IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES AND MACHINERY THEREFOR
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough
Park, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES AND MACHINERY
THEREFOR."A communication from abroad by Philip Wheeler Somers,
rosiding at Danbury United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 17th September 1866, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN that I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART OF FELTING OR SIZING HAT BODIES
AND MACHINERY THEREFOR," (a communication to me from abroad by Philip
Wheeler Somers, a person resident at Danbury, United States of America,)
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 :-
The improvements which constitute the subject-matter of this Patent
relate to sizing or felting hat bodies of fur, wool, and other similar materials

page_text: by working them in the roll, and the Invention consists in a new roll or new
mode of making a roll adapted for working by machinery, and also of certain
new combinations of mechanical devices embodied in a machine adapted for
working such new rolls. That part of the Invention which relates to the roll
consists in making a roll in which the coils or folds of the covering cloth (by
which the bat is enveloped) are in a reversed direction to the coils or folds of
the bat. Hitherto rolls have been made up for machines the same as for the
hand process of sizing, that is to say, the coils of the enveloping cloth run in
the same direction as the coils of the bat, which they cover, and although
machines of various kinds have been devised to work the rolls for the purpose
of sizing them in they have hitherto failed to take the place of the hand
working, for the reason that the bats or bodies thus rolled and worked do not
shrink in the direction designed by the hatter when making up bis roll, and
also because they are inferior in quality to the hand-worked bodies; but by
the use of the improved roll above described these difficulties are obviated,
and hat bodies can be practically seized in by working them in the roll in
machines which carry the roll or rolls continuously forward; either by a
simple rolling motion or by a compound forward motion having a jiggering
action involved with it, as in many machines heretofore patented for felting
hat bodies in the roll. The reason why reversing the direction of the coils of
the covering cloth with respect to the coils of the rolled bodies or bats
produces so great a difference in the result of the operation of machinery
upon the fibres of the bats constituting the hat bodies is not known with
certainty, but it is believed that when the bodies are submitted to the action
of machinery in the improved roll herein-before described the fibres receive
motion and pressure in the same direction as they do when subjected to the
hand process in the form of roll commonly used. The Inventor has observed
that when a hat body in the roll with the enveloping or working cloth is
rolled on a table under pressure that the coils work or move in one'direction
or its opposite, according to the direction in which it is being rolled under
pressure. Those acquainted with the operation of machinery used or
attempted to be used in working hat bodies in the roll in the process of
sizing are familiar with the fact that the rolls have to be put into the
machines in such direction that the enveloping or covering cloth will be
rolled up and kept rolled up under pressure, otherwise the enveloping or
working cloth would be unrolled or stripped from the bats constituting the
hat bodies, the machine would be clogged up, or the bats would be spoiled;
yet this is precisely the opposite direction from that in which motion with'
pressure is usually applied to the same rolls by the band process, wherein the
79

page_text: motion under pressure during the greater part of the time is in a direction
away from the hatter, thereby unrolling the covering cloth to the extent of
that motion, the roll being restored by the hatter by rolling it lightly back
towards him. It being a necessity in the operation of continuously acting
machines upon hat bodies in the roll that the rolls be rolled under pressure in
a direction that will keep the covering cloth of the rolls rolled up (which is
the contrary direction from that in which the greatest pressure and motion
are applied by hand) the Inventor has sought to remedy the. difficulties
experienced in working rolls by machinery by reversing the direction of the
coils of the covering or felting cloth with respect to the bats, and by this
means the rolls may be kept rolled up in the machine, and yet the good
results of hand sizing may be obtained. The new roll may be most con-
veniently made by rolling up the body or bodies towards the hatter (as is
úsual in making the old roll) and then turning the roll end for end before
rolling it up in the enveloping or working cloth, which is then rolled around
the roll of bodies in a reverse direction (to the coils of the body) by rolling
towards the hatter, as usual, the reversal being effected without other change
in the manipulation of the hatter in making the roll than turning the roll of
the body or bodies end for end before rolling 'it up in the cloth. The roll
may,
however, be made by rolling up the body or bodies toward the hatter
upon the working cloth, and then rolling the enveloping or working cloth
around the roll of bodies by rolling from the hatter without changing the roll
of bodies end for end, as must be done when the roll is made by rolling both
the bodies and working cloth towards the hatter; but this mode of operation
(rolling from the hatter) is not in accordance with the usual practice of hatters
(which is to roll towards them), and is not therefore so convenient.
The Drawing Figure 5 shows an end view of a hat body and covering
cloth rolled up for the hand process of sizing with the coils 6 of the working
cloth in the same direction as the coils a of the hat body. An end view of the
new reversed roll is shown at Figure 6 of the Drawings, the coils d of the
covering cloth being in a reverse direction to those of the body c. Although
the new roll can be worked to better advantage than the old roll in machines
having a vibrating or jiggering motion combined with a forward motion such
machines are not adapted to produce the best results, by reason of the reverse
rolling they impart to the roll while under pressure, and therefore certain
improvements have been devised in the sizing machinery so as to adapt it to
working the new rolls with greater advantage; these improvements are
embodied in a machine herein-after described, which is not suitable for
working the old roll.

page_text: Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan of the machine; Figure 2 is a side
elevation of it; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of it, and Figure 4 a cross
section of it. The above Figures are drawn upon a scale of one and a half
inches to the foot.
The improvements in said machinery consist,
First, in the arrangement and combination of a horizontal endless moving
platform of grooved bars or grooved slats with two horizontal, stationary,
adjustable, yielding, working beds (one above and the other below the endless
platform), and with a yielding and adjustable concave located at one end of
the endless platform; the whole arranged and constructed substantially as
herein described.
Secondly, in combining with the lower working bed and the endless moving
platform a sliding bed having two concave surfaces united in the middle of
one of the concave surfaces (that next the endless moving bed) forming in
connection with the endless platform and lower bed an adjustable throat or
guide whereby rolls of different sizes may be introduced into the machine, the
other concave being a receiving table for the rolls discharged from the machine.
Thirdly, in the employment of a throat valve located at the entrance of the
throat of the machine, which valve when closed forms a bridge or inclined plane
from the endless belt across the throat to the receiving table, and operates
to throw out the rolls from the machine and guide them to the receiving
table, and when open permits the entrance into the machine of new rolls, and
also guides the rolls that have passed around the endless table into the throat
to be again passed through the machine.
.
In order, however, that the construction and operation of the improved
machine may be fully understood the Drawings will now be referred to by
letters of reference.
In the frame d¹ of the machine are placed suitable shafts and drums e, e³,
to carry the endless moving table, which is constructed of light wooden
grooved bars e, wired or otherwise secured to endless belts or chains
carried by the drums. A driving pulley e may be used to impart motion to
the endless working table, which has a continuous forward motion in the
direction of the arrows in the Drawing. A horizontal bearer or guide f
projecting inwards from the side rail of the frame that supports the drums
forms & guide and support between the drums for the endless working table
against the pressure of the rolls. Friction rollers may be placed in the
bearing surfaces of the guide f¹. The lower yielding adjustable bed is made
in two parts 9, 9', connected together by a plate 92, 93, ou each side of the
bed at the middle of the machine, to which plates the two parts of the bed

page_text: are hinged by suitable pivots 9', so that the middle of the bed may be
depressed to compensate for the sagging of the lower member of the endless
working table. The middle of the bed is supported by four bent springs
9, 9, 9, 9, two on each side of the machine, chains 9 depend from each of
the connecting hinge plates of the bed, by which the middle of the bed can
be depressed against the pressure of the supporting springs, and then held in
place by hooks g10, 91, on the inside of the frame on which the chains are
hooked for that purpose. The floor g¹ of the lower working bed is made of
short boards finely grooved (like a wash board) transversely to the line of
travel of the endless bed and secured in the side timbers of the frame of the
bed, which are rebated to receive the grooved floor boards and tied together
by cross planks g¹³, 914. Gutters or channels 91, 91, run along each side of
the bed connecting with pipes 918 to conduct the water expressed from the
bodies away from the machine. There are four round guides rods h, h¹, h², h³,
attached to the lower side of the lower bed which fit loosely in corresponding
holes in the cross planks i, i, of the frame, and around which are coiled
helical springs that support the ends of the bed with yielding pressure. The
lower bed may be adjusted at either end at a greater or less distance
from the endless band by means of the two levers j,, one at each end
of the machine below the bed; these levers are each connected at the
middle by links with the bed, one end of each lever being confined to one
side of the machine by a staple j or other fulcrum joint, and the other end
projecting out from the other side, where it is secured in the desired position
by a catch j. The upper bed or platform is a plain plank or board k loosely
suspended at four points from the cross bars k¹, k, of the frame by means of
four helical springs 1, 1, 2, 3, which permit the suspended bed to yield in any
direction. The bed may be as well suspended by leather straps, the object
being to permit it to yield a little in any direction to accommodate the working
of the rolls. A weight may be placed on the upper side of this bed to make
pressure if desired, and the lifting of the board by the pressure of the roll may
be restrained and regulated by a hooked link m connected with the frame
of the machine above the bed, which may be extended so as to hook into
the different staples m³, m², m³, m', on top of the bed. The concave, by
means of which the rolls are transferred from the lower to the upper side
of the endless bed, is composed of two sections, both of them grooved like the
lower bed. The lower section n of the concave is backed up by the
springs n', which are placed between it and the standards n³, n³, rising
from the lower bed which support the concave. The upper section o of the

page_text: concave is held by arms o¹, o, hinged to the standards n², n³, and kept in
place with yielding pressure by the bent springs o³, o*%; the concave being
supported by standards rising from the frame of the lower bed moves up and
down with it whenever it is raised and depressed for the purpose of adjustinent
to different sizes of rolls. To prevent the concave from being thrown out
of proper adjustment when the lower bed is raised or lowered inclined
guides p, p, p, p, (formed of round rod iron bent into the shape shown in
the Drawing) are placed upon the front and rear posts of the frame of the
machine and the bed is connected with the guides by eyes or staples surround-
ing the guides and driven into the frame of the bed, the bed having sufficient
end play for the purpose (by reason of the vertical guides within the helical
springs fitting their sockets loosely) is thrown backward or forward (according
as it is elevated or depressed) sufficiently to keep the concave (which moves
with it) in proper adjustment with the endless table so that it will not fail to
carry up the rolls to the upper side of the endless table. A sliding bed q rests
on that part of the lower bed which projects from the front of the machine and
slides on it towards and from the endless working bed. On the upper surface
of the sliding bed q are two concave surfaces inclining in opposite directions
from the line where they meet and extending to the opposite ends of the
sliding bed. One of these inclined surfaces or beds r (that next to the
endless table) is a plain surface and forms an inclined throat, or shoot down
which the rolls are carried into the machine by the endless band. The other
inclined concaves is a receiving table for the rolls that are discharged from
the machine; it is corrugated for the purpose of retarding the motion of the
roll as it comes from the machine; a stop s¹ prevents the rolls from rolling
off the table. The object of having the sliding bed move on the lower bed is
to adjust the throat to rolls of various sizes. The throat valve t swings on
suitable centre pins and is like the throttle valve of a steam engine except
that it is rectangular instead of circular. When this valve is in position to
form a bridge over the throat to throw out the rolls it may be held there by a
button u; when it is desired to let the rolls pass around again in the machine
the valve may be put in the position shown in the red lines v in the Drawings.
When the rolls are introduced the valve is turned to the position shown by
red lines w in the Drawings. In the use of this machine the hatter standing
at the sizing kettle (which should be placed immediately in front of the
macbine) has the valve at his command, that is to say, he can take hold of it
with his hand and turn it to the position desired for the moment. Having
made the reversed roll of bats and covering cloth as herein-before described

page_text: he throws the roll into the throat of the machine, when it is taken hold of by
the endless bed and rolled continuously between it and the surrounding
yielding adjustable surfaces formed by the lower bed, the concave, and the
upper-bed, until the hatter desires. to examine it, whereupon he turns the
throat valve across the throat and throws out the roll or rolls that are in
the machine. The machine is designed to work as many rolls at once as
can be carried around in it or can be properly attended to by the hatter or
hatters in front of it. It will be observed that in the use of this machine the
roll must be put into the machine with the coils of the covering cloth running
in the direction of the motion of the drums and band, so that the rolling in
the machine will keep the coils of covering cloth wound up instead of stripping
off the cloth by unrolling it. As there is no back or reverse rolling action
in this machine the motion under pressure is all applied in the direction in
which it is applied in hand working when the new or reversed roll is used in
the machine. If the old roll is used the machine will not work the roll to
the satisfaction of the batter or as well as machines having the vibrating or
reverse motion combined with the forward motion, because those machines
give part of their motion under pressure in the right direction for the old roll,
although the necessity of keeping the covering cloth wound up on the roll
compels the greater part of their motion under pressure to be given in the
wrong direction to operate upon the old roll in an advantageous manner.
And in the use of the new roll in such old machines it is believed that the
better result is due to the fact that the greater part of their motion under
pressure is in the right direction for the new roll, although in the wrong
direction for the old roll.
What is claimed as the Invention and improvement in sizing in hat bodies
in the roll and machinery therefor is,-
The new roll adapted for working hat bodies in the roll by machinery
wherein the coils or folds of the covering cloth are in a reverse direction from
the coils or folds of the body or bodies within said cloth, substantially as and
for the purposes herein-before set forth.
Also, in combination with the endless moving platform, of grooved bars or
slats, the stationary yielding adjustable lower bed, concave and upper bed,
the whole constructed and arranged to yield and be adjusted substantially as
described.
Also, in combination with the lower bed and endless moving bed, the
sliding bed with its two inclined concaves, one of them forming in connection
with the endless platform an adjustable throat, and the other being a receiving
table to receive the rolls thrown out of the machine.

page_text: Also, the valve located at the entrance of the throat of the machine, in
combination with the endless bed throat and receiving table, substantially as
described and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of September, in the 5
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
GEO, T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)