CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES OR COMPOSITIONS, APPLICABLE TO COVERING BUILDINGS, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES, AND ALSO THE MACHINERY USED THEREIN
Year: 1839

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 Twenty-eighth day of September, 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 license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others, as I, the said Thomas
Robinson Williams, my executors, administrators, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, the Town of Berwick upon Tweed,
and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE FIBROUS SUBSTANCES
OR COMPOSITIONS, APPLICABLE TO COVERING BUILDINGS, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES,
AND ALSO THE MACHINERY USED THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained 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

page_text: Court of Chancery within six calendar 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, are par-
ticularly 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 Flexible
Fibrous Substances or Compositions, applicable to Covering Buildings, and
other useful Purposes, and also the Machinery used therein," consists of an
entirely new arrangement of machinery, partly well known when separated
into individual machines, but now for the first time combined and arranged
for this particular purpose. The desirable object intended is to adapt it to the
manufacture of a durable and substantial covering for buildings and other uses,
by uniting, with a large proportion of fibrous materials peculiarly prepared, an
admixture of naturel bitumens, or other bituminous,substances and mixtures
therewith of other materials which may not be bituminous,, as well as for a
peculiar and novel mode of saturating the so prepared fibrous materials
therewith.
It is proper first to remark that the fibrous materials which I most, prefer
for the foundation or tissue of this manufacture are, the waste flax or tow of
the linen spinning mills and the common plasterer's hair of the tan yards
(although I do not confine myself to these materials only); they are either used
separately, or united in different proportions, according to the article required.
These materials are first opened and sufficiently cleansed by passing them
through, the common devil, picker, or willy; after which, when required to be
mixed, they are again passed through the same or a similar machine,. and are
then ready for the next operation.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a front elevation, Fig. 2 a longi-
tudinal section, and. Fig. 3 a plan view, of the machinery or apparatus .I
employ; in all of which Figures the material operated upon is represented by
red color. 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 twelve thousand, in a cylinder of three feet wide upon the face and three
feet diameter. One important feature, however, in which it differs is, there

page_text: 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
draft of air produced by the revolution of the cylinder B will only carry for-
ward such light parts as are completely free and almost as open as the carding
of such materials would produce. C, 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 side linings of this part of the machine,
which are the same distance apart as where it encloses 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 draft of the toothed cylinder B, and that the lower half is
open for the escape of the air after having deposited the fibrous materials upon
it through the floor into the room D below, which is constructed of lattice-
work 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 it has arrived at the two fluted rollers
c, c, (the upper being weighted upon the lower) is received between them and
passed onwards between the two other endless aprons d, d, d. These aprons
are made of strong canvass, and the lower one revolves around the two end
wooden rollers 1 and 8, and the upper one over the friction rollers g, g, and con-
sequently over the intermediate ones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; those marked 5, 6, 7, are
inclosed by the pan 9, for the purpose of admitting steam to the bat of hair (or
mixture of hair and other materials) whilst between the aprons, and for which
purpose it is connected by a steam cock and pipes in communication with the
boiler. e, e, e, e, e, e, are upright wooden beaters, with sinooth rounded ends,
supported in the framework f. f, and. directly over the lower rollers 2 to 7.
These beaters are divided into six or more several parts as they extend across
the machine, making in all, say, thirty-six. They receive a small but quick
perpendicular and falling motion by the tappet shafts h, h, h, h, h, h, which are
geared and revolve together, being connected with any convenient part of the
machine; the quick alternate 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 partially felted sheet, although very
unlike felted cloth, for which I do not here claim it, (and in respect of its
application to which, and for other objects, I have lately obtained other

page_text: Letters Patent), yet for the purpose now being described it is very desirable.
As the hardened or basoned bat by the revolutions of these aprons and rollers
is liberated from between them at i, it is again received upon the hollow
steam cylinders E, E, for the purpose of being thoroughly dried before arriving
at the saturating process. These two cylinders are made of hollow cast iron,
and are in every way the same as the common paper-drying cylinders, being
supplied with steam at one end, and the condensed water taken off at the
other, and furnished with stuffing boxes, as shewn in the Drawings. Around
these two cylinders is passed an endless apron of strong woollen m, m, m, or
hair cloth, moving in direction of the arrows, for the purpose of keeping the
bat in contact with the heated cylinders, when the bat has arrived at n, n. It
is now dried, and in a proper state for being saturated with the bituminous
composition, which immediately takes place. Two hollow cast-iron cylinders
or rollers v, v, are mounted in proper bearings in the framing w, w, and are
heated by means of iron heaters. The troughs or pans a and y contain the
bituminous mixture, which is previously melted, and occasionally poured into
these pans; it is afterwards kept in a fluid state by the radient heat of the
rollers. The lower roller being partially immersed in the composition in the
pana, carries up with it a sufficient quantity to saturate the under side or
half of the sheet or bat. The composition in the upper pan flows into the
chamber w, where the upper roller v, being in direct contact with the com-
position, conducts and saturates the upper side or half of the bat as it passes
under it. The upper heated roller is pressed upon the lower one by means of
weighted levers; and as these rollers revolve, they not only squeeze or force
the composition or bituminous mixture into and through the sheet or bat, but
also press out all that may be superfluous, which again runs into the lower
cistern or pan.
I should here remark that the bituminous and adhesive mixtures which I
most approve in this manufacture are, for roofing or covering buildings, about one
hundred and twelve pounds of mineral dry asphaltum to twenty pounds of liquid
mineral tar; for other things, one hundred and twelve pounds of mineral dry
asphaltum to twenty pounds of common vegetable pitch and twelve pounds of
boiled linseed oil; or instead of the oil, twenty pounds of liquid asphaltum or
tar. When vegetable-pitch-and-tar-only-are used, I make use of one hundred
and twelve pounds of pitch to thirty-five pounds of tar; but it is sometimes
necessary to vary these proportions, according to the quality of the materials
The sheet being now completed, it is carried over the roller z, for the purpose
of being cooled, when it descends upon the cutting table, where it is cut into
sheets or pieces as required.

page_text: Having now fully described the means by which I carry into effect the pro-
duction of this manufacture, I desire it to be understood that I do not claim
as novel any of the separate and individual parts of the machinery; but I do
claim the general arrangement and combination thereof as applied to this and
similar purposes, excepting the manufacture of felted cloths (in respect of
which, and for other machinery and improvements in the manufacture of
woollens I have lately obtained Letters Patent), and for producing a perpetual
bat by the force of air charged with any fibrous materials being driven through
a cylinder of woven wire gauze or any perforated substance (in contra-dis-
tinction to a former Patent of mine by exhaustion), as well as the mode of
hardening or basoning and drying such bat. And, finally, I claim, exclusively,
saturating the same with natural bitumens, and performing this in one
continuous operation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Robinson Williams, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March, One
thousand night hundred and fanter
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of March, in
the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Thomas
Robinson Williams came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and forty.