IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING FELT HATS, AND OTHER. FELTED GOODS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Guiseppe Mateo Coppo, of No. 13, Rue Gaillon, in
the City of Paris, in the Empire of France, Hatter, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING FELT HATS, AND OTHER.
FELTED GOODS."
Sealed the 26th September 1861, and dated the 30th March 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Guiseppo Mateo Coppo
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March, 1861.
I, GUISEPPE MATEO CoPro, of No. 13, Rue Gaillon, in the City of Paris,
in the Empire of France, Hatter, do hereby declare the nature of the said:
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING FELT HATS, AND OTHER'
FELTED GOODS," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the use of a peculiar machine for fulling,
more particularly felt hats of fine quality, and by means of which the operation:
of felting is effected more rapidly, perfectly, and economically than has
hitherto been done.
The leading features of this machine consist in a trough composed of wood'
and different metals superposed; in the communication of heat to this trough by
means of steam or other agents; and if steam is used, in arranging its admis-
sion in such a manner that if necessary it should also come into free contact
with the felts being operated on, and also in constructing and covering the
troughs of such machines, that the heat generated by the steam may be more
easily maintained therein.
i

page_text: Before submitting felts to the working of this machine they are dipped in
boiling water containing a small quantity of either vitriol, alum, potash, or
alkali; and if during the fulling the liquid they are thus impregnated with
evaporates too rapidly, fresh quantities of the same mixture are poured on the
felts in the trough.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Guiseppe Mateo Coppo in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUISEPPE
MATEO COPPO, of No. 13, Rue Gaillon, in the City of Paris, in the Empire of
France, Hatter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Guiseppe Mateo Coppo, Her special licence that I, the said Guiseppe
Mateo Coppo, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I,
the said Guiseppe Mateo Coppo, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING FELT HATS, AND OTHER FELTED GOODS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Guiseppe Mateo Coppo,
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 Guiseppe Mateo Coppo, 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
following statement:-
These improvements consist in the use of a peculiar machine for fulling,
more particularly felt hats of fine quality, by means of which the operation

page_text: of felting is effected more rapidly, perfectly, and economically than has
hitherto been done.
The leading features of this machine consists in the use of one or more
hollow beaters striking the said felted hats, which are placed in a trough com-
posed of wood and different metals superposed; in the communication of heat
to this trough, by means of steam or other agents; and if steam is used, in
arranging its admission in such a manner that if necessary it should also come
into free contact with the felts being operated upon, and also in constructing
and covering if necessary the troughs of such machines that the heat generated
by the steam be more easily maintained therein.
Before submitting felts to the working of this machine they are dipped in
boiling water, containing in small quantity either vitriol, alum, potash, or
alkali, and if during the fulling the liquid they are thus impregnated with
evaporates too rapidly, fresh quantities of the same mixture are poured on the
felts in the trough.
In order that the machine I make use of be better understood, I have
represented it in the accompanying Drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is a plan of same,
and Fig. 2 a longitudinal elevation in section through A, A, Fig. 1.
A is the working trough in which the hats or other articles are placed;
b, ', the mallets, which effect the fulling; c, c', the levers jointed at point d;
e, the driving wheel, provided on each face with three wooden rollers f, f, f,
and f, f, f, the first of which communicate motion to the mallet b, and the
latter to the mallet b'; and g and g' are two rings by which either of the said
mallets can be suspended out of the reach of the rollers when it is desired that
they remain motionless, notwithstanding the rotation of the driving wheel.
The first improvement consists in the choice and arrangement of the
materials of which the trough A is composed; externally it consists of a cast-
iron box a, open above, and lined internally with sheet lead a', against which
is fitted the lining of wood a², which is covered with sheet copper a³. A trough
constructed in this manner is perfectly adapted to the work to be done in it;
the copper by its smooth surface facilitates the movement or turning over of
the felted articles, the wood by its elasticity deadens the shock of the mallets,
to which the cast-iron box is better able to resist, on account of the sheet lead
placed between the cast iron and the wood, which accomodates itself to the
inequalities of their surfaces, and thereby cause the force of the blows to be
received on an extended surface.
The second improvement consists in imparting heat to the said trough by
means of steam introduced through the cast iron, and, between the lead and
the wood, or between the wood and the copper, between either of which

page_text: arrangements are made for providing sufficient space for its passage, the sheet
copper, in this case being employed as the external working surface, offers the
additional advantage of being a better conductor of heat than either of the
three other materials. I provide a few little grooves in the wood, all leading
towards one common pipe, provided with a cock for purging the machine of
condensed water, and the steam after having circulated between the materials
composing the trough, and warmed sufficiently, the sheet copper is allowed to
escape, or if necessary it is allowed to flow on and amongst the felts at that
part where the checks of the trough unite with the bottom. Instead of steam,
heat may be imparted to the felts by means of hot air or hot water.
The third improvement consists in covering the top of the trough with a
portable cover, provided with holes for the passage of the mallet levers; the
advantage of this cover is to maintain better the beat imparted to the felts in
the trough.
The fourth improvement consists in the comparative lightness of the mallets
obtained by hollowing them out internally, without in any way interfering with
the external shape; by the action of these lengthened mallets the felts are.
acted on much more gently than by, solid ones, and all danger of bursting
them removed, and on account of their, diminished weight they can be driven
with much greater speed, and thereby the operation of fulling or felting
performed by a rapid succession of light blows.
Before, submitting felts to the working of this machine they are dipped in
boiling water, containing in small quantity either vitriol, alum, potash, or
alkali, and, if during the. fulling the liquid they are thus impregnated with
evaporates, too rapidly fresh quantities of the same mixture are poured on the
felts in the trough.
In witness whereof, I, the said Guiseppe Mateo Coppo, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this. Twenty-third day of September in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
.D. H: BRANDON,
13, Rue Gaillon,
Paris.
(L.S.) G. M. COPPO.