CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING WORSTED AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SMITH, of Halifax, in the County of York, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIis present most Excellent Majesty William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of September, in the seventh year of
His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Smith, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said John Smith, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said John Smith, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING WORSTED AND OTHER WOVEN FABRICS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said John
Smith, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said In-
vention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in the Drawings hereto annexed, and by the following expla-
nation thereof (that is to say) :-
My Improvements in Machinery for Dressing Worsted and other Woven
Fabrics apply particularly to those machines now commonly used in the
various processes of cleansing, scouring, dressing, and finishing worsted and
other woven fabrics, and known in the trade by the name of "crabs." These
machines are designed either to wash or cleanse the goods in their grey or
crude state, or to be used in the various middle processes of washing or
scouring cloths, or lastly in the dressing or finishing the surfaces of the same
when they are ready to be dried upon the ordinary drying machines, or other-
wise "finished," as the peculiar quality of such woven fabric or manufacture
under operation may require. It will be well known by those persons who
are acquainted with the ordinary processes of dressing worsted and other
woven fabrics, that the machines termed "crabs" are used in many operations
of such processes, and for various purposes, and for all purposes for which
those machines are generally used my improvements will be found to apply;
the principal object of these improvements being the peculiar arrangement of
such machines, by which their work is performed in a more direct and
advantageous manner, also in the usual method of constructing and arranging
those geared parts, by which the system of machines (so arranged)
are driven, and the manner of weighting the top or pressing roller in all
such machines as herein-after described. In order that my improvements
may be well understood, and that my arrangement of such machines (for the
object above described) may be distinctly seen, I have shewn such views of
the machinery as are necessary in the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is an elevation, shewing the ends of three separate machines, called
crabs," with the necessary gearing for driving them, and three others which
are to be placed in an opposite direction, that is, end to end. Figure 2 is a
front elevation of one of these machines; Figure 3, an elevation of the
opposite end to those in Figure 1; and Figure 4 is a plan or horizontal view
of one of these machines as seen from above. a is the main driving shaft
actuated by an ordinary rotary power placed beneath the flooring of the room
in which the inachines are situated, and between or immediately under the
centre of any of such machines; upon this shaft a there is a spur or teethed
wheel b, b, fixed, which takes into corresponding wheels c, c, c, keyed firmly
upon the shafts or axles d, d, d, which are supported by the side framings of
65

page_text: the machine. By any ordinary clutch box or friction clip, as shewn in the
Drawing at e, e, these carrier shafts or axles are connected to the shafts or axles
upon the ends of the rollers f 1,f 2, f 3, in order to drive them as required; and
upon these rollers f1, f 2,f 3, the goods which are undergoing any.necessary
operation in the process of "crabbing" (as it is commonly termed) are to be
wound. Immediately under these rollers f 1, f 2, f 3, are placed small vats or
troughs 9, 9, 9, for the purpose of containing hot water or other liquids which
may be desirable to facilitate any of the operations of the machines, whether
the cloths passing through them are being washed, cleansed, scoured, or
dressed, and which liquids are supplied by the necessary arrangement of
pipes, taps, &c., as seen at h, h, h; at the bottom of these troughs are vats 8, a
fast rail or guide bar i, and guide roller j (seen by dots in Figure 3), for the
purpose of conducting the cloth under operation through the liquids contained
therein. It will be seen that the cloth or other woven fabric intended to be
operated upon is first laid upon the "scray" or table k at the front of the
system of machines, as shewn in the Drawings, and is from thence conducted
over ordinary tension rails or bars, proceeding under the guide roller j and
guide rail contained in the vat or trough g, g, below, and is thence wound
upon the roller f 1, in order to be "crabbed" or dressed by the operation of the
top or pressing roller l. This top roller is weighted, or the necessary pressure
obtained by the arrangement of levers m, m, m, and weights n, n, as shewn
most clearly in Figure 2, which pressure is increased or diminished (to suit the
quality of the fabric under operation) at the pleasure of the operator, and this
roller f 1 is prevented from overrunning or slipping by the friction pully and
lever 0, 0.
After the cloth or fabric has become completely wound upon the
roller 1 and undergone the first part of the process of "crabbing," it is then
conducted in a similar manner through the succeeding machines f2, f 3, and
so on until completely finished, if required. It has been above stated, that
other "crabs," or similar machines may be placed end to end, or in an
opposite direction to those shewn in Figure 1 and driven with the same gearing
as there shewn, consequently any number of pieces may be operated upon at
the same time by a similar arrangement or system of machines placed end to
end, so as to be capable of receiving motion from one system of driving gear,
as shewn in the Drawing. After the piece of cloth has been through the
set of machines, it is delivered over tension rails upon the roller p placed at
the outer end of the system of machines, whatever number may be required;
the increasing diameter of which roller, as the cloth winds upon it, is accommo-
dated or adjusted by the gearing at 9, 9, 9, which is put in motion by the
lever and treadle r, 1, when required; and when it is necessary to stop any of

page_text: the machinery in order to allow the cloth to be dragged off by the succeeding
machine, the roller upon which the body of cloth is wound is disengaged
from the general gearing by the levers s, s, s, acting separately upon each
respective clutch box or friction clip e, e, e.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of March, in
the seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said John Smith came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.