IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING WOOLLEN CLOTH
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUKE
HEBERT, of the Office for Patents, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of September, in the fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Luke
Hebert, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Luke Hebert, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Luke Hebert, my exors, admors, or assigus, 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, the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FULLING WOOLLEN CLOTH,"
communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that T, the said Luke Hebert, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
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
Luke Hebert, have ascertained and set forth the nature of the said improve-
ments, and the manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, by the
following description thereof, and by the Drawings hereunto annexed :—
These improvements in fulling machinery consist, first, in certain modifica-
tions of the form and manner of applying the cylinders for fulling cloth in the
direction of its breadth, with a view to avoid the inconveniences which arise
when pairs of upper and lower cylinders are employed for that purpose.
Second, in certain arrangements to ensure the parallelism of the axes of the
pressing rollers. Third, in the form and construction of the trough in which
the cloth is fulled in the direction of its length. Fourth, in arrangements for
combining fulling by pressure with fulling by percussion. Fifth, in the substi-
tution of other materials for wood or metal in the construction of certain parts
of the machinery.
The Drawings in the Sheet marked No. 1 exhibit my improved machinery
for fulling cloth by pressure. Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same; Figure 3, transverse section;
Figure 4, an oblique section of a portion of Fig. 2; with some modifications;
ȧnd Figure 5, a vertical section of the same part, to give another view of the
modifications. Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, represent portions of the
machine detached. In all the Figures the same letters denote the same parts.
A is the great cylinder, formed of wood or copper, and mounted
upon a shaft
A', which turns in plummer blocks supported by the frames or standards A"
Upon the shaft is fixed a wheel A", which is driven by a pinion A, A, fixed
on the driving shaft of the machine. B, B, are copper flanges fixed to the
sides of the cylinder A, and forming with its periphery a deep groove or
channel, in which the cloth is received, and conducted under three cylinders
C, C, C¹, in succession, which by their pressure effect the fulling of the cloth
laterally. The shafts of the smaller cylinders C, C, C', turn in bearings a³, in
racks a, the lower end of which slide in guides a". b, b, are toothed sectors
fixed at each end of the axes 61, 6, 6, and gearing with the racks a, a;
and bare levers fixed to the axis, and fitted with moveable weights ¹¹, for the
purpose of regulating the pressure of the small cylinders upon the large one.
61 are grooved rollers which sustain and guide the upper ends of the racks.
Upon the shaft of the cylinder C' is fixed a small wheel c, which is driven by
the wheel A, and thus insures the motion of the cylinder C in its action
upon the cloth, which at this part experiences a greater resistance, owing to
the effect of the fulling longitudinally. D is a shoe-piece so formed that the
cloth cannot get between it and the cylinder. The upper end d (shown dotted

page_text: in Figure 2) detaches the cloth from the surface of the large cylinder, and
throws it into the trough, in which it is fulled longitudinally. This shoe is
supported by the cross piece d¹. E is the upper shoe, the end e of which
(shown dotted in Figure 2) serves the same purpose with regard to the
cylinder C as the lower shoe with respect to the cylinder A. el is the cross
piece by which it is supported. To this cross piece are attached arms e¹¹,
fitted with plummer blocks el11, which turn upon the shaft of the cylinder C²,
and thus connect the cylinder with the shoe E in such way that whatever
motion the cylinder may receive the shoe still remains in contact with it
(The form and action of these shoes may be best understood by reference
to Figure 5, which exhibits a modification of the expanding trough or
channel.) F, F, (Fig. 1) grooved plates or boards forming the sides of
the expanding trough. These plates are attached to the cheek pieces f
which turn upon pivots f¹ in the arms of the bell-crank levers G; and
the inner end ff, of the side plates are retained by iron rods X, Fig. 4,
attached by a screw to the side of the machine. The bell-crank levers G
turn upon pivots at g, and to the arms g11 is fastened the bar fl, to which
is attached a weighted cord passing over a pulley, which, acting upon the bell-
crank levers, tends to close the sides of the expanding trough, and thus com-
presses the cloth in the trough with a force proportioned to the weight attached
to the cord. X is a board, having a hole in it, through which the cloth
coming from the cistern or lower part of the machine is drawn, and is thereby
gathered up. From thence the cloth passes through the rectangular tube Ļ,
which enables it to enter the trough or channel in the large cylinder A more
readily. The hole in the tube L being placed in a different position from
the hole in the board K, the cloth i, in its passage from K to L, is pressed in
different directions, and the disposition of its folds is thereby changed at each
revolution. V is a roller which supports the cloth at the proper angle in its
passage from the hole to the hole A. In Figures 4 and 5 is shewn a different
mode of constructing the sides of the expanding trough in lieu of the grooved
planks F. The sides are composed of two cast-iron plates H, H, in each of
which is inserted a row of small grooved vertical cylinders J. These cylinders
are so arranged that the projection of the cylinders in one row faces the recess
formed by the contact of two cylinders in the opposite row.
The Drawings, Figures 12, 13, 14, and 15, in the Sheet marked No. 2,
represent various modifications of apparatus for fulling cloths by percussion.
In all these Figures the cloth is delivered by the rollers N, N, into a trough Ọ,
whence it passes to a table R, where it is submitted to the action of the
beaters F. The cylinders N, N, may be considered as substitutes for the large

page_text: cylinder A and the small cylinders C, C, in the machine represented in Sheet
No. 1. They may be made much wider, and without flanges; their use may
likewise be limited to simply drawing forward the cloth. The lower cylinder
is driven in the same manner as the cylinder A, Sheet 1. The bottom of the
trough O is fixed, but the top is hinged, and is kept down by a weight O¹, as
in Figures 12, 14, and 15, or by a spring, as in Figure 13; thus opposing the
free exit of the cloth from between the cylinders N, N', whereby the cloth is
fulled lengthwise. The beaters P may be made of various forms, and put in
motion by various means. Thus in Figures 12 and 13 the beaters are of a
cylindrical form, and each has a motion round its own axis in addition to its
motion round the common centre p. In Figure 14 a mallet P is set in
motion by a cam P¹, and in Figure 15 the mallet P is moved by an excentric
or crank P. The force of the blow may be regulated by suspending the
table R from a hinge, and giving it an upward pressure by a weight, as shewn
in the Figures 12, 13, and 15; or the table may be a fixture, and the force
of the blow regulated by weights placed upon the beater, as in Figure 14.
In Figure 16 is shewn another arrangement for fulling the cloth in the
direction of its breadth. A portion s, s, of the top and bottom of the trough
turns upon hinge joints, forming clap boards, and is connected to the rods t, t,
by the motion of which rods the pieces s, s, are made alternately to recede from
and to approach each other violently, effecting by the shock a part of the
fulling breadth wise, as is done by the cylinders before described. Fulling
longitudinally is effected in this expanding channel, as in the others. With a
view to avoid, on the one hand, the evils caused by rust or oxidation when metal
is employed in the construction of some parts of the machine, or, on the other
hand, those caused by alternate expansion and contraction when wood is
so employed, I prefer constructing portions of the machinery, more especially
the troughs and cylinders) of stone or such earthy materials as are susceptible
of polish, such as granite, marble, glass, porcelain, or earthenware, &c.
Having described the construction of the machinery, I now proceed to
describe the mode of its operation:-The cloth is first passed through the fixed
channels, next between the cylinders, and then through the expanding trough,
after which the two ends are sewed together. Upon setting the machine in
motion, the cloth lying in the cistern or bottom of the apparatus is gathered
up by the first fixed channel; whence, passing over the guide roller, it enters
the second fixed channel, the aperture of which, as before explained, is placed
in a different position from that in the first; whereby not only is the cloth
arranged so as to place itself with more facility between the rollers, but at
each time that the same portion of cloth in its successive revolutions passes

page_text: through these channels the position of its folds becomes changed: From the
second fixed channel the cloth passes into the channel or groove of the large
cylinder, which in its revolution draws forward the cloth, which, passing
between the large cylinder and the smaller ones placed over it, is fulled in the
direction of its breadtt., more or less, according to the pressure thrown upon
the small cylinders by the weighted levers. The third or last of the small
cylinders which, as before explained, is driven by a toothed wheel in order to
insure its action) accumulates the cloth in the expansive trough until the
increase causes the two sides to recede slightly, and thus partially and at intervals
to allow the cloth to pass through. In its passage through the expanding
trough the cloth heaped up and folded back upon itself becomes fulled length.
wise. In the case of the sides of the expanding trough being formed of small
cylinders, as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, in lieu of the grooved planks shewn
in the first arrangement, the fulling is more rapidly and thoroughly effected,
as, instead of one continued squeeze, each cylinder in succession, from their
being placed in quincunx, gives the cloth a squeeze. In fulling by percussion
jointly with pressure, the beaters, contrary to the action of the common
beaters, full the cloth in successive portions as it comes under their action; the
force of which can also be regulated either by weights placed upon the beaters,
or by the degree of resistance given to the tables, according to the mode of
construction employed. Lastly, in fulling by the cylinders and clap boards,
the fulling in each direction is effected by successive violent approaches of the
clap boards, and by the heaping and doubling up of the cloth between them
by the action of the cylinders.
I claim, in virtue of my herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,-
1st, the general construction and combination of the parts in the several
arrangements herein-before described.
2nd, I claim, for the purpose of fulling cloth in the direction of its breadth,
the employment of a cylinder having a channel or groove formed in its
periphery, into which the cloth is received, and in which it is subjected to the
pressure of any number of cylinders or rollers.
3rd, I claim the employment of racks and pinions to preserve the paral-
lelism of the pressing rollers of fulling machinery.
4th, I claim, for the purpose of fulling cloth in the direction of its length,
the employment of a trough, the sides of which are moveable in a lateral
direction. I also claim the giving to the top and bottom of the trough, in
which the cloth is fulled in the direction of its length, the form shown in Figs. 2
and 5, for the purpose of more readily detaching the cloth from the cylinders,
whether the sides of such trough be moveable or not.

page_text: Inrolled the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thsouand eight. hundred and forty-two.