SUNDRY APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR ACCELLERATING THE MANUFACTURING OF FELT OR STUFF HATS, AND FOR CUTTING AND REMOVING BY MACHINERY THE FURS OF BEAVERS, OF RABBITS, AND THE WHOLE VARIETY OF SKINS THE FURS OR WOOL OF WHICH IS USED FOR THE PURFOSE OF HAT MAKING
Year: 1809

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
WILLCOX, of the Parish of Saint Mary, Lambeth, in the County of Surry,
Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Third day of April, in
tho forty-ninth year of His reign, did, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Willcox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard Willcox, during
the term of fourteen years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the said United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, his Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "SUNDRY APPARATUS OR MACHINERY
FOR ACCELLERATING THE MANUFACTURING OF FELT OR STUFF HATS, AND FOR
CUTTING AND REMOVING BY MACHINERY THE FURS OF BEAVERS, OF RABBITS, AND
THE WHOLE VARIETY OF SKINS THE FURS OR WOOL OF WHICH IS USED FOR THE
PURFOSE OF HAT MAKING;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Richard Willcox, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be..
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next and immediately next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, by the same, relation being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Willcox, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in the plans drawn in the margin of these Presents, and the following explanation
thereof, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists of a method of holding down or confining the
fur or wool during the operation of cutting or separating the fur from the pelt,
and a method of effectually and conveniently removing the same after it is so
cut or separated.
My method of holding down the fur I thus describe :-First, the skin being
held down or confined to the surface of the roller on which it is advanced to
the knife, I propose to hold or press down the fur by the application of an
apparatus which I call a drag (or some of the other similar suitable contri-
vances which will be herein-after described) moderately pressed on its surface.
This is disposed either in a position parrallel with or inclined to the axis of the
large roller, is placed edgwise or inclined to it, may be composed of iron, of the
other simple metals, of a composition of them, or of wood, and is either simple
or compounded of different pieces, as the dimentions or other circumstances
of the work may occasionally be found to require; and to this I add an appa-
ratus which I call a rake, and by this I propose to remove the fur from off the
pelt after it is separated by the action of the knife. And the drag I construct
so as to accommodate itself to and produce an uniform pressure or holding on
the fur, notwithstanding its inequalities of thickness, and to produce this I
prefer and adopt an edge bar, pressing with its edge on the fur, and composed
of three distinct parts, thus,-two outer pieces form a case, somewhat similar
to that of a pocket comb, and a middle piece is placed between themi and pro-
jecting edgewise below them. This I make of about one inch deep and about
one-eighth thick, and its projection below the case about five-eighths of an inch;
it is secured to it by two or more rivets, one or two inches from each end. It
is filed smooth on the edge which lies in contact with the fur, and this should
be a little rounded. By this means the middle piece will, with a moderate
legree of pressure, spring on its edge, and so accommodate itself to those skins
which are thicker at the middle than the edges, and when of an uniform sub-
stance will remain parallel. The materials I find best for this are steel and iron
welded together, the steel part in contact with the fur; to remove the fur from
the drag I use the rake before-mentioned, and formed either on the principle of
the drag, or, in other cases, a piece of steel, or steel and iron, placed edgewise and
brought to a knife, which is afterwards a little taken down by a file or fine grit
One of the methods of applying this apparatus I thus describe:-The
stone.

page_text: machinery to work the drag and rake may be any of the well-known eccen-
tric motions, as cranks, heart wheels, &c., and connected by any of the well-
known methods of communicating motion to different shafts. The effects of
this apparatus are that at each stroke of the engine the edge of the rake comes
into contact with the edge of the drag, and presses on the skin so as to
relieve it in some degree from the weight of the drag (and in some cases the
entire weight), and as the rake recedes by the eccentric motion, draws away the
fur cut off. The drag now presses on the fur while a second stroke is made and
another portion of fur cut, while the rake is raised by its machinery sufficiently
high in its back stroke to be clear of the fur, and fall the next stroke in
contact with the drag as before, and is again ready to draw away the fur about
to be cut. The references to the Drawings are as follow:-Figure 1, A, A,
A, A, A, the framing of the machine; B, B, the large roller on which the skin
is disposed so as to advance the parts to the action of the knife from which the
fur is to be cut; C, C, is a smaller roller of soft metal, as lead, pewter, &c., on
which the fur is cut; D, D, is the piece which I call the drag, and is already
described. Figure 2 is a front geometrical elevation of it, and Figure 3 a
transverse section. a, a, are the two pieces which support the springing piece,
which is itself shewn in its place below them. The several parts are respec-
tively referred to each other by dotted lines. The rivets of this piece are seen at
b, b. E, E, E, E, is the upper carriage or framing, on which is supported the
eccentric motions and connection with the drag and rake; F, F, are cranks
connected to the rake by rods G, G, two eccentric motions connected with the
rods F, F, for drawing off the rake from the drag. II, H, I, are three chain
wheels. Connected by a chain 9, 9, g, to I is an handle by which itself and
H, H, are moved, acting on the cranks F, F, and eccentrics G, G, by which
the rake is governed. I is also set on one extremity of the shaft L, L, the
other end of which has a worm M; this works into the worm wheel N. On
the shaft of this and below it is seen a second worm O working into the worm
wheel P set on the axis of the large roller B, B, thus setting in motion the
roller on which the skin is brought to the action of the knife and the rake.
R is the hand knife, with an horizontal and vertical motion, and traversing on
the bar S, S. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of the frame E, E, E, E
and its apparatus, and Fig. 5 an horizontal plan or bird's-eye view of the same,.
and in those Figures the several parts are respectively marked with the same
letters of reference as in Fig. 1. Fig 6 shews another method of removing the
fur after it is cut. The roller A is the same as that marked C in Fig. 1. B
is the drag marked C in Figure 1; C is a drum roller of about 18 inches dia-
meter; D, a metal roller, of about 1 inch diameter; E, a wood roller, of 6

page_text: inches diameter.
About these is an endless web of canvass F, F, or other
similar suitable material, to which the fur will adhere after being cut from the
pelt, and is carried off by the web as in the former case it was by the rake.
Fig. 7 is an apparatus for the better and more expeditiously plucking the
several sorts of furs, &c. A, A, is a frame, between the uprights of which is
set a roller or cylinder B; on one end of this is fixed a wheel C, by which it
is turned on its axis; the other end is so tightened by a wedge at E (or other
proper contrivance for that purpose), as not to turn unless by the action of the
wheel C. The skin is disposed on the cylinder B, and fastened thereto by one
edge, by tying or otherwise, is brought over the bar D, and hangs over the
front of the cylinder. The operator plucks with both hands, using the two-
handed knife seen at Figure 8. Figure 9 is the transverse section of an
apparatus by which the fur may be cut from the pelt without employing any
apparatus to hold down the skin. A is the large roller as in the former
instance; B is the skin, attached by one of its edges to the roller at b; C is a
circular knife, revolving in an axis D by a wheel E. At the same time it tra-
verses the length of the roller A by the carriage F, F, moving on the sliding
frame G; II is an arm supporting a small piece I, shewn geometrically at A
in Fig. 10. This confines and at the same time turns the fur off the pelt as
fast as it is cut, and it falls down on the creeper K, K, on which it is locked.
Figures 11 and 12 are respectively front and side elevations of an apparatus
for holding down the fur on the roller. In this the dotted circle A, A, is tho
circular knife; B, B, two small cones, so disposed as to be in contact with the
surface of the roller and also with that of a plate C, C. They press mode-
rately on the fur by the action of a spiral spring G; one end of this is fixed to
the stud H, the other to I. The cones revolve on their respective axes sepa-
rately by bevel gear affixed to their bases; the apex of each cone is supported
by a projecting picce D (Figure 11); the corresponding bevel wheels are set
on an upright shaft driven by a wheel at F, or other suitable and usual con-
trivance, and I use a single knife in this way, or connect 2 or more of them,
as occasion may require. The Figures 11 and 12 Lave their several parts
marked respectively with the same letter of reference. This apparatus also
traverses the length of the roller as Fig. 9, by being fixed on a carriage sliding
on triangular bars. Fig. 10 is a geometrical view of the underside of the cir-
cular knife, in which the shape, situation, and method of adjusting the piece I
are shewn; and I declare that the description of the apparatus and their parts
herein given is the result of careful and practical experiment, and are what I
prefer and adopt in practice; but further, I declare that to prevent the infringe-
ament of adopting my principles, or any part or parts thereof under the disguise

page_text: of a change of materials, dimensions, or proportions, I claim the privilege of
using any or all of the metals or their combinations, of altering my materials,
dimensions, or proportions according to the intended scale of operation (as
cutting on a portion of a circle or cylinder instead of a whole one, or on an
horizontal or inclined bed, &c.) And further, I do not confine myself to any
particular mode of connecting my said improvements with the engine, or of
communicating motion to them; but adopting all or any of those modes with
which mechanics are well acquainted, and claiming as my exclusive right all
such copies or approximations to my principles of arrangement and construction
herein set forth as shall clash or interfere with them in any or either of those
particulars.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Willcox, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the
day of April, in the year of our
T
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