IMPROVED SELF. ACTING MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO PRINTERS, AND OTHERS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Birch, of Salford, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVED SELF.
ACTING MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND GUIDING
CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS,
CALICO PRINTERS, AND OTHERS."
Sealed the 31st March 1871, and dated the 1st October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Birch at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st October 1870.
"
I, WILLIAM BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVED SELF-ACTING MACHINERY FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREADING, AND
GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS
CALICO PRINTERS AND OTHERS." to be as follows.

page_text: fabrics to drying and other machines, which operations have hitherto
been performed by the manipulation of the hands and fingers of
workpeople. For this purpose I pass the calico or cloth cr fabric
between two pairs of endless bands or chains, travelling horizontally on
pulleys or chain wheels, having revolving motion imparted to them
by gearing from a revolving shaft of the machine, and the studs or
bearings for the pulleys or wheels for one band or chain at each side
are stationary, and those for the other band or chain at each side placed
on moveable arms worked by levers and the parts of the bands or chains
in contact with the cloth or fabric travel outwards from the centre of
the machine. The endless bands or chains are either plain or have
projections or serrated surfaces fixed to them, the projections or teeth on
one of each pair of bands or chains passing between those on the other,
in order to give a grip to the cloth or fabric, and when the projections or
teeth are not required, the friction of the plain or serrated surfaces will
be sufficient to keep the fabric opened out. Above or in line with the
endless bands or chains there is a two-armed lever, having at each
side two or more corrugated bars, the angles on one side being reversed
to those on the other, and the central shaft or fulcrum of the lever is
connected by an arm to cranks attached to the levers on the moveable
arms and between the corrugated bars, at each side there is a corru-
gated or plain spring bar which can be adjusted to any required pressure
by a screw, and the two-armed lever with its corrugations and spring
bars is used as a regulator or governor to maintain the calico, cloth, or
fabric central with the machine.
At the commencement of operations when the machine is set to work
an end of the calico, cloth, or fabric to be opened, spread, and guided is
passed between the endless bands or chains, and the corrugated bars
and springs, and then the cloth or fabric is drawn onwards, and as it
advances it is opened and spread out by the endless bands or chains, and
as long as it continues central with the machine no change takes place,
but directly it commences to swerve on either side the regulator or
governor is called into action.
When the cloth or fabric goes out of the centre it passes further
between the corrugated bars and spring on one side of the two-armed
lever and grips the lever sufficiently hard to give it motion, and also
the levers connected with it, the effect of which is that the moveable
arm on the side of the machine where the lever is gripped is moved

page_text: outwards to lessen the effect of the travelling bands or chains on the
cloth or fabric on that side, and the moveable arm on the other side is
moved inwards to cause the bands or chains on that side to have a
greater hold on the cloth or fabric, and cause it to become again central,
and this regulator or governor is continually detecting the slightest
swerving movement and immediately giving motion to the moveable
arms as required.
In some cases I increase the number of endless bands or chains on
each side, and in others employ only one band or chain at each side in
connection with a stationary surface or roller, and also when required I
make the bands without projections or pins or serrations.
The arrangement of the regulator may be modified in various ways,
for instead of one two-armed lever on one fulcrum I may employ two
separate arms connected by levers and rods to the moveable arms, and
when required, according to the delicacy of the cloth or fabric, the
corrugations may be dispensed with and the friction or grip obtained by
india-rubber or other elastic or non-elastic surfaces.
When desired I employ the endless bands or chains either in con-
nection with the regulator or governor, or without it, and the regulator
can also be applied to give more or less friction and act as a guide in
those machines where the cloth or fabric passes over ordinary stationary
or revolving stretching bars, and in some cases the fabrics are passed to
the regulator or governor before they arrive at the endless bands or
chains.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Birch in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BIRCH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Birch, Her special licence that I, the

page_text: said William Birch, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Birch, 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 "IMPROVED SELF-ACTING MACHINERY
FOR OPENING, SMOOTHING, SPREAD NG, AND GUIDING CALICO, CLOTH, AND OTHER
FABRICS FOR THE USE OF BLEACHERS, DYERS, CALICO PRINTERS, AND OTHERS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Birch,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Birch, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say) :-
The object of this Invention is to perform by machinery the operations
of opening, smoothing, or spreading, and guiding calico, cloth, or other
fabrics to drying and other machines, which operations have hitherto
been performed by the manipulation of the hands and fingers of
workpeople.]
The manner in which this Invention is to be performed will be clearly
anderstood by the following particular description thereof, reference
being had to the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Figures 1, 2, and 3 are front, end, and back elevations
of one arrangement of my improved self-acting machinery; Figure 4, a
plan of part of the same, and Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are detached
views of some of the parts, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9 being drawn to a
scale of two inches to the foot, and Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8 to three inches
to the foot.
The side frames a of the machine are bolted to upright beams or
other framework at the upper part of the building or other required
place, and the fabric to be acted upon is drawn through the machine
from yats, receptacles, or other places at the lower part of the buil ling,

page_text: by its being connected to the drying, folding, or other machine to which
it is required to go. In bearings at the top of the frames a there is a
shaft c carrying a roller d and bevil wheels e, which gear into other
bevil wheels on shafts g, to which are fixed spur wheels h gearing into
spur wheels i on stationery studs k. To the spur wheels are cast or fixed
chain wheels 7, and on studs at the back there are chain wheels m, and on
cranked levers n, o, chain wheels p, the levers working on the stationery
studs k. On the several pairs of chain wheels there are two pairs of
endless bands q, having external projections and internal projections 8,
the latter gearing with the chain wheels, and between these endless
bands the fabric to be acted upon is passed, and in order to obtain
sufficient grip the external projections on one of each pair of bands
passes between those on the other, and to prevent the bands from
bulging inwards there are plates t, one plate at each side, being con-
nected to the arm n, and the other plate at each side to a bracket u
connected to one of the cross frames. Above the endless band there is
a two-armed lever working on a stud v fixed to one of the cross frames,
and at each side the lever is formed in the shape of two corrugated
bars w, x, the augles of the corrugations on one side being reverse to
those on the other, and to the lever is pivotted two levers y, z, working
on studs, the arms being connected as at a to the arms o of the
cranked levers which carry the chain wheels. To plates at the ends
of the corrugated bars w, x, are jointed arms c' carrying a corrugated
bar d¹, and two spring bolts c¹, the ends of which bolts can enter slots
in the plates 61, and the position of the central corrugated bar in relation
to the two others is determined by thumb nuts f¹ and screws in loose
plates g¹, and the two-armed lever with its corrugated bars is used as a
regulator or governor to maintain the fabric central with the machine.
When the fabric has to be opened, spread, and guided, it is passed
between the endless bands and the single and double corrugated bars,
and over the roller d to the machine required, the central corrugated
bar having been raised, as shewn by the dotted lines Figure 5, to allow
the passage of the fabric, the bolts being withdrawn from the slots for
the purpose; but when the connections are complete the central bar is
turned down and afterwards bolted, as seen in Figure 6. When the
machine to which the fabric is connected is set to work the fabric
in its passage turns the roller d, which gives revolving motion to
the gearing and horizontal travelling motions to the endless bands from

page_text: the centre to the outside where they are in contact with the fabric, and
these outward motions of the bands open and spread out the fabric, and
as long as the fabric continues central with the machine no change
takes place; but directly it commences to swerve on either side the
regulator or governor is called into action.
When the fabric goes out of the centre at either side it passes further
between the corrugated bars, as shewn in Figure 8, to a greater distance
from the fulcrum », and thus sufficient leverage is obtained to change
the position of the two-armed lever, the levers y, z, and the leverз n, o,
the effect of which is that the arm n on the side where there is more
leverage, and the chain wheel pivotted on it are moved outwards to
reduce the friction and thereby lessen the effect of the travelling bands
on that side, and the arm n and chain wheel on the other side move
inwards to cause the bands on that side to have a greater hold on the
fabric and cause it to become again central, and this regulator or
governor not only dedects the swerving movement of the fabric from the
centre to the oustide, but immediately gives motion to the levers, chain
wheels, and endless bands, as required. The endless bands perform the
operation of untwisting and spreading out or smoothing the fabric; but
it is the action of the regulator or governor which guides or keeps it
sufficiently central with the machine for the operations to be performed
without the use of the hands or fingers of workpeople, except in some
extreme cases, in which the fabric is twisted in excess; and in order to
provide for such cases I employ a stopping motion for stopping the
motion of the machine to which the fabric is connected when required.
To the cross frame ¹, Figures 1, 3, and 9, are pivotted two rods k¹,
carrying a long horizontal rod 11, to which are fastened two projections
or feelers m¹, and to the rods k¹ are fastened arms n¹, one carrying a
balance weight and the other jointed to a swing bar o¹ at the front of the
lever p¹, and having projections at the bottom, and the lever p³ com-
municates by a rod q¹, or in any other manner to the strap fork or other
arrangement for stopping the machine to which the fabric is connected.
To the bearing of one of the vertical shafts g is jointed an arm s¹ tee-
shaped at the bottom, and on the shaft there is a cam t¹, which moves
the said arm s¹ one way, and the spring u¹ moves it the other way, and
when the fabric is central the tee end passes between the projections on
the swing bar 61, and no stoppage takes place; but when the fabric
swerves too much on either side on account of there being excessive
?

page_text: twist the fabric pushes the feelers and rod so as to raise or lower the
swing bar and its projections to enable the arm to give transverse
motion to the swing bar, and work the lever pl and rod q¹, and thereby.
stop the machine to which the fabric is connected.
It will be seen that the regulator or governor is one of the main
features of the Invention, for it has to detect with the precision of the
human eye the swerving movement of the fabric, and at the same time,
when the opposing powers are not too strong, to shift the parts in such a
manner that the fabric can be safely guided at or near the centre, and
thus enable the operations of opening and smoothing or spreading to go
on continuously.
The arrangement of the regulator or governor may be modified in
various ways, for instead of one two-armed lever on one fulcrum, I
may employ two separate levers connected by levers and rods to the
levers which carry the chain wheels, and when required, according to
the delicacy of the fabric, the corrugations are dispensed with and
the friction obtained by india-rubber or other elastic or non-elastic
substances.
Instead of the endless bands with internal and external projections,
endless chains may be employed, and in some cases the number of the
endless bands or chains on each side are increased. In other cases I
employ only one band or chain at each side in connection with a
stationery surface or roller, or in connection with ordinary stationery or
revolving stretching bars or screws, and in these and similar machines
my improved regulator may be advantageously employed to give more.
or less friction, and also to act as a guide.
In some cases I pass the fabrics to the regulator or governor before
they arrive at the endless bands or chains, and when the fabric is not
sufficiently strong to give revolving motion to the roller d, Figures 1, 2,
3, and 4, I give it independent revolving motion by means of straps and
pulleys or toothed gearing.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that in machinery for opening, smoothing, or spreading and
guiding calico, cloth, and other fabrics to the machines used by
bleachers, dyers, calico printers, and others, I claim the endless bands
or chains travelling trausversely in contact with the fabric from the
centre to the edges or sides, and the regulator or governor with its

page_text: communications for guiding the fabric, either combined in one machine
or used separately, as all such improvements are herein described and
illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Birch, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named William Birch,
71
in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
WILLIAM BIRCH. (L.S.)