AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLEARING AND PREPARING SILK CRAPES, AEROPHANES, AND OTHER LIKE FABRICS, LISSES, AND OTHER GAUZES AND LACE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Minton Courtauld, of the firm of Samuel
Courtauld and Company, of Braintree, in the County of Essex, Crape
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLEARING AND
PREPARING SILK CRAPES, AEROPHANES, AND OTHER LIKE FABRICS, LISSES, AND
OTHER GAUZES AND LACE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Minton Courtauld
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th September 1858.
I; JOHN MINTON COURTAULD, of the firm of Samuel Courtauld and Company,
of Braintree, in the County of. Essex, Crape Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLEARING AND
PREPARING SILK CRAPES, AEROPHANES, AND OTHER LIKE FABRICS, LISSES, AND OTHER
GAUZES AND LACE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:
My Invention consists in bringing the surface of the fabric to be "cleared"
in contact with another part thereof, or of a similar fabric, and then separating
the surfaces, or drawing them asunder by means of machinery about to be
described, or by arrangements of machinery analogous thereto.
Upon a suitable frame I mount two rollers, which I prefer to be clothed
with india-rubber; or other suitable material; the bearings of one roller are

page_text: fixed, while the bearings of the other are free to move towards and from the
fixed bearing; a weight, spring, or other suitable contrivance is employed to
keep the rollers together. One roller is driven, while the other revolves by
frictional contact. I connect reversing gear to the axis of the driven roller, to
enable the direction of rotation of the rollers to be reversed when necessary,
and by means of an arrangement of weighted lever, spring escapement, or
other suitable contrivance, I set the machine to reverse by its own action after
any particular number of revolutions. I introduce perforated gas and steam
pipes under the rollers, to enable me to obtain heat or moisture under the
crape or other fabric under operation. Supposing a piece of crape to be
cleared to be mounted upon one roller, one end is connected to the other
roller, and the machine is set in motion, the crape unwinds from one and
winds upon the other roller, the particular contact and separation of the
surfaces of the crape perform the "clearing."
I do not limit myself to the arrangement of rollers just described, as a
roller or rollers may be variously arranged to perform the particular contact
and separation of the surfaces of the fabric, whereby the clearing is effected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Minton Courtauld in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MINTON COURTAULD, of the firm of Samuel Courtauld and Company, of
Braintree, in the County of Essex, Crape Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Minton Courtauld, Her special licence that I, the said John
Minton Courtauld, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Minton Courtauld, my executors, administrators, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLEARING AND PREPARING SILK CRAPES, AEROPHANES,
AND OTHER LIKE FABRICS, LISSES, AND OTHER GAUZES AND LACE, AND IN MACHINERY

page_text: EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jolin
Minton Courtauld, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, 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 Minton Courtauld, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same iś
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings "hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in bringing the surface of the fabric to be "cleared".
in contact with another part thereof, or of a similar fabric, and then separating
the surfaces or drawing them asunder by means of machinery about to be
described, or by arrangements of machinery analogous thereto.
Upon a suitable frame I mount two rollers, which I prefer to be clothed
with india-rubber, or other suitable material; the bearings of one roller are
fixed, while the bearings of the other are free to move towards and from the
fixed bearing; a weight, spring, or other suitable contrivance is employed to'
keep the rollers together. One roller is driven while the other revolves by
frictional contact. I connect reversing gear to the axis of the driven roller,
to enable the direction of rotation of the rollers to be reversed when necessary;
and by means of an arrangement of weighted lever, spring escapement, or
other suitable contrivance, I set the machine to reverse by its own action after
any particular number of revolutions. I introduce perforated gas and steam
pipes under the rollers, to enable me to obtain heat or moisture under the
crape or other fabric under operation. Supposing a piece of crape to be
cleared to be mounted upon one roller, one end is connected to the other
roller, and the machine is set in motion; the crape unwinds from one and
winds upon the other roller, the particular contact and separation of the
surfaces of the crape perform the "clearing."
I do not limit myself to the arrangement of rollers just described, as a
roller or rollers may be variously arranged to perform the particular contact
and separation of the surfaces of the fabric, whereby the clearing is effected.
In the accompanying Drawings I shew the precise arrangement of
machinery I prefer to adopt in carrying out my Invention, in end elevation
at Figure 1, in front elevation at Figure 2, and in plan at Figure 3.
A, A', are the rollers, covered with india-rubber, on which the crape is

page_text: rolled backward and forward to be cleared. The roller A¹ is fitted in sliding
bearings, and is held up to the other roller by means of a weight M at each
bearing. The bearings and other parts are supported upon a suitable frame;
B, B', B", are three riggers, by which the machine is driven, reversed, and
thrown out of gear; the rigger B" is fast on a shaft a, which carries the
mitre wheel C; the rigger B¹ is fast on a shaft y, which carries the mitre
wheel C'; the centre rigger B runs loose on the shaft. K is a band for com-
municating power from a steam engine or other prime mover; D is a worm,
which drives a worm wheel D', and turns the shaft E; e is a pinion on this
shaft, which gears into a toothed rack f, attached to a sliding bar F; this bar
is fitted with two sliding blocks G, G, which, as one or other of them comes
in contact with a weighted lever H, drives the weight H over the central
point, from whence it falls, and carries a band fork lever J with it, which
transfers the band from one fast rigger to the other, and so reverses the motion
of the rollers. The sliding blocks G, G, are adjustable by two long screws j, j,
which are fitted with milled heads L, L. By adjusting the position of the
blocks, the motion of the rollers may be reversed after any number of
revolutions, within such limits as include all the variety of work required to
be performed by the machine. O is a pipe, placed longitudinally under one
of the rollers, perforated at top; a number of jets of gas issue from the
perforations, to warm or dry the work as' occasion requires. N is another
perforated pipe placed under the other roller for emitting small jets of steam
to warm or damp the work as occasion requires.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
the precise arrangements of machinery shewn in the accompanying Drawings;
but I claim, clearing and preparing silk crapes, aerophanes, and other like
fabrics, lisses, and other gauzes and lace, by means of rollers made to act
substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Minton Courtauld, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN MINTON COURTAULD. (L.S.)