Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Mosaic Floor Cloth.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 30th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 26th Jan., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Mosaic Floor Cloth.
I, FREDERICK WALTON of No. 114 Holborn in the City of London, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In my Specification No. 16043 of 1890 I have described machinery for manu-
facturing mosaic floor cloth, in which there is a revolving drum having on its
periphery a flexible band with a number of outwardly projecting pins, against
which are pressed a backing fabric and tesserae of variously coloured floor cloth
material cut out by cutting cylinders arranged around the drum from sheets of the
material passing between the cutting cylinders and pressing rollers.
According to my present invention, for some kinds of mosaic floor cloth, I
substitute for the cutting cylinders, moulding cylinders having shallow recesses
formed in their periphery, these recesses being fitted with plungers operated by
stationary cams round which they revolve, and I provide the pressing roller with a
number of projecting pressers corresponding in form and position to the recesses
in the cylinder, in contact with which the roller revolves at the same surface
speed.
The floor cloth material in the condition of small pieces is fed from a hopper
into the recesses of the cylinder while their plungers are retracted, the material is
compressed in the recesses by the pressers of the roller which enter the recesses,
and finally the pieces of compressed material are extruded as tesserae from the
recesses and forced on to the backing fabric carried by the travelling band on which
they are held in position by the projecting pins.
For the thicker kinds of floor cloth, for which deeper recesses are required in
the moulding cylinder, I effect the compression of the material in the recesses by
arranging the cam which operates the plungers so that they are made to press the
tesserae against a flexible metal band which, by means of heated guide rollers is
pressed against part of the periphery of the moulding cylinder and travels with it,
heating the tesserae as they are being compressed by the gradual outward move-
ment of the plungers. Instead of such band, a hollow block fitting part of the
periphery of the moulding cylinder may be moved to and fro to prevent adhesion
of the tesserae as they are pressed against it, this block being heated if necessary.
As in this case the plungers have to exert considerable pressure, I prefer to provide
their stems with antifriction rollers which travel along the cam.
Instead of applying this arrangement in connection with a revolving drum such as
is described in my previous Specification above referred to, I may arrange several
sets of the moulding cylinders, metallic bands and heated guide rollers or blocks,
over a horizontally travelling band having pins projecting from it, so that variously
coloured tesserae extruded from the several moulding cylinders are laid successively
on backing carried by the travelling band, to which backing they are afterwards
caused to adhere by suitable pressing apparatus, so as to form a continuous floor
cloth.
Each moulding cylinder may have recesses suited to form by their combinations
a number of different patterns, all those of the recesses which for any pattern are
not required to form tesserae being filled up for the time.
Dated this 30th day of January 1001
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Manufacturing Mosaic Floor
I, FREDERICK WALTON of No. 114 Holborn in the City of London, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
In my Specification No. 16043 of 1890 I have described machinery for manu-
facturing mosaic floor cloth, in which there is a revolving drum having on its
periphery a flexible band with a number of outwardly projecting pins, against
which are pressed a backing fabric and tesserae of variously coloured floor cloth
material cut out by cutting cylinders arranged around the drum from sheets of the
material passing between the cutting cylinders and pressing rollers.
According to my present invention, for some kinds of mosaic floor cloth, I
substitute for the cutting cylinders, moulding cylinders and appliances, several sets
of which are arranged in a row as I shall describe referring to the accompanying
drawings in which I have shewn four sets by which a mosaic having a pattern of
four different colours can be produced.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the machine.
The other figures drawn to an enlarged scale to shew details are Figure 3 a
transverse section partly in elevation and Figure 4 a longitudinal section to a
larger scale of one set of the moulding cylinders and appliances, and drawn to a still
larger scale are Figure 5 a part section of moulding cylinder and Figure 6 a part
side view of a feeding comb.
The moulding cylinder A is hollow and has in its periphery recesses constituting
moulds each recess having the shape of one of the tesserae of the floor cloth pattern.
The recess has a moveable bottom consisting of a plate a attached to a stem a¹
provided with a spring which urges the plate down into the recess as far as
permitted by a pair of sliding pins a² resting on the periphery of an interior
cylinder A which is eccentric to A. This internal cylinder A¹ might be stationary,
but I prefer to make it rotate with A so that there is very little motion of the
pins a² on its periphery. Three hollow cylinders B B3 B4 which may be heated
by steam or otherwise carry round a band B which may be of woven wire or
caoutchouc and which bears on part of the circumference of A towards which it is
forced by a pressing roller B².
Above the cylinder A there is a hopper C which is supplied with coloured floor
cloth material in a granular condition. A revolving worm conveyor C₁ serves to
distribute, along the length of the hopper, the material which is fed at the middle,
At the bottom of the
half the worm being right handed and half left handed.
hopper there is a double feeding comb C3 consisting of a pair of bars with pins
projecting from them which are made to reciprocate longitudinally, there is also a
brush Y revolving in a direction opposite to the cylinder A. so as to prevent
Iustead of this a scraping
material being carried away on the surface of A.
blade might be employed having a longitudinal reciprocating motion like that of C
Below the cylinder A there is a flat table D and a pressing roller D'. At each end
of the table D there is a drum D2 and over these two drums passes a strong endless
apron D³ having sharp pins or needle points projecting from its whole surface. A
suitable fabric D to form the backing of the floor cloth travels on and along
with the apron D³ and receives on it the tesserae from all the rollers A these
Each recess of the
tesserae being formed and delivered in the following manner.
cylinder A as it passes under the hopper C becomes filled with the granular
material the filling being promoted by the action of the comb C. As the cylinder
revolves in the direction of the arrow the pins a² become gradually forced out by
travelling along or along with the eccentric cylinder A¹, the material in the

page_text: mould is thus compressed between the bottom plate a of mould and the band B¹
and the pressing roller B². Where the compressed tesserae leaves contact with
the band B' it is prevented dropping off by a few needle points projecting from
the bottom a of the mould. When the mould reaches the lowest position the
compressed tesserae is extruded from it and pushed on to the backing fabric which
is travelling along in the same direction and with about the same surface speed
as the cylinder A. The numerous needle points of the apron projecting a little
through the backing hold in position the tesserae of different colours which the
cylinders A successively contribute, all these making up a complete pattern which
is carried along by the backing after it leaves the apron, to be finally compressed
on the backing by suitable rollers between which the web is led.
8
The gearing by which motion is communicated throughout the machine may be
varied; the arrangement shewn in the drawings may be described as follows:-
A pulley P driven by a band from a suitable motor drives a shaft p, a pinion Q
on which drives an intermediate wheel R on a shaft r, and R drives a wheel S on
a shaft s. Worms R' on the shaft r drive worm wheels A² on the cylinders A, and
worms s¹ on the shaft a drive worm wheels D³ on the shafts & of the apron drums D'.
In order to cause the internal eccentric cylinder A' to revolve with A, a wheel A³
drives a pinion on a parallel shaft a³, a pinion on which drives a wheel A* on
the shaft of the cylinder A'. A wheel K on the shaft s drives a wheel K¹ on a
shaft k, which by bevil gear drives the worm conveyors C¹. A bevil pinion L
on the shaft p drives a bevil wheel L' on an inclined shaft l, which through bevil
gear M drives a shaft m. On the shaft m there are eccentrics N the arms n of
which as the eccentrics revolve oscillate about stationary pins, and the lower ends
of these arms being linked to the feeding combs C2 cause them to reciprocate.
Worms T on the shaft m work worm wheels T' on the shafts of the cylinders B.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In apparatus for manufacturing mosaic floor cloth the combination of several
moulding cylinders arranged in a row each provided with an internal eccentric
cylinder a feed hopper and a pressing band and rollers, with a travelling apron,
arranged and operating substantially as described.
2. The combination of the feeding combs C2 the eccentrics N and their pivotted
armis n linked to the combs, substantially as described.
3. In combination with the moulding cylinder A and the internal eccentric
cylinder A geared thereto, the mould bottoms a spring stems a¹ and sliding pins a²,
substantially as described.
Dated this 30th day of November 1894.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.