AN IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Leigh, of Saint Mary Cray, in the County
of Kent, Millwright, and Job Line, of the same Place, Paper Maker,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Leigh and Job
Line at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 27th June 1859.
We, THOMAS LEIGH, of St. Mary Cray, in the County of Kent, Millwright,
and JOB LINE, of the same Place, Paper Maker, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of cleansing the felts of paper
machines. Hitherto it has been necessary from time to time to stop the
machine, and by means of beaters & a free application of soap and water to
rid the felt of the size which it has absorbed from the web of paper in passing
from the couch roller to the pressing rolls. By this process, besides the loss
of time occasioned in stopping the machine, inequalities are very liable to be
made on the surface of the felt, and thus the quality of the paper becomes
iujured. To remove these disadvantages we suspend within the endless felt a
beater, consisting of rounded bars of hard wood fixed to the under face of a
horizontal plate, which may be pierced or not, as thought desirable. This
plate we hang by links to a lever frame or pair of levers, which have their
}

page_text: fulcrum in brackets pendent from the main framing. At the extremity of the
lever frame are adjustable stops, and below the stops a pair of tappet wheels is
mounted, so as to lift the lever frame as they rotate, and allow it to fall. The
felt is guided by rollers under the table carrying the rounded bars, and a
counterpart table is fixed at the other side of the felt; as therefore the lever
frame is lifted and let fall, the felt will be compressed between these fixed and
moving surfaces. Streams of water are directed on to the felt at the time the
beating takes place, and thus the cleansing of the felt will be speedily and
uniformly effected. A means is provided for lifting the water clear of the felt
when not required to be used, and the drag of the felt being a little upwards,
it will then run clear of the under or fixed beating surfaces.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Leigh and Job Line in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
LEIGH, of Saint Mary Cray, in the County of Kent, Millwright, and JOB
LINE, of the same Place, Paper Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Leigh and Job Line, Her special license that we, the said
Thomas Leigh and Job Line, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Thomas Leigh and Job Line, our executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER-MAKING MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Leigh and
Job Line, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Job Line, on behalf of myself and of the
said Thomas Leigh, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of cleansing the felts of paper
machines. Hitherto it has been necessary from time to time to stop the
machine, and by means of beaters and a free application of soap and water to
rid the felt of the size which it has absorbed from the web of paper in passing
from the couch roller to the pressing rolls. By this process, besides the loss
of time occasioned in stopping the machine, inequalities are very liable to be
made on the surface of the felt by reason of the unequal beating to which it is
subjected, and thus the quality of the paper made in the machine. becomes
deteriorated. To remove these disadvantages is the object of this Invention,
which consists in cleansing the felt by the use of a mechanical beater formed
of rounded bars of hard wood attached to the under face of a horizontal plate,
which beats the felt as its travels over a fixed bed similarly provided with
wooden bars projecting from its face.
In the accompanying Drawing is shewn our improvement in side elevation,
as applied to the framing of a paper-making machine. a. a, is the felt intended
to be cleansed, for which purpose it is led over a series of guide rollers b, b, and
between the fixed and moving parts of our improved arrangement of mecha-
nical beater c is the fixed bed attached to the framing of the machine, and
fitted with rounded bars of hard wood c. Immediately above this bed plato
is mounted the plate d, which is fitted with rounded bars d, and receives an
up-and-down motion for the purpose of beating the felt, which, during the
beating operation is to be saturated with water from suitable perforated water
pipes provided for the purpose, as at e, e. This beater dis perforated to
facilitate the flow of water to the felt, and it is suspended by links f, f, from a
lever frame or pair of levers g, g, which have their fulcrum in brackets h, h,
bolted to the upper part of the main framing. To the extremities of the
levers g, g, adjustable tappets 9*, 9*, are fitted, and below the tappets a pair
of tappet wheels i is provided, for the purpose of lifting the levers, and with
them the beater d, to enable the latter to deliver a rapid series of blows on the
traversing felt. These tappet wheels are mounted on a horizontal shaft k,
which receives rotary motion through a pulley keyed thereto from a driving
strap leading from any convenient driving pulley. From the above description
it will be understood, that as the lever frame is lifted and let fall, the felt will

page_text: be compressed between the fixed and moving surfaces, rising and falling
bars d, and stationary bars c*, and streams of water being directed on to the
felt at the time the beating takes place, the cleansing of the felt from the size
In order to
which it has absorbed will be speedily and uniformly effected.
keep the beater clear of the felt when not required to be used, a hook, pin, or
other contrivance may be employed for retaining it in a raised position. When
thus raised, the drag of the felt being a little upwards, it will run clear of the
under or fixed beating surface.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of An Improvement in
Paper-making Machinery," and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent we claim the application to paper-making machinery of
apparatus for cleansing the felts thereof, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Job Line, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
JOB LINE.
L.S.)