Woollen, and other Woven Fabrics.
Year: 1888

page_text: Woollen, and other Woven Fabrics.
We, JOHN KIRK, of the firm of Messrs. Samuel Kirk and Sons, of Leeds in the
County of York, Stovers and Dyers, and BENJAMIN LEE, of 21, Inglewood Terrace,
Woodhouse, Leeds, in the said County, Foreman Presser, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:—
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for finishing worsted, woollen, and
other woven fabrics in a more economical, .expeditious and superior manner than
heretofore usual.
Instead of finishing such goods as above referred to by the usual method of cuttling
with press papers and hot pressing them in a hydraulic machine, we construct our
improved machinery or apparatus so as to comprise a series of rollers, through or
between which the fabric under treatment is passed.
The rollers are so arranged that one of them is in a fixed position, while the others
surround it, and are so mounted as to be capable of being moved towards or from the
first named roller, means being provided by which pressure may be applied to each
said movable roller either separately or together in approaching the first named roller.
One of the said movable rollers has a smooth metallic surface (silver or nickel plated
or otherwise,) and is heated internally by any suitable means..
All or any of the other rollers may have their peripheries of metal, compressed
cotton, paper or other suitable material, and all, or in some cases some of these we
prefer to heat externally by any suitable means, such as closed steam vessels placed in
proximity thereto or by other means.
•
Some or all of the rollers may be driven mechanically, or soine mechanically and
others by frictional contact only, with the fabric under treatment between them.
Guide rollers and other guides are or may be used for conducting the fabric into and
through and out of, the machine during finishing.

page_text: Improvements in Machinery or Apparatus for Finishing Worsted,
Woollen, and other Woven Fabrics.
:
We, JOHN KIRK, of the Firm of Samuel Kirk and Sons, of Leeds-in' the County of
York, Stovers and Dyers, and. BENJAMIN LEE, of 21, Inglewood Terrace, Woodhouse,
Leeds, in the said County, Foreman Presser, do hereby declare the nature of our
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for finishing worsted, woollen and
other woven fabrics in a. more economical, expeditious and superior manner than
heretofore usual.
Instead of finishing such goods as above referred to by the usual method of cuttling
with press papers and, hot pressing them in a hydraulic machine, we construct .our
improved machinery or apparatus so as to comprise a series of rollers, through.or
between which the fabric under treatment is passed.
The rollers are so arranged that one of them is in a fixed position while the others
surround it and are so mounted as to be capable of being moved towards or from the
first named roller, means being provided. by which pressure may be applied to each of
the said movable rollers, either separately or together (by preference separately,) in
approaching the first named roller.
One of the said movable rollers has a smooth metallic surface (silver or nickel
plated or otherwise,) and is heated internally by any suitable means such as gas jets,
steam, hot air or otherwise.
All or any of the other rollers may have their peripheries of metal, compressed
cotton, paper or other suitable material, and some or all of these we prefer to heat
externally, by any suitable means such as closed steam vessels placed in proximity
thereto or by other means.,
Some or all of the rollers may be driven mechanically, or some mechanically and
others by frictional contact only with the fabric under treatment between them.
Guide rollers or other guides are or may be used for conducting the fabric into and
through and out of the machine during finishing.
By means of machinery or apparatus such as above referred to, woven fabrics are
capable of receiving in a short space of time a finish of such excellence and delicacy.
as is unattainable in either hydraulic pressing or calendering machines, in the latter of
which the rollers are placed one above the other, the pressure applied to each
respective roller being the same in addition to the weight of the top roller upon the
next below it, and of the two upper rollers upon the next below them and so on
through the series. In our improved machine pressure is. separately applied to each
respective movable roller and upon the fabric under treatment between such roller and
the roller in the fixed position, and in such degree in each case as to impart the
required finish to the said fabric; the various pressures (of either equal or unequal
degree) taking place at as many points as there are movable rollers employed; (in
the present case three, as illustrated in the drawings) hereinafter referred to.

page_text: In addition to the internally heated metallic roller, the other movable rollers are
provided with an externally heating apparatus and also an envelope external thereto
for retaining the heat around them in order that the fabric under treatment may not
only be subjected to hot pressing between the rollers or bowls but also to a desiccating
process so that it leaves the machine in a thoroughly dry state, thus avoiding the
necessity of undergoing a separate drying process in a machine provided therefor.
In the annexed four sheets of drawings
I
Fig. 1. Sheet 1, is an elevation at the driving end of a machine according to our
invention.
Fig. 2. Sheet 2, is an elevation at the contrary end.
Fig. 3. Sheet 3, is a front elevation.
Fig. 4. Sheet 4; is a transverse section of the rollers or bowls and the external
heating apparatus and the metallic envelope outside the same.
Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.
a, is the foundation or harness plate of the machine upon which the superstructure
is mounted.
b, b, are the housings, c, a roller or bowl of compressed cotton or other suitable
material and located at the upper part of the housings in a fixed. position; d, is,a
hollow metallic roller carried in bearings 1 that have a sliding movement to, or from
the first named roller or bowl.
The metallic roller d, is heated by gas, by means of the pipe d 2. passing through
it and. having a series of gas burners thereon, or it may be heated by any other
suitable means. e, is a roller or bowl of compressed cotton or other suitable material
and similarly mounted in movable bearings e 1.-, is a roller or bowl of compressed
cotton or other suitable material and mounted in movable bearings fl." The
said rollers or bowls d, e, f, are caused to approach the roller or bowl c by means of
the tiller wheels g, 9, 9, worins h, on shafts h1, worm wheels i, and screws j,-
taking into nuts k, one to each bearing of the respective rollers or bowls. Between
each nut k, and each movable bearing is a spring 1, so that pressure brought to bear
upon the material under treatment as it passes between the aboyenamed movable
rollers or bowls d, e, f, and the roller or bowl c, may be of an elastic nature and also
such that the degree of pressure from end to end of each respective roller may be
equalized by means of the said springs l.
It will be evident that the pressure of the rollers d, e, f, upon the material under
treatment and upon the roller or howl c, being applied separately may either be equal
or variable as may be necessary to effect the required finish of the material under
treatment. m, is the external heating apparatus for the rollers or bowls, and comprises
a hollow vessel m 1, at each end of the rollers, these are connected together by a series
of pipes m 2, and steain, hot air or hot water circulates through them, causing heat to
radiate from them and heat the rollers or. bowls. Or the vessels m 1. may be dispensed
with and the pipes m 2. be so connected to each other as to form for the heating medium
a continuous passage through them. The said pipes are enclosed by a metallic
envelope n, to prevent radiation in a direction from the rollers or bowls.-o, are the
driving pulleys (fast and loose) on the shaft p, on which also is the pinion g, that takes
into and drives the wheel », and the hollow metallic roller d, upon which it is fixed,
and upon which is also a pinion s, the pitch line of which represents the diameter of
such roller. This pinion takes into and imparts motion to the wheel t, on the roller
or bowl c, the pitch line of t, represents the diameter of c, thus the roller d, and the
bowl c, have the same relative speed of their peripheries between which the hot
pressing of the fabric under treatment first takes place. When it is desired that these
relative speeds shall vary in order that the fabric under treatment shall receive a slight
rubbing as well as a pressing action, wheels having the relative proportions to the
required speeds are substituted for the wheels s, and t.
Other modes of driving may be used such as worm and worm wheel gearing in
lieu of the spur gearing just described. u, is a guide roller which may be carried
in any suitable manner and either by the machine or otherwise, over which the fabric
under treatment passes on leaving the machine.

page_text: 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. In machinery or apparatus for finishing worsted, woollen or other woven fabrics,
the combination with a roller or bowl c, of compressed cotton or other suitable
material, and a hollow metallic, internally heated roller d, of two other rollers; or
bowls of similar construction to and driven frictionally by the, first named roller or
bowl Ci all substantially as hereinabove described and shewn in the drawings....
2. In machinery or apparatus for finishing worsted, woollen or other woven fabrics,
mounting a number of rollers or bowls around a central roller or bowl in suchwise as
to be capable of independent movement to and froin the said central roller or bowl c,.
substantially as described and illustrated.
3. In machinery or apparatus of the kind referred to in the preceding claims,
partially surrounding one or more of the rollers or bowls located. around the central
roller or bowl with an external heating apparatus substantially as described and
shewn.
4. The improved machinery or apparatus for finishing worsted, woollen and other
woven fabrics, constructed, arranged and operating substantially as described and
shewn in the drawings annexed.
Dated this 29th day of December 1000.
Witness-
THOS. E. CRAVEN, F.L.P.A.,
24, Victoria Chambers, Leeds.
JOHN KIRK.
BENJAMIN LEE.