Improvements in Spreading and Drying Machines used in the Manufacture of Waterproof Fabrics.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 26th Oct., 1889--Accepted, 30th Nov., 1889
L NOVIDIONAL
Improvements in Spreading and Drying Machines used in the
Manufacture of Waterproof Fabrics.
We, JAMES WOOD, Manager, and JAMES ROBINSON, of the firm of Broadhurst and
Company, of Bradford, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturers of
India Rubber Goods, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention relates to those machines in which the fabric can be traversed
continuously to and fro to be coated by one or other of two spreading appliances
placed one near each end of the machine.
In applying our improvements to cylinder drying machines we employ two or more
preferably two drying cylinders placed near one another and at about the middle of the
frame. The fabric to be coated is placed on a roller in bearings at one end of
the machine as usual with the spreading roller and gauge in position for acting
upon it; the fabric passes from the spreading roller preferably direct to the upper
side of the nearest drying cylinder and almost entirely round it and thence over
or round guide rollers which conduct it preferably slightly beyond the other
drying cylinder on to the surface of which it is guided and passes in contact
therewith nearly all round it and thence it is led preferably direct on to the opposite
or second spreading roller the gauge being raised to allow the fabric to pass
unimpeded on to the driven taking up roller which is carried in suitable bearings on
the machine frame.
;
When all the fabric except the wrapper has been wound on to this taking up
roller the operation can be readily repeated in the reverse direction and a fresh coating
applied to effect this the gauge last mentioned is set and adjusted to its spreading
roller while the gauge at the other end is raised and the direction of motion of the
drying cylinders is reversed the driving belt on the roller with the batch of cloth on
it being thrown off while the roller at the other end of the machine which now
becomes the taking up roller is caused to be driven at the required speed; then by
starting the machine the operation will be repeated in the opposite direction and
subsequently again reversed until the coating of the fabric is completed.
In order to reduce the tension on the fabric in passing through the machine we
propose to drive the spreading rollers positively by means of toothed or other gearing.
One drying cylinder is similarly driven from the other which receives the first driving
the driving being so arranged that the drying cylinders and the spreading rollers of
the machine will under all circumstances revolve at the same surface speed.
In applying our improvements to machines in which flat steam chests for drying
the fabric are employed we use a spreading roller and gauge at each end of the
machine and we arrange suitable guide rollers in combination with the usual pulling
drums placed one at each end of the machine so that the fabric to be coated is placed
on a roller in bearings as usual and conducted over guide rollers on to the far side of
the first pulling drum so as to wrap round the latter as much as possible in its passage
to the spreading roller where it is coated as usual; from the spreading roller the
fabric passes over the steam chests on to the second or opposite spreading roller the
gauge of which is at this time raised and thence over the front of the second pulling
drum round about half its circumference or rather more and over guide rollers which
conduct it to the taking up roller which is driven at the required speed in any
convenient manner. When all the fabric has been wound on this last named roller
the gauge at the same end of the machine is set and adjusted while that at the other end

page_text: of the machine is raised and the machine can then be driven in the opposite direction
to reverse the operation. In this case we propose to drive the spreading rollers and
the pulling drums by positive gearing.
Dated this First day of June 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in Spreading and Drying Machines used in the
Manufacture of Waterproof Fabrics.
We, JAMES WOOD, Manager, and JAMES ROBINSON, of the firm of Broadhurst and
Company, of Bradford, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturers of
India Rubber Goods, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates to those machines in which the fabric can be traversed con-
tinuously to and fro to be coated by one or other of two spreading appliances placed
one near each end of the machine, the fabric in such machines having heretofore been
dried by flat steam chests.
We employ according to our present invention two or more preferably two drying
cylinders placed near one another and at about the middle of the frame, and lead the
fabric from the batch roller over a spreading roller and under a gauge preferably
direct to the upper side of the nearest drying cylinder and almost entirely round it,
thence over or round guide rollers to and almost entirely round the other drying
cylinder and thence to the other spreading roller the gauge of which is raised to allow
the fabric to pass unimpeded on to the taking up roller.
When all the fabric except the wrapper has been wound upon this taking up roller
the operation can be readily repeated in the reverse direction and a fresh coating
applied to the fabric by adjusting the gauges and reversing the direction of rotation
of the drying cylinders and rollers, the roller which was previously the batch roller
now becoming the taking up roller and vice versa.
And in order that our invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect we will describe the accompanying two Sheets of Drawings reference being had
to the figures and letters marked thereon.
Figure 1 is a side elevation. Fig. 2 a plan and Fig. 3 an end view of a two
cylinder spreading and drying machine constructed according to our invention.
The frame a of the machine has bearings 6 61 for the batch rollers c c¹ which are
placed at opposite ends of the machine and act alternately as batch rollers and taking
up rollers; the fabric d to be coated with "dough" or india rubber composition is in
the Drawings shown batched upou the roller c.
"
Near each end of the machine is placed an appliance for spreading the "dough
or india rubber composition upon the fabric, each appliance consisting of a spreading
roller e or e¹ and a gauge for f which is arranged to swivel in slide blocks g or gl
and can be adjusted vertically when required by screws or '. Any other suitable
spreading appliances however may be employed.
The steam heated drying cylinders are placed in the central portion of the
frame and the fabric d is taken over the spreading roller e the gauge f being set in its
vertical or working position and from the roller e the fabric passes over and almost
entirely round the drying cylinder i, thence over or under the several guide
rollers k, k¹, k³, k³, and almost entirely round the second drying cylinder and thence
over the speading roller e¹ (the gauge f¹ being raised or moved clear of the fabric) to
the roller c which acts as the taking up roller.
In order to reduce the tension on the fabric in passing through the machine we
prefer to drive the spreading rollers e e' positively by means of toothed or other

page_text: gearing and in all cases the driving mechanism is so arranged that the drying
cylinders and the spreading rollers e el will revolve at the same surface speed.
The gearing for driving the drying cylinders and spreading rollers e e' consists
in the arrangement shown of a shaft m driven by a belt and cone pulleys m'; on this
shaft m is a double clutch m² sliding on a feather key and arranged to engage
the clutch teeth on one or other of two bevel wheels n n¹ mounted loose on the
shaft m and so drive in either direction, as required a bevel wheel o fixed on a
shaft m³, placed below the spreading roller e. On the other end of this shaft m³, is
keyed a pinion m which gears into and drives a spur wheel e² keyed on the spreading
roller e on the other end of which is fixed a pulley e³, which drives the roller c by
a belt e when the latter is acting as a taking up roller. The side face of the pulley e³
is formed with teeth which gear into and drive a bevel wheel p¹ fixed on one end
of a shaft p carried in brackets a¹ on the frame a; at the other end of this
shaft
Ρ is fixed a bevel wheel p³ gearing into a combined bevel wheel and
pulleye on the spreading roller el similar to the pulley on the roller shaft e.
This pulley e drives by means of the belt e the roller c¹ whenever the latter acts
as taking up roller as in the examples shown by the Drawings; at the other end of
the roller shaft e', is fixed a friction disc r which transmits motion by an adjustable
sliding friction pulley s to a shaft t which is supported in brackets a² on the frame a
and drives the drying cylinders i . The position of the sliding friction pulley s can
be adjusted by means of a hand wheels and screws so as to move the said pulley s
nearer to or farther from the centre of the friction disc r and thus give a quicker or
slower speed to the shaft t and the drying cylinders as required.
The cylinders may be driven from the shaft t by any suitable arrangement of
gearing but preferably by worms and worm wheels.
From the foregoing description of the parts it will be readily understood that when
the clutch m² is in gear with the clutch teeth on the bevel wheel n and the spreading
roller e is being driven as indicated by the arrow Fig. 1 the drying cylinders i
the spreading roller e¹ and the taking up roller c' will all be driven in the several
directions indicated and the fabric d will be traversed through the machine and
coated with "dough" or india rubber composition spread by the roller e and gauge f
which will then occupy the vertical or working position while the gauge f¹ is raised
clear of the fabric.
When the batch of fabric has in this manner been transferred from the roller c to
the roller c¹ the clutch m² is moved out of gear by actuating either the starting
handle u or the rod u see Fig. 3 connected thereto by which means the motion
of the drying cylinders and other parts is stopped. The gauge f is then raised
and the gauge flowered into its working position and the belt et shifted from the
pulley e to the pulley e so as to drive the roller c now to become the taking up
roller. Then the clutch m² is moved into gear with the clutch teeth on the bevel
wheel and the drying cylinders and other parts being thereby driven in the
opposite direction the fabric d is traversed back through the machine and the operation
reversed.
The spreading operation can be repeated as often as required by simply actuating
the clutch m² and reversing the motion and direction of traverse of the fabric in the
manner above described.
If advantageous or desirable more than two steam heated drying cylinders might
be employed, but we consider two such cylinders to be sufficient and prefer to employ
that number.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The herein described improvements in spreading and drying machines con-
sisting essentially in the arrangement use and application of two or more drying
cylinders in combination with a spreading appliance at each end of the machine
substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

page_text: 2.-The combination of the drying cylinders i i¹ a spreading appliance at each end
of the machine, guide rollers k, k³, k², k³, rollers c c arranged to act alternately as
batch and taking up rollers, and an arrangement of reversible mechanism for driving
the cylinders and rollers in two directions and so traversing the fabric to be coated in
either direction as required substantially as and for the purposes herein described and
as illustrated by the Drawings annexed.
Dated this 25th day of October 1889.
H. B. BARLOW,
17, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agent for Applicants.