CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING CLOTHS, AND IN THE MACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
CLISILD DANIELL, of Stoke, in the County of Wilts, Clothier, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Second day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-eight, in the eighth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Clisild Daniell, His special licence that I, the said Joseph
Clisild Daniell, my exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as the said
Joseph Clisild Daniell, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING CLOTHS, AND IN THE
MACHINERY APPLICABLE FOR THAT PURPOSE;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso that I, the said Joseph Clisild Daniell, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Clisild Daniell, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described
and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-
My said improvements in dressing cloths consists in stretching and
extending the cloth evenly over a flat unyielding surface of smooth stone or
other suitable hard substance whilst the cloth is undergoing the operation of
dressing by hand with pointed wire cards (or cards having the extremity of
their teeth so reduced as to approach to sharp points), such cards being suitably
prepared for the purpose of dressing woollen or other cloths by hand in lieu of
teasles, the intention of such improvement being that the cloth may be borne up
and firmly supported from behind whilst such pointed wire cards are applied
by hand upon the face or outward surface of the cloth and worked thereupon,
in order to dress and raise a pile upon that surface, the said pointed wire cards
being fastened upon flat boards corresponding to the flat unyielding surface by
which the cloth is supported at the back or behind the same, in order that all
the points of the wires may bear equally against the face of the cloth when the
workman applies the card thereto, and that the cloth may be prevented from
yielding away from or retreating before the points of the teeth of the card so
as to escape their action; and my improvements in the machinery applicable
to the purpose of dressing cloths consists in certain additions to the machinery.
or apparatus commonly used by clothiers for stretching out and supporting
cloth during the operation of dressing or raising the pile thereof by hand dressing
with cards or with teasles, and which machinery or apparatus is usually called
amongst the clothiers in the West of England timmenog or perches, and the
construction of which is represented in Sheet No. 1 of the Drawing hereunto
annexed, Figure 1 being an elevation of one end and Fig. 2 a front elevation
thereof, and the same letters of reference are used to denote the same parts in
both Figures.
A, A, B, C, and D is a framing adapted to support two horizontal rollers
E and F, which extend across the lower part of that framing, which also sup-
ports two other horizontal rollers G and H (or else two fixed perches at G
and H with rounded edges), which extend horizontally across the upper part
of the framing in a direction parallel to the two lower rollers E, F, and nearly
over the same; one end of the piece of cloth which is to be dressed by hand is
made fast to and wound round about the lower roller E; and the cloth being
conducted over the two upper rollers (or perches) G and H, the opposite end of
the piece of cloth is fastened to and wound round about the other lower roller F.
Then, by turning round one or other of the lower rollers E or F (by means of
the handles Lor M at the ends of the axles thereof), the cloth can be wound and

page_text: gathered up around one roller, and unwound or drawn off from the other
roller, whereby every part of the piece may be brought in succession over the
rollers (or perches) G and H, in order to stretch or extend the cloth in
plane and even surfaces between the rollers (or the rollers and perches)
G and E and H and F at the opposite sides of the framing. The said
plane surfaces which the cloth so presents are somewhat inclined backwards
from vertical planes, and approach towards each other at the top, so as to
stand in suitable positions for men to work with hand cards or teasles all over
the surface of the cloth in order to dress and raise the pile thereon. The
two rollers E and F have handles L and M. at the ends of their axles to turn
them round by, and ratchet wheels a and b are fixed at the extremities of the
rollers E and F, with clicks or palls c and d to act in the teeth of the ratchet
wheels in order to retain the rollers from turning back and allowing the cloth
to unwind from them. The piece of cloth should have shortend pieces of
cloth sewed to each end of the piece to prolong those ends, in order that when
the extremities of those short end pieces are fastened to the rollers E and F
(by hooks and eyes or other suitable means), the whole of the cloth may be
brought into the proper situation to be dressed quite to the very ends of the
piece. A trough N, containing water, is placed under the lower part of the
frame, and the cloth is occasionally passed under a roller O, which is mounted
on pivots within the trough N, near to the bottom of it; the cloth is thereby
conducted downwards from the roller E within the water, then beneath the
roller O, and up again through the water, in order to become thoroughly
wetted. This is commonly done when the piece of cloth is put into the
machine, and wound about the rollers E and F. If the cloth is suffi-
ciently wetted by thus passing through the water, then the roller O may be
removed, and the cloth may be conducted upwards from the roller E to the
roller (or perch) G, as represented in the Drawing. And whereas in the
usual mode of dressing cloth by hand upon such timmenog or perches the
cloth is not supported or borne up at the back or behind the cloth opposite
to the parts where the workmen apply the cards or teasles to its face,
but the cloth is retained in its plane surfaces merely by the tension with
which it is strained over and extended between the several rollers or
perches, now part of my improvements in the said machinery consists in
applying thereto two flat stones (or other suitable unyielding substance), which
are placed against the sides A, A, of the framing at 1 and 2, and are lodged
upon and supported by brackets 3 and 4, which are firmly fastened to those
sides, and the cloth is extended over the flat surfaces of the said stones (or
other hard substance) in order that the cloth may be firmly borne up and

page_text: supported behind whilst the workmen dress the face with pointed wire cards
(or cards whereof the extremities of the teeth are either wholly or partially
pointed), such cards being nailed and fastened upon flat boards, as shewn at
P and Q, Sheet 1, with handles projecting from the backs of such boards for
the workmen to hold them in their hands; and in using such flat hand cards
the workmen apply them flat upon the face of the cloth, which is extended
over the surface of the stones 1 and 2, so as to bring all the points of the
wires into action at the same time upon the cloth in order to raise a pile upon
the face thereof. To prevent any danger of injury to the cloth from working
inadvertently with the upper edge or border of the pointed wire card, if ever
the workmen should fail to apply it flat upon the surface of the cloth, a guard
is fixed to the board along its upper edge, or that edge which is farthest from
the handle, and the guard projects out from the flat surface of the board
nearly as far as the points of the wires project out from the same. If the card
is applied flat upon the cloth the said guard will not touch the cloth, but if
only the upper edge of the card should be applied to the cloth then the said
guard will prevent the pointed wires of the card from penetrating too deep
into the cloth; and, for further security, a similar guard may be fixed to the
board at the lower edge thereof, or the edge nearest to the handle of the card.
The machinery, when constructed according to my improvement as afore-
said, may be used in the same manner as the timmenog or perches is
commonly used by clothiers, viz, when those portions of the piece of cloth
which are extended between E, G, and F, H, have been partly dressed
by workmen standing at each side of the framing, then one of the rollers
E or F is turned round by its handle L or M to wind forwards a suitable
length of the cloth, the other roller E or F being previously released by
lifting up the click or pall c or d of its ratchet wheel a or b, in order to allow
that roller to turn round as fast as the cloth is drawn off from it; by this
means other portions of the piece of cloth are brought into the positions E, G,
and F, H, and are strained or stretched out in plane surfaces in order to be
dressed by hand dressing, in the same manner as the preceding portions, or
else, by another of my improvements in machinery, to be used for the purpose
of dressing cloths. I apply mechanical power (by means of suitable wheel-
work to one of the rollers E or F, in order to turn the same continually round
with a slow and progressive motion, and thereby to wind up the cloth around
that roller and draw it off from the other roller, which is retarded from turning
freely round by a friction brake, so as to cause the cloth to be stretched to a
suitable force of tension whilst it is moved slowly and regularly over the sur-
faces of the stones or other hard substance fixed at 1 and 2, whereby every

page_text: part of the piece will in turn be brought progressively before the workmen in
order to be dressed by them with pointed wire cards or cards with the ends of
the wire teeth partially or wholly pointed, which cards they hold in their hands
as aforesaid.
The intention of this improvement is to avoid any necessity for stopping or
interrupting the operation to advance the cloth forwards a length at a time.
The construction of the machinery according to this improvement is represented
in the Drawing Sheet 2, Figure 4 being an elevation of one end and Figure 5
a front elevation, and the same letters of reference denote the same parts in
both Figures.
A, A, B, C, and D is the framing as before; E and F the two lower rollers;
G and H the two upper rollers or fixed perches; 1 and 2 the two flat stones
or other hard substance, which according to my aforesaid improvement are
applied against the legs A, A, of the framing, being supported by the brackets
3 and 4 in the manner already described in respect to Sheet 1. 5 and 6 are
two large spur-wheels fixed upon the ends of the axles of the rollers E and F
respectively, and their teeth are engaged by the teeth of two small pinions
7 and 8. The pinion 7 is mounted upon a fixed stud, and acts only as an
intermediate pinion to transmit the motion of the pinion 8 to the teeth of the
wheel 5 when required. The pinion 8 is mounted on a horizontal axis at the
extreme end of which fast and loose pulleys 9 and 10, Figure 5, are applied to
receive an endless belt or strap from a suitable drum, which is turned continually
round by the power of millwork in the usual manner of other machines which
are moved by power, viz', the endless belt being shifted upon the loose pully 10,
will turn the same round without turning the axis and the pinion 8; but if the
endless belt is shifted upon the fast pully 9, then it will turn the axis and
pinion 8 round with a slow and regular motion. The pivot at that end of the
axis where the pinion 8 is fixed upon the axis is supported by an upright
standard 12, the lower end of which is moveable, in the manner of a lever,
about a fixed center pin fixed in the rail C of the framing, and the upper
end of the lever 12 is retained in notches in a board fixed to the framing
at D. When this lever is placed in a vertical "position, as represented in
Figure 4, the teeth of the pinion 8 are entirely detached, and no motion
is communicated therefrom to either of the rollers E or F; but if the
upper end of the lever 12 is moved towards the wheel 6, then its teeth
engage in the teeth of that wheel, and turn it slowly round together with the
roller F, so as to wind up the cloth around that roller; or otherwise, if the
lever 12 is moved towards the wheel 5, then the teeth of the pinion 8 will be
disengaged from the teeth of the wheel 6, and will be brought into contact with

page_text: the teeth of the intermediate pinion 7, so as to turn it round, and that pinion
will transmit the motion to the wheel 5, so as to turn the roller E round in a
suitable direction to wind up the cloth about the same. On the extreme ends
of the axis of the rollers E and F two large sheaves or pullies 14 and 15 are
fixed to receive straps or ropes, which are applied around the upper parts of
those sheaves, and the ends of those straps or ropes are fastened to levers 17
and 18, which are moveable at one end upon centre pins supported in fixed
standards 19 and 20, and the other ends of the same levers are loaded with
weights 21 and 22, which depress and draw the said straps or ropes tight upon
the sheaves 14 and 15, so as to cause a sufficient friction thereon to retard the
motion of the rollers E and F so much that when the cloth is drawn off and
unwound from either roller (by winding up the opposite end of the picce around
the other roller), the cloth will be strained with such a degree of tension as
will cause it to be extended evenly and smoothly over the surfaces of the stones
1 and 2, in order that it may be dressed by the workmen at each side of the
machine whilst it is moving slowly and gradually over those surfaces, so that
every part of the picce will in succession pass before them.
My Invention consists in extending the cloth upon flat and smooth unyielding
surfaces (as herein-before described), in order to support the cloth at the back
whilst it is dressed by hand upon the face with pointed wire cards or cards
having the ends of the wires wholly or partially pointed, whereby the
cloth will not yield so as to escape from the action of the teeth of the cards,
and the pile will then be more effectually raised on the face of the cloth
than by the common mode of dressing cloth by hand with wire cards
'without any support to the back of the cloth, and also in the application (as
herein-before described) of flat surfaces of stone or other suitable material to
the machinery commonly used for stretching and supporting wollen cloth whilst
it is dressed by hand, in order to support such cloth at the back whilst it is
dressed on the face by wire cards partially or wholly pointed as aforesaid, and
likewise in applying to the said machinery the further machinery herein-before
described for giving a gradual and progressive motion to the piece of cloth, in
order to draw the same over or across the said flat unyielding surfaces, so as to
bring every part of the piece in succession before the workmen, who are to dress
the same by hand with wire cards partially or wholy pointed as aforesaid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Clisild Daniell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
JOSEPH CLISILD (L.s.) DANIELL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid Joseph Clisild Daniell came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-eight.