IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DEWING, DAMPING, STIFFENING, AND OILING FABRICS AND FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Barraclough, of Boys' Mills, Halifax,
in the County of York, Woollen Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DEWING, DAMPING, STIFFENING, AND
OILING FABRICS AND FIBROUS MATERIALS,"
Sealed the 1st August 1871, and dated the 24th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Barraclough
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th February 1871.
I, ARTHUR BARRACLOUGH, of Boys' Mills, Halifax, in the County of
York, Woollen Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DEWING, DAMPING, STIFFENING,
AND OILING FABRICS AND FIBROUS MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
dewing, damping, stiffening, and oiling fabrics and fibrous materials.
In the manufacture of various descriptions of fabrics they are produced.
in a highly dried state, and before sending them into the market.it is
necessary to allow them to reabsorb the moisture of which they have

page_text: been deprived. This they will do if exposed for a sufficient time in the
open air.
According to my Invention I effect the same object more rapidly
and conveniently by an apparatus consisting of rollers between which
the fabric is distended, and which are driven so as to carry it forward
nt a uniform speed. The fabric is thus caused to travel in an oblique
direction past a series of nozzles, from which air under pressure issues,
the nozzles being carried by a pipe connected with a rotary blower. In
front of cach air nozzle is another nozzle on a pipe descending into a
water cistern immediately beneath, so that the air jet may draw the
water from the cistern, and disperse it in a fine spray, which striking
upon the fabric obliquely penetrates the fibre and does not pass through,
even should the fabric be thin. The rollers are so geared that they may
be driven faster or slower, according as the fabric requires more or less
moisture to compensate for the artificial drying to which it has been
submitted. The fabric is delivered from the machine through rollers
mounted on a swinging frame, and in this way tho piece is folded. If
the fabric requires to be stiffened a dressing liquid is substituted for
water, and is similarly applied as a dew or spray.
In order to oil short woollen fibre I disperse the oil as a dew by
means of air jets, as already described, and I combine the dewing or
dispersing apparatus with the preparing machine. These machines open
the fibre and throw it into the air, and the fibre falls lightly on to a
receiving floor.
I arrange the dewing jets so that the fine spray of oil strikes the
Ghun no it falls
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Barraclough in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th August 1871.
1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR 3
Barraclough, of Boys' Mills, Halifax, in the County of York, Woollen
Manufacturer, send greeting.

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Barraclough, Her special
license that I, the said Arthur Barraclough, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur Barraclough,
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 APPARATUS FOR DEWING, DAMPING, STIFFENING, AND OILING
FABRICS AND FIBROUS MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Arthur Barraclough, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the naturo 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 Arthur Barraclough, 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 has for its object improvements in apparatus for dew-
ing, damping, stiffening, and oiling fabrics and fibrous materials. In
the manufacture of various descriptions of fabrics they are produced
in a highly dried state, and before sending them into the market it is
necessary to allow them to reabsorb the moisture of which they have
been deprived. This they will do if exposed for a sufficient time in the
open air.
According to my Invention I effect the same object more rapidly and
conveniently by an apparatus consisting of rollers between which the
fabric is distended, and which are driven so as to carry it forward at a
uniform speed. The fabric is thus caused to travel in an oblique direction
past a series of nozzles, from which air under pressure issues, the nozzles
being carried by a pipe connected with a rotary blower. In front of
each air nozzle is another nozzle on a pipe descending into a water
cistern immediately beneath, so that the air jet may draw the water from

page_text: the cistern, and disperse it in a fine spray, which striking upon tho
fabric obliquely penetrates the fibre, and does not pass through even
should the fabric be thin. The rollers are so geared that they may be
driven faster or slower, according as the fabric requires more or less
moisture to compensate for the artificial drying to which it has been sub- 6
mitted. The fabric is delivered from the machine through rollers mounted
in a swinging frame, and in this way the piece is folded. If tho fabric
requires to be stiffened a dressing liquid is substituted for water, and is
similarly applied as a dew or spray.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed I have shown a machine arranged 1
in the manner above described.
Figure 1 is a side elevation and Figuro 2 a front elevation of the
machine; Figures 3 and are respectively side and front elevations full-
size of the tubes for delivering the spray of liquid to the fabric.
a, a, are nozzles through which a current or blast of air is caused to 1
pass; b, b, are tubes, the lower ends of which are immersed in liquid
contained in the cistern c, whilst their upper ends are opposite the
mouths of the nozzles a, as shewn; e is a wind chest kept supplied with
air under pressure through the pipe ƒ, and from this chest the air is
conveyed to the nozzles a by the tubes a.. The blast or currents of 2
air issuing from the nozzles a draws liquid up the pipes 6 from the
cistern c, and throws it forward as a fine spray. The fabric g is passed
over rollers, and is led in front of the nozzles at an angle to them, as
shewn by the Drawings, and is then conducted over other rollers g', I',
at the top of the machine and down between rollers at the lower end of 2
the swinging frame h, which has a swinging to-and-fro motion given to
it by an eccentric on the axis of the last roller g', as shown. Motion is
transmitted to the axis of this roller by suitable gearing, and the fabric
is thereby drawn through the machine, and is folded as it is delivered
from it.
3
Figure 5 is a side elevation full size of an adjusting screw coupling k
for setting the bar (1) which, carries the nozzles a to any desired angle,
the bar being capable of turning on a hinged joint (3) at its under
side. The bar (2) which carries the tubes is also capable of turning
on the same hinge joint as shewn. The nozzles a and tubes are 3
secured to the bars 1 and 2 by the set screws d and d', so as to allow
of adjustment.

page_text: In order to oil short woollen fibre I disperse the oil as a dew by
means of air jets, as already described, and I combine the dewing or
dispersing apparatus with a "dule" or like machine used for opening
wool or fibrous material so as to deliver a spray of oil to the fibrous
material as it is thrown out from the machine.
Figure 6 shows a side elevation and Figure 7 a front elevation of such
a machine. a, b, are the series of nozzles and tubes similar to those
above described, except that they are placed in a different working
position so as to deliver a spray of oil on to the wool or fibrous material
as it is being delivered from the fan x. I, Figures 6 and 7, represents
a steam pipe which is laid at the bottom of the cistern c to ensure tho
oil being kept in a liquid state. The letters of reference in Figures 6
and 7 are made to represent the same parts as those in Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4, so that it is unnecessary to give a further description of them.
Fibrous materials in the form of a bat or fleece might also have oil
supplied to them by their being caused to travel past a row of spray
producing jets in a similar manner to that described for damping or
stiffening fabrics.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
as my improvements in apparatus for dewing, damping, stiffening, and
oiling fabrics and fibrous materials is,――
1. The application of numerous jets of air for applying water or
stiffening liquid in the form of spray to fabrics caused to travel past
the jets substantially as herein described.
2. The application of numerous jets of air for applying oil to fibrous
materials, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Barraclough, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one