An Improved Machine for Manufacturing Fibrous Balls or Tufts.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 25th June, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 7th Mar., 1890-Accepted, 12th Apr., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Manufacturing Fibrous Balls or Tufts.
I, EDWARD WARD COOPER of Primrose Cottage, Red Lane, Coventry in the
County of Warwick, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of fibrous balls or tufts used in upholstery
and all kinds of trimmings, which consist of bunches of woollen, cotton, silk, or other
fibre, tied with a thread at or near the middle of their length, and rounded up to the
form of balls or tufts.
The manufacture of these balls or tufts is usually effected by hand in the following
manner :-
A length composed of strands of yarn, of suitable material, thickness, and colors,
is tied at intervals as regularly and tightly as possible, with strong thread. The
length is then cut through between the tyings, and the bunches of yarn take approxi-
mately the form of a ball or tuft.
In this mode of manufacture, it is found almost impossible to obtain absolute
regularity in tying and cutting, and consequently irregular balls or tufts of
varying sizes result, which have to be shaped by clipping to render them suitable
for use.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the necessity for this clipping, as
well as to expedite the manufacture generally.
According to my invention, I provide a machine wherein the length of yarn is laid
in a channel, and therein compressed by a suitable plunger. This channel is divided
at intervals with transverse slits, which permit of the tying thread being passed
around the confined and compressed yarn &c. Between these slits are other transverse
slits, through which cutting knives are introduced to sever the tied yarn &c. into the
bunches which form the balls or tufts.
The channel may be of any desired length or capacity, and the knives, which may
be of a number to suit requirements, are by preference in the form of discs mounted
upon a spindle arranged parallel to the channel, and advanced and rotated by suitable
mechanism, when required for use, after the tying operation is completed.
Threads for tying, cut in suitable lengths, may be carried by a holder ready to the
hand of the operator.
In this manner, the tying of the bunches can be effected with the greatest
precision, as the slits in the channel form accurate guides, and the cutting will be
equally precise; thus, the size and form of the balls or tufts can be predetermined
by the position of the slits.
The cutting, moreover, which was formerly imperfectly performed, slowly, one cut
at a time, is, according to the invention, well effected at one stroke of the series of
knives.
D
1
051 1
T
1000
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Machine for Manufacturing Fibrous Balls or Tufts.
I EDWARD WARD COOPER of Primrose Cottage, Red Lane, Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Machinist, 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 :-
This invention relates to the manufacture of fibrous balls or tufts, such as those used
in upholstery, as pendent trimmings. These balls are commonly made, by hand, of
bunches of woollen, cotton, or silk fibres, bound by a thread at or near the middle of
their length, and rounded up to the form of halls or tufts.
The mode of proceeding is as follows:-
:―
A bundle of yarns of any given length, is bound around, at regular intervals, as
tightly as possible with strong thread. The bundle is then cut up between the tyings,
and the severed portions, on being subjected to a steaming process, severally take the
form of a ball or tuft.
By this mode of manufacture, it is found almost impossible to obtain absolute
regularity in tying and cutting, and consequently irregular balls or tufts, of varying
sizes, result, which have to be shaped, by clipping, to render them suitable for the
market.
The object of the present invention is to obviate the necessity for this clipping, as
well as to expedite the manufacture generally.
To this end, I provide a machine which will enable the workman to equalize the
distances between the binding threads, and to cut up the bundle of compressed yarns
into tie bunches, or pieces of equal lengths, by one operation.
This machine is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in plan and side views,
as both in and out of action,
Fig. 1 being a plan view, and
Fig. 2 a side elevation of the machine.
A is a cast iron bed plate, standing up from which are parallel side pieces forming
guides for a cast iron slide B.
Bolted to the front edge of the bed plate A, is a horizontal channel piece C, formed
preferably of gun metal. This channel is intended to receive, as in a compressing
die, the bundle of yarns D from which the balls or tufts are to be made.
Bolted to the slide B, and lying parallel to, and in the plane of the open side of the
channel piece, is a plunger E, made preferably of gun metal, and shaped to slide
freely in the channel piece C, and form, with the bottom of the channel, a cylindrical
space into which the bundle of yarns is to be compressed.
Mounted on the slide B, is a hand lever F, which is fulcrummed at F¹ on the bed
plate casting A.
This hand lever is intended to move forward the slide E, and compress the bundle
of yarns drawn into the channel of the gun metal piece ().
For the purpose of maintaining this pressure of the slide, a segment piece G, bolted
to the casting A, is furnished with ratchet teeth, to receive a spring pawl H carried
by the hand lever F. On the advance, therefore, of the hand lever, this spring paw!
will be drawn over the ratchet teeth, and will engage with the last tooth, to which it
is presented on the inward movement of the plunger E.
The channel piece C is divided up by transverse saw cuts or slits c c¹, at equal
distances apart along its length.
The slits c terminate a short distance from the edge of the turned-over lip of the
channel piece, but the slits c¹ pass completely through the turned-over lip, and
through the base portion of the channel piece, until they reach drilled holes c² formed
therein.
Corresponding in number and size with the slits c c', are slits e e¹ made in the
plunger E. The slits e terminate in circular holes e², drilled through the plunger E,

page_text: and so situate therein, that when the plunger is forced up into its acting position, as
shewn in the drawing, the rows of holes e² and e² will coincide.
These holes are intended to facilitate the introduction of the binding threads into
the machine, which threads, when passed through the holes, are drawn through the
slits ec, and thus laid around and secured to the bundle of yarn D at equal distances
apart the slits serving gauge the distances apart at which the binding threads are
to be laid around the bundle.
II is a series of disc cutters keyed to a spindle I, and arranged so as to enter the
and sever the compressed bundles of yarn into short lengths.
slits ce,
The spindle I is mounted in a pair of arms I2, keyed to a rock shaft I³, which has
its bearings in lugs formed on the underside of the channel piece C.
Keyed to this rock shaft, is a hand lever I, for lifting the cutters into their cutting
position, and lowering them to the dotted position of Fig. 2, after the severing of the
bundle has been effected.
Keyed to the cutter spindle I, is a hand lever I', which serves, when the cutters
are in their working position, to impart a slight rotary motion to the disc cutters, and
thereby effect what is known as a draw cut.
The machine is preferably mounted on a bench furnished with a suitable holder for
receiving and presenting to the attendant, the threads for tying up the compressed
bundles of woollen, cotton, silk, or other yarns.
K is such a holder, consisting of a strip of wood standing up from the bench, and
having its top edge overlaid with a strip of elastic webbing.
The threads, cut to suitable lengths, are inserted under the elastic webbing, their
ends depending at opposite sides of the holder, as shown at Fig. 2.
From the foregoing explanation, it will be understood that the tying of the bundles
of yarns can be effected with the greatest precision, as the slits c and e¹ form accurate
guides for the application of the binding threads, and the cutting up of the com-
pressed bundles will be equally precise, the disc cutters I, when raised from the dotted
to their drawn position, reaching the bundles through the slits c; thus, the size and
form of the balls or tufts can be predetermined by the position of the slits in the parts
Cand E. The cutting up, moreover, of the whole length of the bundle, which was
formerly imperfectly performed, and slowly (that is, one cut at a time), is, according
to my invention, rapidly and efficiently performed at one operation. On withdrawing
the plunger to its dotted position, the attendant can readily remove the severed bunches
from the machine by the aid of the binding threads.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improved machinery above described, whereby a bundle of yarns, while under
compression, may be bound and severed into bunches, to form balls or tufts of uniform
size and shape, in a rapid and efficient manner.
Dated this 6th dow of March 1890
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.