IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOVEN AND FELTED PROVISIONALARATUSOY
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Eyres, Merchant, and John
Longbottom, Engineer, both of Leeds, in the County of York, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOVEN AND FELTED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Eyres
and John Longbottom at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 22nd January 1870.
We, JOHN WILLIAM EYRES, Merchant, and JOHN LONGBOTTOM,
Engineer, both of Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING
WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
-
.
This Invention relates to a mode of ornamenting fabrics suitable for
ladies' dresses and under clothing, curtains, and table covers, and relates
also to apparatus for preparing the material to be employed in such
ornamentation.

page_text: of
According to this Invention we propose to produce patterns or designs
any kind upon felted or woven fabrics by first applying by printing
or otherwise a waterproof solution thereon, and then applying on to
such solution before it is dry a flock, which may be of any desired color.
This flock is prepared from worn out fabrics, or from waste cuttings or
chippings of various fabrics or leather. These waste fibrous substances
are first well washed and then ground or reduced to a state of flock
either by the ordinary rag engine or machine or by an improved
machine specially adapted for the purpose.
This improved machine consists of 3 rollers so disposed that the
upper roller shall revolve in contact with the two lower ones, which
lower rollers are driven at a greater velocity than the upper onc,
so as to produce a grinding action between them. If found requisite
the rollers may be kept cool by the circulation of cold water through
them. The rags or refuse fibrous substances to be ground are fed
in by an inclined spout between the first and second rollers, and
pass thence between the second and third rollers, which complete their
reduction, the flock passing off by a discharge spout on to an endless
travelling belt or apron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John William Eyres and John Longbottom in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd July 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoHN
WILLIAM EYRES, Merchant, and JOHN LONGBOTTOM, Engineer, both of
Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty:.
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John William Eyres and John
Longbottom, Her special license that we, the said John William Eyres
and John Longbottom, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said John William Eyres and John Long-
bottom, our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTING WOVEN AND FELTED FABRICS AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said John William Eyres and John Longbottom, our executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,
or under the hands and seal of one of us, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Longbottom, on behalf
of myself and the said John William Eyres, 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, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letter and figures marked thereon (that is to.
say):
:-
Our said Invention relates to a mode of ornamenting fabrics which
are rendered thereby both durable and warm, and are suitable for
ladies' dresses and under skirts, window curtains, and bed hangings,
coach and carriage linings, table covers, and covers for articles of fur-
niture and other purposes, and relates also to apparatus for preparing the
material to be employed in such ornamentation.
According to this Invention we propose to produce patterns or designs.
of any kind upon felted or woven fabrics by first applying by printing.
or otherwise a waterproof or other suitable adhesive solution or
material thereon, and then applying on to such solution before it is dry
ground fibre in the form of flock, which may be of any desired color..
This ground fibre is prepared from worn out fabrics, waste cuttings or
clippings of various fabrics or leather. These waste fibrous substances.
are first well washed and then ground or reduced to a state of small fibre
or flock either by the ordinary rag engine or machine or by an improved
machine specially adapted for the purpose.
This improved machine consists of three or more rollers so disposed that..
the upper roller shall revolve in contact with the two lower ones, which
lower rollers are driven at a greater velocity than the upper one so as,

page_text: to produce a grinding action between them. If found requisite the
rollers may
be kept cool by the circulation of cold water through them.
The rags or refuse fibrous substances to be ground are fed in by an
inclined spout between the first and second rollers, and pass thence
between the second and third rollers, which complete their reduction;
the small fibre or flock passing off by a discharge spout on to an endless
travelling belt or apron.
And in order. that our said Invention may be fully understood, we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for
that purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet
of Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding
parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a transverse vertical section of
our improved machine for grinding or reducing rags and similar refuse
materials to a fine state of division or flock, and Figure 2 is a side
elevation, partly in section, of a machine we find to answer well for
applying the said ground fibre or flocks to fabrics. The refuse materials,.
such as cottons, woollens, flockings, worsted, hair, jute, woollen cloth,
cloth listings, clippings, waste rags, felt carpeting, and silk waste, also
waste leather or cuttings, are first well cleansed by being washed and
scoured by any well known process, after which the various colors are
sorted in order to be ground or reduced separately. This grinding or
reduction may be accomplished, if desired, by means of a rag engine
such as is ordinarily used by paper-makers in preparing pulp, but we
prefer to employ for such purpose the peculiar grinding machine
illustrated by Figure 1 of our Drawings. This machine consists of two
standards or supports A carrying two, three, or more smooth surfaced'
cast-iron or steel rollers about two feet six inches long and 15 inches
in diameter, but we do not limit ourselves to these dimensions. We
prefer to use three of such rollers arranged as shewn in Figure 1, namely,
two B, B', below parallel to each other and horizontal, and one B"
above, also parallel to the two below and situate midway between them."
The upper roller is in actual contact both with the roller B and with the
roller B. The two lower rollers revolve in the same direction, but the
upper one revolves in an opposite direction, as indicated by the arrows.
The upper roller moreover is driven at a much slower speed than the
lower rollers in order to get a grinding action between the contact
surfaces. We have found that a good result is obtained by so arranging
1

page_text: the driving gear as that the upper roller will make one revolution to
five revolutions of the two lower rollers.
In order to prevent these grinding rollers from becoming unduly.
heated by the process of grinding we make them hollow and cause cold.
water to circulate through them, as will be well understood by the
practical man. The several rollers are provided with journals which work.
in bearings C, C, C", in the two side standards A. The bearing of the
top roller is free to slide vertically so as to yield under any undue:
pressure or resistance, for which purpose we place an india-rubber or
other spring D in the top of the bearing, as shewn, and then screw the;
said bearing down by means of two screws E, one of which only is
shewn in Figure 1. The rags or material to be ground or reduced
to small fibre or flock are introduced by means of any convenient feeding
spout between the two rollers B and B", whence they pass between the
two rollers B' and B", and the ground flock or fibre is discharged into a
suitable receptacle or on to an endless travelling apron which'
conveys it away from the machine. The said materials may be passed·
one, two, or more times through between the. grinding rollers according
to the degree of fineness required and the nature of the substance'
operated upon.
In order to apply the ground fibre or flock thus produced we
employ a machine or arrangement of mechanism similar to that,
illustrated by Figure 2. In this machine A is a cloth beam containing
the fabric or substance to be ornamented, such as common cotton, cloth,,
woollen, or worsted goods, muslins, jute, or flax goods, silk, leather, or
skins. When using long pieces of woven fabric, for example, we pass
the goods over guide rollers B, B, and under an adjustable doctor or,
spreader C, the object of which is to spread and lay evenly upon the;
fabric as it is drawn along any suitable waterproofing or adhesive cement.
such, for example, as india-rubber solution, which may be first spread.
on by hand in front of the "doctor" and then equalized or uniformly,
distributed over the surface by the action of the doctor, as is well,
understood in the manufacture of leather cloth. The piece of goods is,
drawn forward by a creeper D consisting of two endless leather belts
provided with pins which enter the selvages of the goods, such belts.
being carried on pulleys E, E, one of which is driven by a belt F or
otherwise. G represents one of two upright sides which enclose the
creeper and support a sieve H Alled with the fine fibre or flock. This

page_text: sieve is moved or shaken by hand or otherwise so as to deposit the flock
upon the still wet coated surface of the goods, and during this process
the goods are switched or beaten from below by boys for the purpose
of consolidating and distributing the flock into and over the entire
cemented surface of the goods. As the creeper travels in the direction
of the arrows the goods are conveyed over the rotatory bearer I, which
strips the goods from the tenter pins and also shakes off the super-
abundant flock. From this beater the goods pass under the guide
roller K and between the pressing or consolidating rollers L, L, being
drawn forward by the attendant, so as to hang in folds on cach side of
the supporting roller M and afford facility for inspection of the surface.
and for the removal of any excess of flock that may be still remaining.
The final operation of drying may be accomplished in various well-
known ways, but we prefer to effect this by passing the goods over but
not in contact with a series of hot water heating pipes N, such as are
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to the said John
Longbottom on the Twenty-third day of May One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six, No. 1450. These pipes are carried between two-
side frames O, supporting a roller P at their apices for facilitating the
drawing of the goods over the heating surface. In lieu of applying
the cement or adhesive material over the. entire surface of one or both
sides of a piece of goods and sprinkling the flock thercon, so as to extend
over the whole of such surface or surfaces, the adhesive material may
be applied to portions only of the surface by the aid of printing blocks
or otherwise, so as to produce designs of any desired contour on the
goods, such designs being subsequently sprinkled with the flock or
reduced fibres, so as to form colored designs on the goods of the same
or different colors according to the color of the flock employed. Or
after the entire surface has been sprinkled with flock and being con-
solidated and allowed to dry designs or patterns in one or more colors
may be chemically printed or otherwise produced thereon by applying
the adhesive compound in various designs to the already flocked surface
and applying thereon flock or reduced fibre of a different shade or color,
whereby a great variety of ornamental effects may be produced, or the
goods so prepared may be subsequently embossed after the manner of
table covers if desired.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used

page_text: or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before recited Letters Patent is,
-
First. The system or mode of ornamenting plain woven fabrics,
leather, or skins by applying thereto an adhesive compound and then
depositing upon the adhesive surface reduced fibres or flock, whereby
ornamental fabrics are produced suitable for manufacture into garments
or to be applied to upholstery and other like purposes, as herein-before
described.
Second. The grinding or reducing to a fine fibre or flock animal and
vegetable substances by subjecting them to the action of smooth rollers
arranged and operating substantially as hercin-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Longbottom, on behalf of
myself and the said John William Eyres, have to this our
Specification' set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of July
. One thousand eight hundred and seventy.