IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR IMPRESSING, ORNAMENTING, AND OTHERWISE MARKING AND POLISHING LEATHER, LEATHERETTE, CLOTH, AND ANY SUBSTANCE, SKIN, MATERIAL. FABRIC. AND SURFACE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brewer, of Newbury Street, in the Parish of
Whitchurch, in the County of Southampton, and Richard Turner Brewer, of
Whelm Field House, in the Parish of New or Chipping Barnet, in the
County of Herts, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR IMPRESSING, ORNAMENTING, AND OTHERWISE MARKING AND
POLISHING LEATHER, LEATHERETTE, CLOTH, AND ANY SUBSTANCE, SKIN,
MATERIAL. FABRIC. AND SURFACE."
Sealed the 8th December 1876, and dated the 13th October 1876.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Brewer and Richard
Turner Brewer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th
October 1876.
"
WILLIAM BREWER, of Newbury Street, in the Parish of Whitchurch, in the
County of Southampton, and RICHARD TURNER BREWER, of Whelm Field House, in
the Parish of New or Chipping Barnet, in the County of Herts. IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR IMPRESSING, ORNAMENTING, AND OTHERWISE
MARKING AND POLISHING LEATHER, LEATHERETTE, CLOTH, AND ANY SUBSTANCE,
SKIN, MATERIAL, FABRIC, AND SURFACE.
The object and nature of our Invention will be more clearly made known by
first describing the jigger now in use; an arm of wood swung overhead, and
pendulum wise has attached to its lower end the marking roller, which is worked
to and fro along the leather placed beneath it on a flexible board. By this plan
the designs are impressed irregularly on the surface of the leather; moreover so
much space is. sometimes required for fixing the jigger that it has to be carried
through an opening in the ceiling and floor from the basement to the room above.
This our Invention consists of two standards, by preference cast in iron, and fixed
one at each end of the machine bed, the length and width of the latter being
adapted to the work requisite; in each of these standards is a hole or apertures or
sockets which support the guide rod or rods in their relative positions, that is, one
above the other and horizontally with the machine bed. One guide rod or more
rods can be used of a circular or of any shape and fixed one above another, or
parallel or otherwise.

page_text: A double set of guide rods may be employed for impressing and polishing large
skins. The guide rods can be made with grooves or slots in the inner side for a
corresponding tongue or piece on the cheeks to slide in the said groove, and carry
the moveable press engine hereafter described; or the reverse plan could be
adopted, the said tongue be made on the guide rods, and a slot or groove in or on
the cheeks.
The following group of parts we term the moveable press engine:-Two flat
cheeks, one on each side of the machine, are connected by cross bar studs and nuts;
one cheek has, or both may have, two or more ears on the outer side or part of the
cheek, in or against which the slide arm works, and through these ears the guide
rods pass from standard to standard. The guide rods could pass through ears
otherwise situated, and also throngh holes bored or cast in the cheeks, but the
Inventors prefer the arrangement herein-before described; thus both checks and
the parts connected therewith, called the moveable press engine, can be moved to
and fro on the guide rods the length of the machine bed; on, partly in, or against
each cheek is a slotted slide arm, this being kept in position by a V shaped or other
slide piece in the middle slot, and a position screw passing through the said slide
piece in the slot and into the cheek, and also by a recess or panel like a half open
mortise, in the latter the width of the slide arm, which mechanical arrangement
allows the slide arms to be moved up and down against the cheeks so far as may be
necessary. In the upper part of each slide arm is a slot or opening to hold and
carry the spindle of the pressure wheel, and to transmit or communicate the
pressure received, as herein-after shown. In the lower part or bottom of each slide
arm is another slot, hole, or aperture, adapted to the same purpose for the spindle
of the marking roller, and for the spindle of the bar or rod of the marking tool or
tools, namely, to hold and carry the said roller, tool, or tools, and impart the
pressure received to it or them. A pinch screw passes into this lower slot from the
outside on both slide arms, so that it can be turned enough to fix the spindle of the
marking roller or of the carrying bar of the marking tool or tools, and prevent it or
them from revolving; and for the same purpose pinch screws may be applied to the
pivots and blades of the marking tool or tools. This pinch screw arrangement
produces patterns on skins and materials in which a rubbing, smoothing, polishing,
or glazing and frictional effect by or with pressure is required. A groove in the
edge, rim, or outer felly of the pressure wheel, and round its whole circumference
receives the vertical part, that is, either the whole of it or any portion of the T bar.
On the front cheek is the regulator made of a light casting, brass by preference,
with a slot corresponding to the middle slot in the slide arm, but somewhat larger
to allow a screwdriver to pass through or between it to adjust the position screw
in the slide arm. A half boss is cast on the top end to receive the thread in which
the regulating screw works, and the ring head of this latter is placed on or round,
or it encircles the extremity of the pressure wheel spindle; at the bottom of the
regulator is a hook, ring, or hole, held by a pin or other suitable fastening fixed on
the front cheek, but projecting through the slot in the slide arm. The regulator
being shortened by the aforesaid screw communicates pressure to the end of the
marking roller, or to that of the carrying bar of the marking tools on the front side
of the machine, and by lengthening the regulator the pressure is transmitted to the
opposite extremity of the marking roller, tool, or tools. The term "pressure” means
the simple and compound graduated action of the aforesaid regulator when in use,
together with the pressure wheel and the T bar and its springs adjustable by
screws.
This combined mechanism gives any fixed degree of pressure the operator
requires, yet it is sufficiently pliable or depressive and reactive to accommodate the
irregular thicknesses of leather or material that may be placed on the graining
board to be impressed by the marking roller, tool, or tools.
A cross bar handle in the slide arms above the marking roller is to move the
press engine backwards and forwards on the guide rods. A carrying piece is fixed
on the top cr shoulder of each standard. We place it in this position by preference

page_text: to any other. The said carrying piece has an adjusting screw which can be worked
by a handle up and down through a thread hole, the latter situate in the carrying
piece at the end, within or between the two standards, or in any other suitable
position. The bottom of the adjusting screw is smaller than the upper part and
smooth like a bolt; this passes through the springs fixed on the top of the T bar,
and a pin is inserted underneath them in the said plain screw point. When the
adjusting screws are turned down vertically these press the springs on the T bar,
which latter transmits the force to the pressure wheel and the slide arms and the
marking roller or tools. Necessarily the upward movement of the adjusting screws
produces a reverse action or lessens the pressure. Both screws can be raised to take
the T bar altogether out of the groove in the pressure wheel to adjust the marking
rollers or tools of different sizes. The springs above mentioned are fitted to a small
saddle piece securely fixed to the T bar. In the slotted head of each standard
the T bar works endwise in a slide piece with a pin, nut, or other fastening; or
the T bar is housed in the said slide piece, by preference of gun metal, for the
purpose of transmitting the pressure accurately every way and with the requisite
degree of elasticity. The height of these slotted standards from the machine bed
should be in proportion to any sizes of the marking rollers or tools which are used.
Parallel with the graining board and about one inch and a half from its. outer
edge is a pair of transit rollers, the lower one working in fixed bearings and the
upper one in slots. India-rubber bands are stretched round the top roller and
equidistant about three inches from each other. The diameter of this upper transit
roller is exactly equal to the length of the marking roller, and when moved by
hand its weight must be sufficient to make the leather travel between the transit
rollers and carry it on or over the graining board. The elastic bands assist, without
too much pressure, in holding the leather and thus obviate a back unguided motion,
and also prevent the roller from damaging the newly impressed leather.
Ferrules or sockets may be used at each end of the top transit roller for im-
pressing and polishing heavy skins. The line of delivery from the transit rollers
to the graining board may be level or otherwise.
To work the machine by hand draw or push the moveable press engine across
the leather on the graining board. A revolution of the transit rollers will bring
the next part of the leather in the place of that previously marked, and so in
consecutive order moving the leather a given distance, and marking, impressing, or
polishing the pattern thereon. Another pair of rollers is employed on the opposite
side of the machine for fluting, dicing, and similar processes. But, if so required,
the moveable press engine can be worked to impress or polish the leather without
the aid of any transit rollers.
The Inventors prefer to work machines of the small and average sizes by hand,
though they do not limit themselves to the use of manual motive power, as the
required motions both for these and the larger sizes could be obtained by the
application of driving straps and gearing to the moveable press engine or by any
other suitable means.
The marking tools consist of a series of blades, by preference made of thin steel,
fixed on, in, or against a rod or bar to imitate in part or wholly the surface of a
roller. The carrying bar of these tools is connected with the slide arms, as hitherto
described. The end or face of the tool or tools which impresses the leather being
made the requisite shape to produce the pattern. Another arrangement is a
carrying bar cast with a groove, aperture, or frame, to hold the tools and then by
an adjusting screw fix the tools in it.
The ordinary graining board can be applied to this machine: The Inventors also
use one covered in part or wholly with india-rubber, cloth, and any other elastic
material or fabric, this board being either placed on the machine bed or supported
by springs which depress and react.
Index to the Drawing; scale about an inch and three-eighths to a foot :—The
Figure is a complete front elevation of one form of our machinery or apparatus and
a part end view. Standards h, h; guide rods e, e, e, e; sockets or holes in the

page_text: standards for the guide rods k, k; slotted head of the standards f, f; upper transit
roller 8, 8; lower transit roller t, t; india-rubber bands round the upper transit
roller b, b; bed of the machine w, w; graining board z; pressure wheel c; vertical
part of the T bar v; ears on the back cheek for the guide rods i, i; marking
roller; one cross bar stud of the cheeks o; recess or panel of the front cheek g;
carrying piece on the shoulder of the standards d, d; saddle pieces on the T bar n, n;
springs fitted to the saddle pieces a, a; adjusting screw in each carrying piece 1, 1;
slide arms 2, 2; front cheek 3; back cheek 4; slide piece and position screw in the
middle slot 5; pin for the hole in the lower end of regulator 6; ring head of the
regulator on the spindle of the pressure wheel 7; regulator screw 8.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, we would lastly observe that what we consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as our Invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First. The general construction, arrangement, combination, use, and application
of the said machinery or apparatus, and of any similar mechanical contrivance, for
impressing, ornamenting, and otherwise marking and polishing leather, leatherette,
cloth, and any substance, skin, material, fabric, and surface, substantially in the
manner as herein-before described and illustrated by our Drawing.
Second. The construction, arrangement, combination, use, and application of any
portions of the said machinery or apparatus, substantially in the manner and for
the purposes as herein-before described.
Third. The construction, arrangement, use, and application of any separate part
of the said machinery or apparatus, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
as herein-before described.
Fourth. The construction, arrangement, use, and application of the marking tool
or tools of various shapes and sizes, and the fixing of the same in, or on, or against
carrying bars, rods, frames, or grooves combined with the adjustable set screw, or
without it, substantially in the manner and for the purposes as herein-before
described.
Fifth. The construction, arrangement, use, and application of one pair of transit
rollers, or more, with india-rubber or other elastic bands, and ferrules or sockets, to
work in fixed bearings and slots, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
as herein-before described.
Sixth. The construction, arrangement, use, and application of the graining board
wholly or in part covered with india-rubber, cloth, or any elastic material or
fabric, and supported on springs which depress and react, or without them, sub-
stantially in the manner and for the purposes as herein-before described.
Seventh. The construction, use, and application of the mechanical arrangement,
or of any machinery, contrivance, or apparatus similar to the moveable press
engine, the guide rods, and the adjustable T bar for producing the elastic and
regulated pressure combined with the to-and-fro horizontal movement, and either
with or without the set friction, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Brewer and Richard Turner Brewer,
have hereunto set our hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
WILLIAM BREWER.
(L.S.)
RICHARD TURNER BREWER. (L.S.)