IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING QUILTED PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude Ritchie, both
of Hounslow, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING QUILTED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ritchie and
Jessy Gertrude Ritchie at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th April 1875.
We, GEORGE RITCHIE and JESSY GERTRUDE RITCHIE, both of
Hounslow, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN APPARATUS
FOR PRODUCING QUILTED FABRICS Or Manufactures," to be as follows :-
The said Invention has reference to the enclosing between two or
more layers or thicknesses of the fabrics or manufacture to be quilted,
cork or other convenient material in a granulated or coarsely powdered
or divided or similar condition, and the retaining the enclosed material

page_text: in bags, tubes, or divisions, by stitching or as it is technically called
quilting, that is to say, holding the enclosed material locally in position.
And the Invention consists in the operations of stitching and of filling
with interposed material, being executed in alternate succession one
upon the other. The said operations I purpose effecting by a fixed or
sliding or travelling sewing machine, or by a travelling frame holding
two or more rolls of the layers or thicknesses of the fabric or manu-
facture to be quilted in such position as to admit of the filling material
being intermittently fed in between them, and the said layers or
thicknesses being properly presented to the action of the sewing
machine. The layers themselves may consist of one or more substances
of different fabric or manufactures, and may be quilted or stitched or
otherwise fastened together without interposed filling.
In the use of the improved quilted fabric or manufacture, it is
intended that stitching may be carried across the bags or tubes or
approximately in or against the lines or pattern to which the article is to
be cut, so as to prevent the loss or escape of the filling.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude Ritchic in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, GEORGE
RITCHIE and JESSY GERTRUDE RITCHIE, of Hounslow, in the County of a
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, 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 George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude
Ritchie, Her special licence, that we, the said George Ritchie and Jessy
Gertrude Ritchie, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude Ritchie, our

page_text: exccutors, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND IN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING QUILTED FABRICS
OR MANUFACTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude Ritchie, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under 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 we, the said George Ritchic and Jessy
Gertrude Ritchie, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
The said Invention has reference to the enclosing between two or
more layers or thicknesses of the fabrics or manufacture to be quilted,
cork (or other convenient material) in a granulated or coarsely powdered
or divided or similar condition, and the retaining the enclosed material
in bags, tubes, or divisions by stitching, or as it is technically called
quilting, that is to say, holding the enclosed material locally in
position.
And the Invention consists in the operations of stitching and of filling
with interposed material, being executed in alternate succession one
upon the other. The said operations we purpose effecting by a fixed or
sliding or travelling sewing machine, or by a travelling frame holding
two or more rolls of the layers or thicknesses of the fabric or manu-
facture to be quilted, in such position as to admit of the filling material
being fed in between them, and the said layers or thicknesses being
properly presented to the action of the sewing machine. The layers
themselves may consist of one or more substances of different fabric or
manufactures, and may be quilted, or stitched, or otherwise fastened
together either with or without interposed filling.
In the use of the improved quilted fabric or manufacture it is intended
that stitching may be carried across the bags or tubes, or approximately

page_text: in or against the lines or pattern to which the article is to be cut, so as
to prevent the loss or escape of the filling.
It is contemplated in certain cases to employ spent hops, rice husks,
or bran, or other similar material instead of granulated cork as the
filling material.
The accompanying two Sheets of Drawing marked Drawing No. 1,
and Drawing No. 2, respectively illustrate some forms or arrangements
of the improved apparatus for producing quilted fabrics, constructed in
accordance with the improved mode of manufacture. One such form or
arrangement is indicated by the small diagram Figures 1 and 2, in
Drawing No. 1, Figure 1, being a side elevation, and Figure 2, a plan
view of a sewing machine with a platform or shelf on one side carrying
thereon a sliding travelling work holder or carrier. For convenience
this holder is herein-after designated the "travelling carrier," or
"carrier." The Figure 2 omits the carrier but shows the platform or
shelf and the rails on which the carrier moves or slides.
The larger or remaining Figures (3 to 8) of Drawing No. 1 are views
drawn to about half size from an experimental machine which we have
had some time in use, and of the work which it has produced. Any
convenient size may however be employed.
J
Figures 3 and 4 are a plan and section of the quilting or work.
Figure 7, a vertical section across the carrier; and Figure 8, a corres-
ponding section of certain of the parts, but in an altered position.
In these Figures a is the sewing machine, which is of any convenient
ordinary description; b, the shelf or side platform; c, the carrier or
frame thereof, being a wooden box pivoted upon an under carriage d,
which slides upon the metal rails e and f, one of which is angular, the
better to serve as a steady guide. The box c is furnished with the supply
roller for the bottom layers or thicknesses, one or more of the cloth
fabric or manufacture to be quilted, the supply roller h for the top layers
or thicknesses, one or more, and the delivering rollers and % (sec
Figure 7), the upper one and the roller being supported in sliding
I

page_text: bearings to allow the space between the delivering rollers to be varied;
1, 1, are springs pressing downwards on the bearings; m, m*, partitions,
the
space between which is used as a reservoir for the granulated cork
or other filling. The front partition m*, or both of them, are made to
slide so as to permit of regulation (in any convenient manner) as to
height of the bottom edge above the floor n (sec Figure 7).
In the form or arrangement represented by the above-mentioned
Figures the sewing machine (as to position) is stationary, and the work
is guided by the carrier, the travel of which is caused by the ordinary
feed motion of the sewing machine, which presses or drags the work,
and also with the work the carrier which holds or carries it. For this
reason the carrier is made to run very casily on the slides or rails e, f, and
the friction (as nearly as may be) compensated by a weight or spring
(not shown) pulling by the cord o (see Figure 6), which is carried over
the pulley o* in Figure 2. The work is presented to the needle of the
sewing machine by being delivered by the rollers i, k, on or over the
plate p, and between it and the presser or clipping bar q, which by the
springs q* is pressed downwards so as to hold the work firmly, but when
required is lifted, as shewn at Figure 8, to allow the feed towards the
sewing machine through and by means of the said rollers between the
performance of each line of stitching. The lifting (or the reverse) is
effected by a pair of small cams & on a rod s*, turned at will by the
handles. *, *, are guides upon the roller h, and p*, p*, guides upon
the plate p, which admit of adjustment in their position to suit the
width of the work. With cach such feed movement towards the sewing
machine a portion of the cork or other filling is carried forward, and
there are thus executed by the improved apparatus the alternate
operations of stitching and of filling with interposed material, which
in combination constitute the improved mode of producing quilted
fabrics.
The amount or extent of the feed is regulated by a lever, with pall
and ratchet wheel t, the last mentioned being on the axis of the lower
delivery roller i. When the width of the quilted fabric (to be made) is
considerable it is desirable that the sliding guide or fced action of the
carrier should not depend on a pressing or dragging motion conveyed
thereto by the work itself; and to provide for this independently I have
designed another machine or apparatus represented in Drawing No. 2,
at Figures 9, 10, and 11, which are elevations of the front and two ends

page_text: The sewing machine is of any ordinary convenient description, but
modified or adapted to the purpose. A is the main frame or support of
the apparatus; B, a hopper or reservoir for the granulated cork or other
filling; B, a revolving chambered measuring wheel therein for
supplying the filling in proper quantity; C and D are supply fabric
rollers, and E receiving roller for the quilted work, all of which and also
the parts A, G, H, I, K, L, L, M, R, herein-after described are
stationary in the sense above stated; F is a traversing plate or frame
carrying the sewing machine, and its several proper parts and special
fittings of which may be noticed here morc particularly the plate F*, the
vibrating arm F carrying the needle, the rod F" for actuating same from
a cam motion at F, the reciprocating lever F³ also worked from a cam
motion at F', the spindle Fe and palls F', F', worked by the said lever
and bearings F, F, (for the spindle) fixed to or in connection with the
plate or frame F; A* is a projection from the main frame A carrying
the sliding block G worked by a treadle rod H from the stirrup H*, the
extent of action being regulated by a stop screw I; K is a pressing bar
extending the length of the plate F* for holding the work firmly against
it, and for drawing it down after each line of stitching has been executed,
and allowing of the alternate or filling operation. This bar is hinged to
the block C by an arm L with handle L*, and is kept up to its work by
the spring M, but may and is to be held off or away from the work
after the drawing down of the work, and during the rise of the bar and
the rod H before the next line of stitching is executed. This rising
action is not indicated in the Drawing, but is effected by a spring or in
any convenient manner.
Some of the above-mentioned parts are in pairs at the opposite ends or
other convenient places of the apparatus; R, R, are racks fixed to the
framing A and against which the palls F', F', act one pall and rack for
motion in one direction, and the others for reverse direction accordingly
as placed in or out of
gear.
It is evident that by the reciprocating motion of the cams at F" the
palls will be worked against the racks and effect the traversing motion
of the machine. The wheel B* and rollers C, D, E, are to have the
requisite degree of tension put upon them according to circumstances
and may be driven in any convenient manner.
Figures 4, 4, and 4° are diagrams indicating some among various
forms of cross quilting which may be executed by stitching the cross

page_text: lines after or the execution of the firstly produced lines, and we would
remark that the various lines need not necessarily be parallel nor straight,
but may if desired be tapering or curved; also that with reference to
the feeding of the work to the sewing machine draggers, scratchers, or
scrapers may be used in place of or together with feeding rollers as
described particularly when no filling of granulated cork, hops, husks,
bran, or such like material is enclosed between the layers or thicknesses
of the fabrics or manufacture to be quilted.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Ritchie and Jessy Gertrude
Ritchie, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Nineteenth
day of October, in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and
seventy-five.
seventy-five.
GEO. RITCHIE.
(L.S.)
JESSY GERTRUDE RITCHIE. (L.S.)