IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STIFFENING WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bottomley, of Bramley, in the Parish of
Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STIFFENING WOOLLEN AND OTHER
FABRICS."
Sealed the 12th May 1863, and dated the 20th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bottomley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th November 1862.
I, WILLIAM BOTTOMLEY, of Bramley, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County
of York, Machine Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STIFFENING WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object a combination of machinery.for stiffening
woollen and other fabrics. The machine is to be of a width equal to the
fabric to be stiffened. Across one end of the machine is fixed a per-
forated pipe, which is connected by another pipe to a cylinder of a pump of
sufficient dimensions to contain the amount of paste or other stiffening liquid
intended to be used. The cylinder of the pump is provided with a piston,
which may be worked backwards or forwards by means of a screw or rack
connected with certain spur and bevil wheels, or it may be otherwise put in.
motion. The paste or other stiffening liquid is placed on the cylinder and the

page_text: end of the piece to be stiffened is carried under the perforated pipe, and as
the machine is set in motion the piston presses the paste or other stiffening
liquid in the cylinder through the connecting pipe to the perforated pipe, and
thence through the perforations in the perforated pipe, making the liquid
exude in a uniform and steady shower, which falls on the cloth or fabric as it
passes under the perforated pipe. The end of the cloth or fabric is then
caused to pass between one or more pairs of pressing rollers in the machine
until nearly the whole length of the piece is sprinkled. It is preferred that
the pressing rollers should be acted on by springs to cause the desired pressure.
The two ends of the piece are tied or fastened together whilst the tail end has
still to pass through between the pressing rollers, thus making the piece
endless. The piece is passed several times continuously through the machine
until the stiffening matter is equalized in the cloth or fabric. The quantity of
paste or other stiffening liquid to be applied to any given length of cloth or
fabric can be exactly regulated by means of cog or spur wheels connected with
the screw or rack or other mechanism which communicates motion to the
piston.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bottomley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BOTTOMLEY, of Bramley, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County of York,
Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Bottomley, Her special licence that I, the said William
Bottomley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Bottomley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
MACHINERY FOR STIFFENING WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that I, the said William Bottomley, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
⚫ NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Bottomley, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object a combination of machinery for stiffening
woollen and other fabrics. The machine is to be of a width equal to the
fabric to be stiffened. Across one end of the machine is fixed a perforated
pipe, which is connected by another pipe to a cylinder of a pump of sufficient
dimensions to contain the amount of paste or other stiffening liquid intended
to be used. The cylinder of the pump is provided with a piston which may
be worked backwards or forwards by means of a screw or rack connected with
certain spur and bevil wheels, or it may be otherwise put in motion. The
paste or other stiffening liquid is placed in the cylinder, and the end of the
piece to be stiffened is carried under the perforated pipe, and as the machine
is set in motion the piston presses the paste or other stiffening liquid in the
cylinder through the connecting pipe to the perforated pipe, and thence
through the perforations in the perforated pipe, making the liquid exude in
a uniform and steady shower, which falls on the cloth or fabric as it passes
under the perforated pipe. The end of the cloth or fabric is then caused to
pass between one or more pairs of pressing rollers in the machine until nearly
the whole length of the piece is sprinkled. It is preferred that the pressing
rollers should be acted on by springs to cause the desired pressure. The two
ends of the piece are tied or fastened together whilst the tail end has still to
pass through between the pressing rollers, thus making the piece endless.
The piece is passed several times continuously through the machine until
the stiffening matter is equalized in the cloth or fabric. The quantity of
paste or other stiffening liquid to be applied to any given length of cloth or
fabric can be exactly regulated by means of cog or spur wheels connected
with the screw or rack or other mechanism which communicates motion to
the piston.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a side elevation of a machine arranged to carry out the
Invention; Figure 2 shews the opposite side view; and Figure 3 is a front
view. In each of these Figures the same letters of reference are used to
indicate the same parts.
A is the cylinder of a pump into which the paste or stiffening fluid is intro-
duced through the funnel G at one end; D; D, shews the fabric passing
through the machine; C is a pipe through which the paste or stiffening fluid
is forced as the piston in the cylinder A is moved towards.the end of the pump
cylinder; E is a tube perforated with numerous holes. This tube is placed
transversely across the machine above the fabric, which is supported on a
roller H, and as the fabric is caused to move uniformly into and through the
machine numerous jets of paste or stiffening fluid are caused to descend from
the pipe E on to the fabric. The piston of the pump is also moved at a rate
depending on the speed at which the fabric is moved by the pressing rollers
I, I, and J, J, by which a regulated and equal quantity of the stiffening fluid
will be insured on to the fabric in all its parts. It is preferred that the piston
of the pump should be moved by a screw driven from the axis of one of the pairs
of pressing rollers, which are geared together as is shewn in the Drawing;
B is a screw which receives motion by the interposed gearing, as shewn in the
Drawing.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately, but what I claim. is the combined arrange-
mént herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bottomley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM BOTTOMLEY. (L.S.)