IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING CLOTH, AND FOR MEASURING THE SAME
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Matthew Chadwick at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
January 1862.
I, MATTHEW CHADWICK, of Ratcliffe, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING CLOTH, AND FOR MEASURING THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
The object of my improvements is to retain the cloth at each fold in a firm
position during the process of plaiting or folding, and to deliver the cloth to
the machine as required, and also to regulate the machine for measuring and
plaiting various widths of plaits or folds.
To accomplish this I connect a shaft to the crank shaft or other shaft of
the machine, and cause the said shaft to revolve in the same time as the said
crank shaft. The first-named shaft has placed upon it, at any convenient
distance asunder, two bushes or shells, each containing two cams fixed upon it.
The said bushes or shells are each attached to a sliding frame, and both
sliding frames are supported by a slide bar or plate fixed to the framework of
the machine, upon which they can be moved in the direction of the length of
the revolving shaft when it is required to alter the lengths of the plaits or
folds. Each of the sliding frames carries two cross heads which work in
guides; each cross head is actuated by one of the revolving cams fixed on the
before-named bushes or shells. One of the cross heads on each sliding frame
has attached to each of its ends a bent lever, the point of attachment being

page_text: the fulcrum of the said lever. Two of the arms of each pair of the said levers
are attached to the other cross head before mentioned and situate on the same
sliding block, and each pair of the said levers has a cross bar fixed to the other
two arms. The said cross bars have fixed upon them a number of projecting
fingers or claws which press against other cross bars secured to the framework
of the machine. The said cross heads are each so constructed as to be elevated
or depressed according with the requirements of the machine when folding
different lengths of plaits. The two sliding frames before mentioned have
their distance asunder regulated as required by being attached to a shaft con-
taining a right-hand screw at or near one end and a left-hand screw at or near
the other end.
The knives which carry the cloth from side to side to be folded have spaces
left for the passage of the before mentioned fingers or claws to the cloth when
folded.
I also attach to any convenient part of the machine a revolving roller, the
circumference of which moves through the same space in a given time as that
of the cloth passing to the machine, and when the said cloth is wound on a
roller the said roller containing the cloth is placed in guides, and the circum-
ference of the first-named revolving roller acting by friction on the
circumference of the roll of cloth causes it to pass to the machine as
required.
When the machine is in motion the before-mentioned cams revolve once
for each revolution of the crank shaft, and once for two oscillations of the lever
carrying the knives, and the said cams so act upon the cross heads as to cause
the fingers or claws to secure the cloth about the time the knives are at the
extremity of their travis, and when the said knives leave the cloth the fingers
also shortly after leave the cloth by moving towards and past the end of the
folds of cloth, allowing the said cloth to drop upon the folding table; but
should it not do so before the return of the knives, the fingers or claws are.
sufficiently thin at the ends to pass between the fixed cross bar and the cloth
to move it away and leave the said cross bar clear for the next fold and to leave
the fingers or claws at liberty to secure the said fold when the knives arrive at
or near the extremity of their travis, and this operation is carried on by each
set of cams, cross heads, levers, and cross bars, once for each revolution of the
crank shaft, thereby making two folds for each said revolution.
When it is required to alter the machine for another length of plait or fold,
the before-mentioned shaft having a right and left hand thread upon it is
turned by means of a handle, and being attached to the sliding frames thereby
causes the said sliding frames to advance or recede from each other as required,

page_text: still preserving the shells or bushes on the shaft on which they move in such
connection therewith that they are made to revolve when the machine com-
mences motion. The cross head before mentioned is also made to rise or fall
as required when the machine is altered for plaiting or folding a different
length by means of suitable apparatus for that purpose, such as a screw
actuating a sliding bar on which the cross head is placed.
The roller which acts by friction on the roll of cloth before mentioned is
altered by means of cone pulleys or change pulleys to suit the movements of
the machine for different lengths of plaits.