An Improved Apparatus for Festooning or Suspending Floorcloth or other Material.
Year: 1899

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Festooning or Suspending Floorcloth
or other Material.
We, RYLANDS & SONS LIMITED, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Warehousemen and Manufacturers, and JOIN ROWLAND HILL, of 3, Hollins Row,
Darwen, in the aforesaid County, Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
My said invention relates to an improved apparatus for festooning or suspend-
ing Hoorcloth, oilcloth or any other material which has been painted, coated or
printed and which is necessary to suspend in folds or festoons to allow the paint
colour or coating to dry or age. The festooning of floorcloth is at present
generally effected manually the material being suspended in "alleys" over
crutches" which are slid in suitable guides or ways.
This is a laborious and slow method and the object of our invention is to effect
the festooning mechanically so as to expedite the process.
The essential principle of our apparatus consists in the employment of an
endless chain or chains to which is secured at intervals a number of crutches
adapted to slide in suitable guides. The chain is driven by suitable gearing at
a speed less than that of the delivery of floorcloth or other material the floor
cloth being fed over the crutches and festooned thereon.
"
.
In a machine constructed in accordance with our invention we employ an end-
less chain which is led in suitable guides or ways in a spiral or volute form around
the "stove
or drying room, the chain passing first around the outer sides of
the room and gradually approaching the centre from whence it is conducted again
to the outer sides. Gearing with the chain are a number of chain wheels which
are driven by suitable gearing from a countershaft receiving motion, which may
be varied by means of cone pullies, from a main driving shaft. The chain can
thus be traversed at any suitable speed relatively to the delivery of the coated
or painted cloth or material. Connected to the endless chain at suitable inter-
vals are a number of horizontally arranged crutches sliding in suitable guides.
The floorcloth or other material is led from the coating or printing machine
ever one of the crutches upon which it is temporarily held by means of a pair of
toothed wheels engaging with the margins of the material. The feed of the
material causes it to be dropped in a loop or festoon from the crutch until the
next crutch comes into contact with the toothed wheels revolving them so as to
engage with the material upon the advancing crutch, whilst the crutch carrying
the completed festoon is carried forward by the endless chain. The length of the
festoons is varied by the speed of traverse of the endless chain and by the distance
apart of the crutches.
"
When the whole of the crutches are full the 'stove' or drying room is
11
fontanned maturial in aspiral or volute form.
If it is

page_text: necessary for an interval to elapse to allow the paint, coating or printing to dry
or age the working of the machine is then stopped. On resuming work the
festooned material is taken from the first crutch which now occupies a position
about the centre of the room and is led between rollers driven from a countershaft
by means of cone pullies or the like at the same speed as the newly.coated or
printed material is entering the machine. From the rollers the material may
be formed into a roll or any other suitable means may be employed to remove
the material from the machine.
As the essence of our invention consists in the, employment of driving chains
to which the crutches are secured at suitable intervals we do not confine ourselves
to the exact arrangement described as the same may be varied in detail.
For instance instead of a single chain pursuing a spiral course we could apply
our invention to what is known as a "single alley in which the material is
festooned in a straight line in the drying room.
In this case two endless chains passing around chain wheels driven by suitable
gearing could be employed.
The chains are secured to each end of the crutches which are provided with
suitable guides.
The method of festooning is effected as already described and when the "alley"
is full and the material ready for removal the material may be removed from
the end of the "alley" at the same speed as the incoming material or the work-
ing of the machine may be suspended and the material removed from the same
end at which it originally entered. The endless chains carrying the crutches
pass around chain wheels arranged at the four corners of the alley," inter-
mediate chain wheels being employed if necessary, the bottom chain wheels
being disposed low enough not to interfere with the bottoms of the festoons.
Dated this 20th day of November 1899.
the Applicants,
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
Chartered Patent Agents,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for Festooning or Suspending Floorcloth
or other Material.
We, RYLANDS & SONS LIMITED, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Warehousemen and Manufacturers, and JOHN ROWLAND HILL, of 3, Hollins Row,
Darwen, in the aforesaid County, Paper Maker, 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 and accompanying
drawings:-
Our said invention relates to an improved apparatus for festooning or suspend-
ing floorcloth, oilcloth or any other material which has been painted, coated, or
printed and which is necessary to suspend in folds or festoons to allow the paint,
colour or coating to dry or age. The festooning of floorcloth is at present
generally effected manually the material being suspended in alleys" over
66 crutches " which are slid in suitable guides or ways.
"
This is a laborious and slow method and the object of our invention. is to
effect the festooning mechanically so as to expedite the process.

page_text: The essential principle of our apparatus consists in the employment of a
travelling chain or chains to which is secured at intervals a number of crutches
adapted to slide in suitable guides. The chain or chains is or are driven by
suitable gearing at a speed less than that of the delivery of floorcloth or other
material the floorcloth being fed over the crutches and temporarily held thereon
and by this means festooned or suspended from the crutches.
And in order that our invention may be fully understood we have attached
hereto four sheets of drawings to which we will refer in the following descrip-
tion.
"
Fig. 1 shows in elevation, broken in length for want of space, our invention
applied to a single alley" for festooning floorcloth and similar material.
Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.
Figs. 3 to 7 are detail views on an enlarged scale.
Fig. 8 is a plan view of an apparatus in which the material is led in a spiral
path around the "stove" or drying room.
Figs. 9 to 12 show detail parts on an enlarged scale.
<
Referring in the first place to Figs. 1 to 7, in applying our invention to what
is known as an alley" in which the material is festooned in a straight line
in the drying room, we provide suitable metallic rails or supports a preferably
of girder section. Upon these rails run endless chains 6 which are conducted
over chain wheels c mounted on cross shafts e¹ carried by standards (see Figs. 1
and 2). One of the chain wheels shown in the bottom left hand corner of
Fig. 1 is adjustable in the bearings c² to regulate the tension of the chains c.
To drive the travelling chains c we mount on the axis of a shaft & a fast pulley d',
a loose pulley being also provided to stop the working of the machine when
required. The fast pulley is driven from any suitable source of power as
will be understood. A spur pinion e on the shaft d gears with a spur wheel f
mounted on the shaft c¹ of one of the chain wheels c so that a suitable slow
motion is imparted to the chains b. Instead of the spur pinion e and spur
wheel a worm and worm wheel respectively may be used.
are provided at
The ends of the
and upon these
rivetted together
To the chains are secured a number of "crutches" in a manner more plainly
shown in the enlarged detail views Figs. 3 and 4. The chains
intervals with wings to which are loosely pivotted levers h.
levers carry arched pieces i formed with curled over ends
parts are placed the semi-tubular "crutches" j and the whole
so that when in the position indicated in Figs. 3 and 4 the curved ends of the
parts rest upon the chains b. By securing the crutches to levers which are
loosely pivotted to the chains the flexibility of the chains is not impaired. The
apparatus is further provided with a cross shaft k upon which are mounted star
wheels which can be adjusted any required distance apart within the limits
of the shaft k.
The floorcloth or other material m is conducted, preferably through a well
hole from an upper room, over the crutches and is fed to the apparatus at a
speed in excess of that of the travelling chains b. The relative speeds of travel
of the floorcloth and the chains would vary according to the length of festoon
desired.
As the chains are traversed along the rails a one of the crutches j with the
floorcloth m thereon comes into contact with the star wheels 7 as shown in Fig. 7.
The star wheels thus nip the margins and hold the floorcloth m upon the
crutch and a festoon is formed. The traverse of the chains b however causes
the crutch to gradually rotate the star wheels 7, releasing the nip upon the
cloth on the crutch and the star wheels then engage with the succeeding crutch
and so on. To obtain the requisite nip of the star wheels upon the floorcloth
the shaft is braked by means of a pulley around which passes a band o the
tension of which on the pulley can be regulated by means of the wing nut o as
shown in Fig. 2ª.
66
When the alley" is full the machine may be stopped if it is desired to allow

page_text: an interval to elapse for the paint, coating or printing to dry or the material
may be at once taken from the machine. The empty crutches ; are traversed
along with the chains b to again do duty as will be understood, the crutches
being secured at regular intervals along the entire length of the chains.
"
As the crutches are being raised upwards the levers h fall over as shown
in dotted lines in the left hand top corner of Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig. 6.
Stops p are provided with which the levers h come into contact to replace them
in their proper working positions as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 6. To permit
of this reversal of the levers h a portion of the top web of the girder is cut away
at q. It will be understood that a number of "alleys" may be worked side by side.
In addition to applying our invention to an "alley the floorcloth or other
material may be conducted in a spiral form around the drying room as shown
in the remaining figs. of the drawings. Fig. 8 shows in plan view our method of
effecting this. An endless chain is conducted around any suitable number of
chain wheels s arranged spirally within the room, which is represented by the
dotted lines. The chain travels in guides ¹ shown more clearly in the portion
of the plan view Fig. 12. To the chain rare secured any required number of
crutches 2 the other ends of the crutches being supported in ways (see Fig. 13).
The floorcloth is introduced to the machines preferably at the point Fig. 8.
Star wheels similar to those already described are used to effect the festooning
it being considered unnecessary to again illustrate these in the figs. at present
being described. The method of driving the chain wheels s and chain r is
shown in Fig. 9.
t
Upon the axis s¹ of one of the chain wheels sis mounted a bevel wheel v
receiving motion through a bevel pinion w mounted on a countershaft a which is
provided with a fast and loose pulley z z¹. The shaft is driven from any suit-
able source of power. The endless chain r is thus driven, traversing the crutches &
in the direction of the arrows Fig. 8 in a spiral form towards the centre of the
room and from the centre again to the side. The floorcloth or other material
may be taken off at or about the centre of the apparatus at the, point marked A
when the cloth is sufficiently dryed or aged at the same time as a fresh batch
of material is being festooned.
At the point B where the chain and crutches cross each other at a right angle
the empty chain and crutches may be deflected upwards to enable the crutches
emerging from the centre of the apparatus to pass above the crutches carrying
the festooned floorcloth. Instead of removing the material from the centre of the
apparatus as described the direction of traverse of the chain may be reversed
and the material removed at the point of entry u. The floorcloth or material
may be fed to the apparatus by any suitable feeding means used in the coating,
painting or printing machine and pass through the well hole 1 Fig. 9, over a
guiding roller 2 or over a roller 3 provided with card cloth or teeth adapted to
feed forward the material. We may however use a feeding device in con-
junction with the apparatus as shown in Fig. 9. To effect this we provide a
shaft 4 which is driven by means of a belt and pulley 5 from a pulley 6 on a
countershaft r.
The shaft 4 carries a cone pulley 7 and a short shaft 8 having thereon a
corresponding cone pulley 9 is driven by means of a belt upon the pulleys. An-
other view of the shaft 4 with the pulley 5 and cone pulley 7 looking from the
back of Fig. 9 is shown at Fig. 10. A view of the driving pullies at right angles
to Fig. 9 is shown in Fig. 11. By moving the driving strap upon the cone
pullies 7 and 9 the speed of the shaft S may be varied to regulate the feed of
the floorcloth. Motion is imparted from the shaft 7 by means of a pulley 10 and
strap 11 to another pulley 12 mounted upon the shaft 13.
The floorcloth is nipped, it might be at the margins only, between the roller
or bowl 2 and an upper roller or bowl 14 the bowl 14 being maintained in con-
tact with the lower bowl 2 with an elastic pressure by means of springs or the
like.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is : —
"
1) As means for suspending or festooning floorcloth, oilcloth or other material
which has been painted, printed or coated, securing the crutches" from which
the material is suspended to a travelling chain or chains adapted to slide in
suitable guides and providing means for temporarily nipping the material to
the traveling crutch so as to form a festoon of the required length substantially
as described and shown.
2) The improved means or apparatus for festooning floorcloth and similar
material in a straight line or "alley" consisting of two endless chains carried in
channels or guides and having crutches secured at intervals throughout its length,
the means for driving the chains and for temporarily nipping the material upon
each crutch until a festoon of the required length is formed, all arranged and
acting substantially as described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7 of the drawings.
3) The improved apparatus for festooning floorcloth, oilcloth and other
material in a spiral path within the interior of the drying room, consisting of
an endless chain, crutches secured at intervals to such chains and supporting
by guides, means for driving the chain and for holding down the material upon
the each crutch until the festoon is formed and with or without the means for
feeding the material to the apparatus the whole combined arranged and acting
substantially as described and illustrated in Figs. 8 to 13 of the drawings.
4) In apparatus of the indicated nature the star or toothed wheels mounted
upon a braked shaft for temporarily holding or nipping the material upon the
crutch to form a festoon substantially as described and shown.
Dated this frth day of August 1900.
For the Applicants,
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
Chartered Patent Agents,
5, John Dalton Street, Manchester, and 3, Yorkshire Street, Rochdale.