CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CLEANSING WOOLLEN CLOTHS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DAVIS, of Leeds, in the West Riding of the County of York, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
year
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters. Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of May, in the second year of Her reign, and in
the of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, did, for Her-
self, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Davis.
and GEORGE KINDER, of Almonsbury, in the County of York aforesaid, Cloth
Dresser, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
we, the said William Davis and George Kinder, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as we, the said William Davis and George Kinder,
our executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING AND CLEANSING WOOLLEN
CLOTHS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging us, the
said William Davis and George Kinder, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso contained in
the above in part recited Letters Patent, I, the said William Davis, on behalf
of myself and of the said George Kinder, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are particularly described and ascertained in and by the following descrip-
tion thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
.the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our improvements in machinery for dressing and cleansing woollen cloths
consists in a peculiar arrangement of the parts constituting a machine suited
to that object. The forms and modes of adapting such parts or mechanical
agents will be fully understood by reference to the Drawing hereto annexed,
in which Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the machine, Fig. 2 an elevation of the
reverse end, and Fig. 3 a horizontal view of the machine as seen from above,
the middle of the machine being broken away for the purpose of exhibiting
some of the parts below. And here it may be observed that no definite length
of the machine is given, because that must depend on the breadth of the cloth
intended to be operated upon by the machinery.
The respective letters of reference in the Drawing point out the same parts
of the machine in all the Figures. The machinery is mounted upon a rectan-
gular cast-iron frame, the form of the ends of which are shewn in Figs. 1 and
2, and these are firmly braced together by longitudinal and diagonal bars or
rails. A, A, are two flat boards placed horizontally, the upper faces of which
have a series of pointed wire brushes fixed upon them. These wires must be
set in very small knots, and not hooked at their points. When we employ wires
of of an inch diameter, we find it desirable that they should not stand
less than an inch and half out of the wood. The boards are made to perform
reciprocating movements in lateral directions by the action of vibrating levers
B, B, to which they are attached by the means hereafter described. D, D, are
two horizontal beams or rollers intended to receive the cloth under operation,
which cloth is to be drawn from one of these rollers D over the breast beams
C, C, fixed in horizontal positions at the back and front of the top parts of the
framing and conducted to the other roller D as shewn by dots in Figs. 1 and 2.
And E, E, are two other rollers or shafts, having ribs intended to act as
beaters for removing or beating off the loose wool from the surface of the cloth
after the brushes have acted upon it. The machinery is put in action by a
strap leading from the rotary part of a steam engine or other first mover

page_text: applied to the rigger F, or the main driving shaft G, G; or it may be driven
by manual or other power communicated to the shaft G. Upon this shaft
there is also a wheel H affixed, from whence endless straps are conducted to
pulleys attached to the axles of the beaters E, E, as shewn in Fig. 1. At the
reverse end of the main shaft G a pinion I is affixed, taking into a wheel K,
turning loosely upon the axle of one of the rollers D, and also into an inter-
mediate coupling wheel L, which takes into a similar wheel M. turning loosely.
on the axle of the other roller D. Hence by the rotation of the main shaft
both wheels D, D, are made to revolve simultaneously in opposite directions
for the purpose, when either of them are locked to its shaft, of drawing the
cloth from one roller and winding it on to the other roller as it passes over the
brushes and beaters above. In order to lock the wheel K or M to its shaft,
the clutch apparatus N, N, is applied, which apparatus is so well known to
mechanics that no further description is necessary, except to observe that
when the machine is in action the wheel must be locked to the shaft of that
roller which is intended to draw and wind on the cloth, and the other roller
allowed to turn freely by the draft of the cloth as it unwinds; but in order to
keep the cloth in tension a break O is made to bear upon friction pulleys
affixed to each of the rollers D, D. Upon the main shaft there is a bevel
wheel P, taking into a bevel pinion Q upon a crank shaft R. To this crank a
connecting rod S is attached, the reverse end of which rod works on a stud
fixed to the under part of one of the boards A. The vibrating levers B, B,
carrying the boards A, A, as described above, turn upon vertical axles T, T;
and hence by the rotation of the crank R the boards A, A, are made to
perform their reciprocating movements and to brush the under surface of the
cloth as it passes over them.
This arrangement is particularly designed for dressing and cleansing cloths
in the raw thread state after scouring, which considerably reduces the labor in
the process of burling. But we sometimes employ the same machine for
raising the pile on the face of cloth previously to shearing it. In that case,
instead of the pointed wire brushes, we attach to the boards A, A, teazels or
wire cards, or any other things capable of effecting the same purpose. And
we sometimes place bristles or wires around the periphery of the cylinders
E, E, between the ribs or beaters.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Davis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
WILLIAM (L.S.) DAVIS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of November, in
the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William
Davis came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged 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.
Inrolled the Seventh day of November, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-nine