IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MBANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR MAKING PLAITED OR FOLDED FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ferdinand Rath, of Goldsmith Strect, in the
City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MBANS
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR MAKING PLAITED OR FOLDED FABRICS."-A
communication from abroad by John Keenan, of Puteaux, (Seine,)
France.
Scaled the 5th September 1871, and dated the 28th June 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ferdinand Rath at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th June 1871.
I, FERDINAND RATH, of Goldsmith Strect, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR MAKING PLAITED OR FOLDED FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and apparatus
employed for making plaited or folded fabrics applicable for trimmings
and other purposes.
The fabrics to be plaited or folded into plaits according to this In-
vention are first passed between a pair of heated crimping or creasing
rollers, the surfaces of which are formed with longitudinal teeth similar

page_text: to what are known to mechanics as ratchet teeth, being arranged at
angles to the center of the rollers in place of radially as in ordinary
crimping or goffering machines.
The spaces between the creases formed according to this Invention
are alternately wide and narrow, and the successive plaits are readily
laid down over each other by hand, a hot iron being passed over them
to cause them to lay flat in one direction.
The plaits or folds thus formed in the fabrics are permanently secured
by a row or rows of stitching by means of an ordinary sewing machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Ferdinand Rath in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 28th December 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FERDINAND
RATI, of Goldsmith Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Ferdinand Rath, Her special licence that I,
the said Ferdinand Rath, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Ferdinand Rath, 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 thercin 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 THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR MAKING PLAITED OR FOLDED FABRICS," a communi-
cation to me from abroad by John Keenan, of Puteaux, (Seine,) France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ferdinand Rath,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ferdinand Rath, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improvements in the means and apparatus
employed for making plaited or folded fabrics applicable for trimmings
and other purposes.
The fabrics to be plaited or folded into plaits according to this In-
vention are first passed between a pair of crimping or creasing rollers,
the surfaces of which arc formed with longitudinal teeth similar to
what are known to mechanics as ratchet teeth, being arranged at angles
to the centre of the rollers in place of radially as in ordinary crimping
or goffering machines.
The spaces between the creases formed according to this Invention
are alternately wide and narrow, and the successive plaits are readily
laid down over each other by hand, a hot iron being passed over them
to cause them to lay flat in one direction.
The plaits or folds thus formed in the fabrics are permanently secured
by a row or rows of stitching by means of an ordinary sewing machine.
And in order that the Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into practice I will proceed to describe the Drawing

page_text: The axes of the upper roller a (in the arrangement of apparatus shewn
in the Drawing), are supported and revolve in bearings formed in the
ends of the lever arms a¹, a³, the opposite ends of which are free to
move on the pins a² formed at each end of the cross bar a³ fixed to the
support a attached to the bed plate a of the machine. The lever
arms a¹, a¹, are connected together by the cross bar as which with the
lever arms a¹ and roller a is constantly pressed down by the springs a
fixed to the cross bar a³, the pressure of the springs being regulated by
nuts and thumb screws which connect them to the bar a³. The roller a
can be raised above the roller to form a space between them for the
introduction of the material to be creased by means of the hand lever a³,
which moves on a pin joint at a' carried by the support a10, as shewn.
The rollers a and bare hollow for the introduction of hot irons for the
purpose of heating `them when in use; b¹ is a crank handle upon one
end of the roller b for giving motion thereto and to the upper roller a
by means of the longitudinal teeth which gear into each other.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention and the manner
in which the same is carried into practice, what is claimed under the
above in part recited Letters Patent is, the improved means and
apparatus for making plaited or folded fabrics whereby the fabrics are
first creased by the improved form and construction of rollers herein-
before described, then folding down such creases into plaits, and finally
securing them by means of an ordinary sewing machine, substantially
in the manner and for the purposes herein-before fully described and
shown in the Drawing hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ferdinand Rath, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lanc, W.C.
F. KATH.
(L.S.)