EF IMPROVED MACHINE FOR STRETCHING CALICO TTY OR OTHER WOVEN FABRICS.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell, both of
Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN
EF
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR
STRETCHING CALICO
TTY
OR OTHER WOVEN FABRICS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mitchell and
Thomas Mitchell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 19th March 1875.
WC, JOHN MITCHELL and THOMAS MITCHELL, both of Rochdale, in
the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR STRETCHING CALICO OR OTHER
WOVEN FABRICS," to be as follows:-
In weaving calico and other woven fabrics it frequently happens that
the warp becomes so taken up in the weaving that the cloth when woven
does not measure the required length, and great loss to the manufacturer
is thus occasioned.
This improved machine is principally designed for the purpose of
stretching such cloth to its proper length, but it is also equally appli-

page_text: cable for the purpose of stretching other woven fabrics, and, besides
increasing the length it improves the appearance and "feel" of the
cloth.
The improved machine consists chiefly of two or more roughened
rollers, over and under which the cloth is caused to pass, and as the
second roller is driven rather faster than the first, and the third (if more
than two) rather faster than the second, and so on, the cloth is pulled
and stretched in the direction of its length as it passes through the
machine.
The rollers are mounted in a suitable frame, and driven by spur or
other gearing; they may be covered on their surface with either emery
or sand, or punched metal, or wire cards, or roughened in any other
convenient manner in order to give them a hold on the cloth, and the
latter is pressed against them by means of pressing rollers covered with
felt or other soft material, which are mounted in brackets and held 1
against the roughened rollers by means of weighted levers.
Endless tapes are provided in order to guide or carry the end of the
cloth through the rollers in the desired direction, and at the delivering
end of the machine an ordinary "plaiting down" machine may be
employed for folding the cloth as it is stretched.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
:
filed by the said John Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
MITCHELL and THOMAS MITCHELL, both of Rochdale, in the County of 2
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell,
Her special license that we, the said John Mitchell and Thomas
Mitchell, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as

page_text: we, the said John Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR STRETCHING
CALICO OR OTHER WOVEN FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said John Mitchell and Thomas Mitchell, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, 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 John Mitchell (on behalf of myself
and the said Thomas Mitchell), do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment and accompanying Drawings :—
In weaving calicoes and other woven fabrics it frequently happens
that the warp becomes so taken up in the weaving that the cloth when
woven does not measure the required length, and great loss to the
manufacturer is thus occasioned.
This improved machine is principally designed for the purpose of
stretching such cloth to its proper length, but it is also equally appli-
cable for the purpose of stretching other woven fabrics, and, besides
increasing the length, it improves the appearance and " feel of the
cloth.
"
The improved machine consists chiefly of two or more series of
roughened rollers, over and under which the cloth is caused to pass, and
as the second series of rollers is driven rather faster than the first, and
the third (if more than two) rather faster than the second, and so on,
the cloth is pulled and stretched in the direction of its length as it passes
through the machine.
The rollers are mounted in a suitable frame, and driven by spur or
other gearing; they may be covered on their surface with either emery
or sand, or punched metal, or wire cards, or roughened in any other

page_text: .convenient manner in order to give them a hold on the cloth (or some or
all of them may be left plain if preferred), and the latter may (if
preferred) be pressed against them by means of pressing rollers covered
with felt or other soft material, which are mounted in brackets and held
.against the roughened rollers by means of weighted levers.
Endless tapes are provided in order to guide or carry the end of the
cloth through the rollers in the desired direction, and at the delivering
end of the machine an ordinary plaiting down" machine may be
employed for folding the cloth as it is stretched.
"
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention we will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be
or may be performed or carried into practical effect; and in order that
the same may be clearly understood we have annexed hereunto a
Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with
figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the following
explanation thereof:-
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing is a side elevation; and Fig. 2, a
vertical section of a cloth stretching machine made according to our
Invention.
a, a, is the framing of the machine supporting in suitable standards
or bearings eight rollers b, b', which are covered with emery or other-
wise roughened. These rollers are driven in the direction of the arrows
by means of spur gearing, as indicated by the red circles c, c, in Fig. 1.
A change of speed however occurs between the fourth and fifth rollers,
so that the last four rollers 6, 1, (to the left hand of the Drawing), are :
driven slightly faster than the first four, and thus the second set of
rollers b¹, b¹, revolving faster than the first set b, b, a constant strain or
pull is kept upon the cloth. In this machine this increase of speed is
obtained as follows:-One of the rollers (see detached plan view,
Fig. 3) has two spur wheels at the end, one of which c is fixed to it, and
the other c' loose on the axle, the latter being rather larger in diameter
and having (say) two or more teeth; this drives the two pinions d, d¹, one
of which is also rather larger in diameter than the other, and this latter
drives the wheel c, which is fixed to the roller, and consequently a change
of speed is effected sufficient to give the required pull to the cloth.
We would here remark that this change of speed may be produced in
any known manner; for instance, the rollers may also be driven at the

page_text: e, e, is a felt
same number of revolutions per minute, but if the second series of
rollers are made rather larger in diameter their surface speed will be
proportionately increased. There may also be more than one change of
speed in the series, or cach roller may have a slightly increased surface
speed given to it, so as to produce the desired effect.
covered roller, bearing by its weight and the pull of the cloth against the
last roughened roller, and f,f, is a delivery board, which is moved to
and fro by a crank pin g, g, so as to fold the cloth as it is delivered;
h, h, are tension rails to keep the cloth smooth as it is fed into the
machine; and i, i, are endless tapes or elastic bands to carry the end of
the cloth through the machine.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that
wc claim as our Invention, the construction and use of a machine for
stretching calico or other woven fabrics, wherein the cloth passes
between or over and under roughened rollers, to which an increasing
surface speed is imparted, without confining ourselves to the particular
arrangement above described and shown on the Drawing annexed, nor
to the means by which such increase in speed is effected.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mitchell (on behalf of myself
and the said Thomas Mitchell), have hereunto set my hand and
scals, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.