being passed
through the engine and received upon this apron, may be made to produce
any required thickness of bat, and consequently any required weight of goods
per yard, that may be desirable after having undergone the succeeding opera-
tions. As in many manufacturing premises these two long extended aprons
could not be so conveniently used for want of room, I sometimes extend
them backwards and forwards, and even with several aprons, as shewn at
Figs. 6, 7, and 8, or perpendicularly up and down when only two are required,
as shown at Figs. 9, 10.
There is another mode of producing a bat which perhaps on some accounts
is preferable for the finer and lighter descriptions of goods. It is still produced
from successive folds of the sliver; but in this way there are several slivers
taken off from the doffers of different carding engines, and simultaneously
received upon the same aprons, and enter into the composition of one and the
same bat.
For this purpose any of the several arrangements of aprons found
most convenient for adaptation to certain premises may be equally applied it.

page_text: only being necessary to extend the lower aprons of any of these along and under
two, three, or more carding engines, one standing behind or after the other, as
shewn at Fig. 11; the lower apron is here seen extending under the cylinders
and doffers of three carding engines reaching from A to B. Under each of
these carding engines is a flooring 1, 2, for preventing the dirt and dust of
each from falling upon the bat, but between each carding engine there is a
transverse opening through this flooring for allowing the slivers to fall upon
the apron which, as in the other cases (with the one sliver), are carried forward
to the lower end of the apron frame as before described, for winding the bat
upon the roller E, and which bat is afterwards treated in a similar way to
all or any of those produced in the other machines. It is necessary that these
aprons should be prevented from wrinkling, and kept uniformly and carefully
extended throughout their whole lengths, whether passed out at length, as in
Fig. 1, or wound in other directions, as shewn in Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
I make use of the following means for effecting this object:-Upon the two
edges of the apron a, a, a, Figs. 6, 7, 8, is sewn cords b, b, or strips of leather
or any other material, and against these cords or strips the longitudinal guides
or strips of wood c, c, c, are brought in contact by means of the forked
arms d, d, and set screws e, e, thereby preventing the apron from contracting.
Fig. 17 represents a detached end view on an enlarged scale of a portion of
the apron with this contrivance applied.
Another plan of effecting this object is shown at Fig. 18. The apron a is
here kept distended by means of friction rollers c, c, working against the cords
or strips of leather b. The same effect may be produced by using rods or laths
of wood, whalebone, or other suitable material put at proper distances across
the apron; but I have found the other methods answer much better. The
bat having acquired its requisite thickness, it is then cut across its width as
represented at g, Figs. 1, 6, 7, 9, and 12, and the end being passed over the
roller E, it is wound firmly upon it by contact of the roller with the apron A.
When the last end of the severed bat reaches the roller E, it brings with it
the sliver which is continuing to proceed from the carding engine, and which
sliver is as before passed up over the apron A, C, and another bat is thus
then commenced. The bringing off a sliver from the carding machine and
winding it round a roller in folds is now practised for the purpose of taking
the contents of such roller from the scribbler to the carding machine for
making rolls for spinning; and such contents may be and have, I believe, been
felted into sheets of very limited size by hand, and occasionally also one piece
of bat may have been joined on to another, and felted together by manual
labor. The continuous bat having been obtained as before described, and

page_text: received upon the said roller E, it is then taken to another machine repre-
sented at Figs. 2 and 3, called the hardening machine, and placed in the
situation marked f.f. A, B, is the framework of this machine; 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, &c. are rollers, of which there are two sets, one over the other.
These rollers are wrapped round with an elastic cloth, and the lower set are
furnished with a travelling apron, as represented at a, b. There are several
steam pipes connected with a boiler producing steam brought up and inserted
between some of the lower rollers and under the apron, represented at c, c, c,
which pipes extend from side to side of the apron, and are finely perforated
upon their upper sides for the purpose of allowing steam to escape upwards
for moistening and warming the bat of wool. As the first stage of the felting
process called hardening is now commencing, the upper tier of hardening
rollers receive an alternating motion endwise by a crank shaft S running along
the side of the machine Fig. 3, upon which there are as many cranks or
excentrics, having a short throw of about half an inch, and connected with
each upper roller by shackle bars or side rods n, n. The hardening rollers
receive also a slow progressive motion from the main shaft T on the other side
of the machine, by suitable gearing, consequently moving the apron between
the rollers in the direction of the arrows. There are likewise inserted between
these rollers and under the apron several heaters h, h, h, h. These heaters
are of hollow metal, and connected by stopcocks with the steam pipes which
furnish the perforated pipes for the purpose of increasing and regulating the
heat applied to the bat, and assisting the incipient process of felting. As
before stated, the roller E with its bat being brought from Fig. 1, is placed
in the position f. f, Fig. 2, and its end being entered between the front rollers
of the hardening machine at X, it is gradually passed through them, and by
means of the alternating motion of the upper rollers acting against tho
resistance offered by the lower ones (which do not alternate), and aided by the
moisture and heat, the bat arrives at the other end of the machine in a
consolidated firm state, possessing a considerable degree of feltation. Here at
Z it is again wound upon a roller F by friction of contact with the apron a, b;
and when the whole bat intended for a piece of cloth (in commerce called
an end) is finished and wound upon it, it is taken away to receive the next
operation. If this travelling apron be merely wetted by a perforated watering
pipe, or by passing into a trough of water under the machine, the heaters h, h, h,
acting upon the moisture of the apron so wetted, will render in some cases
the steam pipes unnecessary, but the heaters must then be increased in number
so as to give nearly one heater to every pair of rollers.
Having now described the machinery and apparatus which I prefer for

page_text: manufacturing fine wools and furs into the hardened state of the bat, it will be
better, before proceeding to the after operation of felting them into cloths, to
describe such apparatus as is more adapted to manufacture coarse short wools
or hairs, or mixtures thereof, into useful fabrics.
Figs. 12, 13, 14.-A, the feeding end of the machine, and the cylinder B,
are nearly the common construction of the most improved ordinary devil, the
feed rollers and apron being actuated in the usual ways, and the cylinder nearly
resembling it, except that I prefer having a greater number of steel teeth,
amounting to about twenty-four thousand in a cylinder, six feet wide upon the
face, and three feet diameter. One important feature, however, in which it
differs is, that there is no grating to be used under this cylinder, but a large
opening or box, with an end or stop at a, is provided for catching or retaining
all the unopened locks of material or extraneous matter which fall by gravity
into it, and that the draught of air produced by the revolution of the cylinder B
will only carry forward such light particles as are completely free, and almost
as open as the carding of such materials would produce. C is a cylinder of
large dimensions, say three feet in diameter, covered around its circumference
with woven wire gauze or perforated metal, supported in one or two parts of
its length by thin rims of metal extending to its axle or arbor. The ends of
this cylinder are closed, and the ends are just contained within the
said linings of this part of the machine, which are the same distance
apart as where it incloses the ends of the cylinder B. It will be seen
by the Drawing that only the upper half of the cylinder C is exposed to the
draught of the toothed cylinder B, and receives the fibres of wool or other
materials upon it, and that the lower half is open for the escape of the air
through the floor into the room D below, which is constructed of latticework
or any open material. The surface of the perforated cylinder C is made to
revolve, as shewn in the Drawings, in the direction of the arrow, at the rate of
about five or six feet per minute; and the flow of the material having formed
a bat of sufficient thickness (which is governed by the amount of feed weighed
and spread upon the apron b), when the bat has arrived at the two fluted
rollers c, c (the upper one being weighted upon the lower), it is received
between them and passed onwards between the two other endless aprons d, d, d.
These aprons are made of strong canvas, and the lower one revolves around the
two end rollers 1 and 8, and consequently over the intermediate ones 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, and the upper apron passes under the two rollers 2, z, and up over
the friction rollers g, g. The lower rollers marked 2, 3, 4, are inclosed by the
pan q, for the purpose of admitting steam to the bat whilst between the two
aprons, and for which purposes it is connected by a steam cock and pipe in

page_text: communication with the boiler.
e, e, e, e, e, e, are upright wooden beaters with
smooth rounded ends at bottom, supported in the framework f, f, and directly
over the lower rollers Nos. 2 to 7. These beaters are divided into six or
more several parts as they extend across the machine, making in all about
thirty-six. They receive a small but quick perpendicular and falling motion
by the tappett shafts h, h, h, h, h, h, which are geared and revolve together,
being connected with any convenient part of the machine whereby to be set in
motion. The quick alternating action of these beaters, aided by the steam
and heat applied in this way to the bat, occasion it to be properly hardened
and united for producing a consolidated and partly felted sheet, suitable for
the succeeding operation of tight felting, in common with the bats produced
by the previous described machines for fine wools by carding.
Fig. 15 is another arrangement of a machine which is used with advantage
in manufacturing the coarser descriptions of goods, such as paddings, coarse
druggets, &c., and is in every way similar to that last described, except in the
mode employed for hardening the bat, which is likewise performed at one
operation, and to both of which the method hereafter described of winding the
bat upon rollers with an intervening cloth between the folds, is particularly
applicable, as well as for the greater quantity of these goods, which may be
hereby produced in a given time, than in the finer descriptions, where carding
engines are altogether indispensible, as before stated. The operation of the
machine is precisely similar to the last described, until the bat is formed and
has arrived at and passed through the delivering rolley c, c. It is now received
upon the endless apron a, and passes in between the cylinder z and the
hardening rollers 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. placed around the periphery of the cylinder.
This cylinder is hollow and is best made of thin copper, and as light as it
conveniently can, being provided with a stuffing box and pipes at each end
for enabling low steam to be passed in at one end, and for the condensed
water to be taken off at the other (very similar to a common paper-drying
cylinder), and receives its motion from the lower delivering roller c. The
hardening rollers all receive their motion either by a band passed over them
and connected with any convenient part of the machine, or have toothed
wheels upon their ends taking into a large wheel upon the axis of the copper
cylinder; and it is necessary that the inner surfaces of these rollers should
turn in the same direction as the surface of the cylinder, and with exactly a
similar velocity, and that both the cylinder and rollers should be covered with
an elastic cloth. And I may here state, that in all the machines where
hardening rollers are employed, I have found it best to cover them first with
a piece of good strong felted cloth, having over it another covering of

page_text: linen cloth; or what I have found very good for this purpose is thick
strong fustian, with the pile placed upon the outer side. A quick alternating
motion of about half an inch stroke is given to the cylinder z by an excentric
upon a side, shaft, similar to that represented at Fig. 3 of the hardening
machine, and connected with the main axle of the devil cylinder by bevil
wheels. y is a perforated pipe connected with a reservoir of water for sup
plying moisture to the covering upon the cylinder z before the bat comes in
contact with it at x. As the bat is liberated from either of the two last
described machines it is wound upon a roller E by friction of contact, precisely
in the manner before mentioned in the previous machines.
Figs. 19, 20, is what may be now denominated an improved felting machine.
A, B, is the frame and supporting parts of the machine, having a double tier
of rollers (now generally made of cast iron), the upper tiers resting between
the lower ones so as to double the points of contact. The undulating motion
and the backward and forward motion produced on the bat in the manner
herein-after described, with this new position of the rollers, materially assist the
felting process. These rollers are all actuated by bevil gear upon alternate
ends of the upper tier of rollers, which turn the lower ones by spur wheels
upon their opposite ends, connected with similar gear upon the two shafts;
extending the whole length of the machine on each side, and these two side
shafts are again connected with each other by similar but stronger gear upon
the cross main shaft C. Each set of upper rollers should be weighted upon the
lower ones for the purpose of accomodating a certain degree of pressure to all
the different degrees of thickness or accumulated thicknesses of various goods
submitted to their action. D, D, is a box or cistern lined with lead for
holding a supply of hot water or soap suds, and in which the lower rollers can
be more or less immersed by regulating the quantity thereof. In the felting
of fibres together, where the fabric being felted is not held together by threads,
acids or acidulated waters liave always been used, because they assist the
process; but I use a solution of soap or other saponaceous matter in contra-
distinction, and preferably to acid or acidulated waters, which solution is kept
in a heated state, as after mentioned. There are disadvantages attending the
use of acids which are avoided by the application of a soapy solution in lieu
thereof. Upon the bottom of this cistern there are several coils of metal
pipe, perforated in many places, and connected by a stopcock with the boiler
for heating its contents. R, R, R, are friction rollers or drums over which
an upper and a lower endless apron d, d, d, are passed for conducting the bat
or cloth from end to end and through the machine. These aprons of cloth
move by the friction of the metal rollers in the direction of the arrows; and,

page_text: as will be seen by the Drawing, both pass in together between the front rollers
c, c, receiving the cloth between themselves and liberating it as it arrives at the
lower end, one apron of course turning upwards and the other downwards.
The object of the apparatus connected with the main shaft C is to give the
two tiers of rollers a reciprocating or backward and forward motion, and at
the same time to allow the bat, or as it may now be called, the cloth, alternately
pressed and liberated between their inner surfaces, gradually to move in a for-
ward direction through the machine, and enabling the rollers to do much more
work upon the piece of cloth without its re-entering at c, c.
G is a pulley
receiving its motion from any convenient part of the running gear with proper
speed. e is a stud and pin working a connecting rod attached to the lever f,f,
this lever being loose upon the main shaft at C. g is a large toothed wheel
which is made fast to the shaft C, and seen behind the lever f. h is a small
pinion likewise behind the lever, taking into the large toothed wheel g. Upon
the front of this lever (but working through it and attached by an arbor or
axle to the small pinion h) is the toothed wheel i, i, working into another or
small toothed wheel m, m, which is loose upon the main shaft, and to the
front of which a fast pulley x, x, is screwed. Now it is evident, if this last
pulley and wheel were to be fastened to any adjoining part of the machine or
other thing, and the main shaft only to turn within them, a more reciprocating
motion would be given to the felting rollers of the machine without their pro-
gressing or moving the cloth at all forward. To effect this progressive motion
of the cloth a small pulley n is fastened to the pulley G, having a band o, o,
passed over it and around the pulley x, x, which, notwithstanding the
constantly reciprocating motion, is adding thereto a progressive one, as well in
order to carry the cloth through the machine as to cause it to receive a regular
action from end to end. In order to increase the felting action, it is very
desirable to allow the felting rollers to act upon the cloth in as many directions
as possible. By the reciprocating motion of this machine we have seen that
this action is produced in each direction longitudinally; and in order to do
this in other directions the cloth is taken from the last machine and placed in
the entering end of another similar felting machine, but, instead of being
entered as before, the piece is first passed between the two feeding rollers T,
one of which is shewn in Fig. 20, and which are placed at an angle with the
5 feeding apron of somewhere near forty-five degrees. These two rollers have a
velocity from three to four times that of the feeding apron, upon which the
cloth is thrown in regular folds as it enters, laying at nearly the same angle as
the position of the rollers. This now causes the action to take place diagonally
across the piece of cloth; and after having passed through in this direction it

page_text: is reversed, and when again passed it will be seen that the action is nearly at
right angles with the last. In this way it may now be run through this
machine several times, and for some descriptions of cloth should be for a time
milled in the common clothier's fulling stocks; and after having been milled
in such stocks I have found that the cloths may again with advantage be
passed through the said felting machine Figs. 19, 20.
It now remains for me to describe another method and process which
I use for some description of goods of felting materials, and which may
be used either without the aid of the felting machine, or even indeed
without the hardening machine; but I prefer passing the bat first through
the hardening machine, as at Figs. 2, 3, where the bat is winding upon
the roller E. Another roller is placed at x, as shewn in the detached
view, Fig. 21, having wound upon it a piece of smooth linen, cotton, or
worsted cloth, being a yard or two longer than the intended bat of felting
material, and being previously wetted with a solution of soap. This is for
the purpose of being wound, as there shewn, between the folds of the bat of
felting material, which is firmly and tightly effected by weights a, b, placed on
the ends of the roller E. When this is done the roller upon which it has
been wound is withdrawn, when the bat may immediately be put into a broad
fulling stock, as broad as the roll is wide, or otherwise suitably placed to
receive repeated blows or pressure, or both, where either one, two, or more
feet or hammers may be made to act upon or compress it in different directions;
and it may be thus worked until it is sufficiently hardened or felted to be
unwound and taken out of the cloth, and the felting process is then completed
in the common stocks. With respect to the after finishing of many descrip-
tions of these manufactured goods, I will state, that they may readily be sub-
jected to all the different processes of raising, shearing, or cropping, boiling,
pressing, &c., used by manufacturers on the old system of spinning and
weaving; but I would recommend the following described machine for raising
the pile or nap for the finer qualities of feet goods. In the Drawings,
Figs. 22 and 23, B, C, represents the frame of a new raising machine.
D, E, are two cylinders covered with wire cards or teasles (but I prefer the wire
cards); these may either be filletting or sheet cards. The teeth should be fine
and long, of iron or hard-drawn brass wire, not very much bent, but set in
good firm leather or indian-rubber backs. F, G, are two other smaller cylin-
.ders, likewise covered with similar card teeth, to the arbor or shaft of one of
which the driving pulley is attached at one end, and by connecting wheels this
is made to actuate the other smaller cylinders. These cylinders separately are
geared into the two larger raising cylinders by toothed wheels, so arranged

page_text: that the surfaces of the smaller ones revolve somewhat faster than the larger
ones, and are for the purpose of clearing the larger ones from the flock which
would otherwise collect, as it now does, in the teeth of the present raising
machines, whether of cards or teasles. These two cylinders are placed in
slight contact with each other, and the teeth being set in different directions as
their surfaces pass each other (like the fly or fancy of a carding engine), it will
be readily seen that in neither of them can the flocks accumulate, and that the
smaller has a very useful tendency to sharpen the larger or raising cylinders.
1, 2, 3, 4, are nearly the common arrangement of the regulating rollers for
conducting and taking away the cloth as it is subjected to the action of the
raising cylinders, and receive their motion from the carrying shaft in any of the
usual modes. II is the scray or trough into which the cloth falls as it revolves
over the several cylinders, having the ends of one or more pieces secured toge-
ther so as to form an endless band in its revolutions 5 is a perforated water
pipe for supplying a spray of water to the cloth under action as it is similarly
used in the common gig. The principal feature in this machine, besides the
clearing rollers, it will be seen is the diagonal position of the raising cylinders,
one acting upon one of the lists towards the other, and the other in the oppo-
site direction. This I have found to produce the closest pile or nap with the
soundest and more even bottom, as well as of course the best ultimate finish.
Now having thus fully described the whole process of making felted cloths
by my improved machinery, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim as
my present Invention any individual parts of the same; but I claim the appli-
cation of a double apron or aprons, or compound aprons and rollers or
cylinders, for the production of bats, as herein described from the long sliver
and the different means herein described for keeping these aprons, together
with the bats, in a smooth and even condition; and I claim the extended
sliver itself as herein described, applied to forming a bat by successive folds or
layers for the production of long or commercial ends of cloths without
spinning or weaving.
I also claim the improvement of the hardening machines Figs. 2, 3, 12, 13,
14, 15, by using the heaters in addition to steam pipes or pans, or in conjunc-
tion with a wetted apron, as herein-before mentioned, and using travelling
aprons as herein-before described.
Also I claim the improved position of the rollers in the felting machine,
Figs. 19 and 20 for producing the double contact of each tier of rollers, and
the combined reciprocating and progressive motion of these rollers, as well as
the manner in which this motion is produced as applied to the said felting
machine, and also the method of diagonal or cross felting as effected by the

page_text: feeding rollers Fig. 20, herein-before described; and also the method described
at Fig. 21 of producing long continuous fabrics of felt in a fit state for the
common fulling stocks.
I also claim, in the raising machines Figs. 22 and 23, the diagonal positions
of the raising cylinders, as herein-before described, and particularly also the use
of other or opposite revolving cylinders, whether covered with cards or any
other material for clearing raising cylinders whilst at work, as applied to the
cloth manufacture by felting alone, or by the old method of spinning and
weaving.
I also claim the use of soap or saponaceous matters dissolved in water in 1
conjunction with rollers for assisting in the felting of fabrics made without
spinning and weaving, in contradistinction to acids or acidulated waters, which
have heretofore been used for fabrics depending for their union upon felting
alone.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, have here- 1
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty..
THOS R. (L.S.) WILLIAMS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twelfth day of August, in
D