IMPROVEMENTS. IN SHEARING MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Colin Mather, of Salford Iron Works, in the Parish,
of Manchester, County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN SHEARING MACHINES,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Colin Mather at the Office'
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th August
1858.
I, COLIN MATHER, of Salford Iron Works, in the Parish of Manchester,
County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEARING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in shearing machines, for
removing nap or fibre from the surface of fabrics. For this purpose the
machine is so arranged that every portion of the face of the fabric is brought
successively in contact with two or a greater number of spiral cutters, one of
which is caused to revolve in a direction opposite to that in which the other
or others revolve. Each of the spiral cutters is furnished with a ledger blade,
in contact with which the spiral cutter works, and the face of the fabric is
lightly pressed against the ledger blade by a bed having a hollow or concave
surface, over which the fabric is stretched.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Colin Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, COLIN
MATHER, of Salford Iron Works, in the Parish of Manchester, County of
Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Colin Mather, Her special licence that I, the said Colin Mather, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Colin Mather, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 SHEARING MACHINES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Colin Mather, my executors
or administrators, 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 Colin Mather, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in shearing machines, for
removing-nap-or-fibre_from_the surface of fabrics. For this purpose the
machine is so arranged that every portion of the face of the fabric is brought
successively in contact with two or a greater number of spiral cutters, one of
which is caused to revolve in a direction opposite to that in which the other or
others revolve. Each of the spiral cutters is furnished with a ledger blade, in
contact with which the spiral cutter works, and the face of the fabric is lightly
pressed against the ledger blade by a bed having a hollow or concave surface,
over which the fabric is stretched.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
The object of this Invention is more effectually to remove the nap and
fibres from the surfaces of cloths, and to leave the surfaces as smooth as may
be. For this purpose I prefer to use shearing apparatus working with double
or trough like beds, as they cause the cloths to press gently on the ledger
blades; such double beds, however, are not claimed by me, they being well
known. The spiral cutters and ledger blades are also of the ordinary con-
struction. I prefer that each shearing machine should be provided with three
sets of cutting apparatus, each set consisting of a spiral cutter, a double bed,
and a ledger blade, but machines may be made having two sets, or with more
sets than three. The cloth is to be moved past the three or other number of
beds and their cutters in succession, so that the nap may be cut as many times
as there are sets of cutting apparatus in the machine. The peculiarity
however of my Invention is, that the spiral cutters are arranged to rotate in
opposite directions, that is, one or more in one direction, and one or more in
the opposite direction. In using three cutters in the same machine, I prefer to
cause the first and the third to revolve in the same direction, whilst the second
or middle one is caused to revolve in the opposite direction; when only two
spiral cutters are used in a machine, then they are to be caused to revolve in
opposite directions; if more than three spiral cutters are used, it is desirable
that they should alternately revolve in opposite directions.
What I claim is the construction of shearing machines, each with two or
more spiral cutters, one or more revolving in one direction, and one or more
revolving in the opposite direction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Colin Mather, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
JAMES BROWN,
Salford.
COLIN MATHER. (L.S.)