Improvements in Machines employed in Cutting the Pile of Weft Pile Fabrics, or other Machines employed in Finishing Fabrics.
Year: 1891

page_text: Cate of Application, 17th Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 16th July, 1892-Accepted, 20th Aug., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines employed in Cutting the Pile of Weft
Pile Fabrics, or other Machines employed in Finishing Fabrics.
We, WILLIAM GADD of 64 Barton Arcade, Manchester, Civil and Consulting
Engineer, and WILLIAM FREDERICK MASON of 11 Birch Lane, Longsight,
Manchester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
The improvements relate to machines employed in cutting the pile of weft pile
fabrics, or other machines employed in finishing fabrics, and have for objects
effecting the travel of the fabric or piece of cloth, to be operated upon, in one
continuous direction, against a cutting knife, while disposing, for the time being, of
the non-operative portions of the piece of fabric in a convenient and effective
manner, without undue creasing thereof, or friction thereon.
To accomplish this, and to effect the improvements, a convenient framing is
provided with suitable journals for a driving roller or rollers, which is caused to
pull the piece of cloth continuously forward, under the requisite resistance or
friction from tension, or geared, or other rollers, or bars, or both.
By preference, the fabric or cloth is joined at its two ends, so as to form an
endless web, as is well understood.
The intervening portions of the piece of fabric are conveniently and effectively
disposed of, for the time being, underneath the running surface of the fabric
undergoing operation, by the following means; which, combined with a drawing
forward mechanism, as already described, form the principal portion of the present
invention.
A linked or other chain or band is formed on each side of the machine, and is
carried on wheels or pulleys or other carriers.
These chains are endless, and are guided along the top, ends, and bottom portions
of the machine, and are formed of or provided with levers projecting radially from
the links or bands, in the plane of the motion thereof. The projecting levers of
one chain or band are connected by rods to the opposite projecting levers of the
other chain or band, and one or more of the driving or carrier wheels for the chains
or bands are geared to the driving parts of the machine, either by star wheel,
ratchet and pawl, or other gearing, for the purpose of giving the chain of transverse
rods a forward motion, which is preferably of an intermittent character. Near
each end of the machine, where the chains pass over the carriers, the radial rods
open out, and thus allow the cloth, as it falls from the draw rollers, to fall between
them, forming a loop of the required length, when the chain of rods is driven
forward and the next rod comes in front of the constantly falling cloth, thus
forming a succession of hanging loops over the rods, which loops, as they present
themselves at the other end of the machine, are readily and easily unlooped or drawn
straight by the draw rollers, and the operation may be continuously repeated as
many times as required. Although we prefer the chain of travelling rods to be
attached to radial levers projecting from endless chains or bands as described,
nevertheless a succession of rods may be presented to the falling cloth in various
ways which are the equivalents of the foregoing and for the same purpose.
also, although the improvements more especially refer to the cutting of pile on weft
pile fabrics, they may, with some modifications, be adapted to the other operations,
of an analogous character, which are required in the finishing of fabrics of a kindred
nature.
And
The usual forms of driving apparatus may be employed, such as strap or other
friction driving, or clutch gearing; but for convenience of stopping the machine

page_text: quickly we prefer to employ a special form of driving apparatus, consisting of a
combination of a clutch gear with a driving strap and pulleys, in such manner that
neither of these will drive the machine without the other; by which means, when
the machine is running, the release of the clutch will allow the machine to stop
quickly, thus allowing the strap to run off the driving pulley after such stoppage
has taken place.
Variations in detail may be made without departing from the peculiar character
of the invention.
Dated this 16th day of October 1801
WILLIAM GADD, C.E.,
64, Barton Arcade, Manchester, Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machines employed in Cutting the Pile of Weft
Pile Fabrics, or other Machines employed in Finishing Fabrics.
We, WILLIAM GADD of 64 Barton Arcade, Manchester, Civil and Consulting
Engineer, and WILLIAM FREDERICK MASON of 11 Birch Lane, Longsight,
Manchester, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
The improvements relate to machines employed in cutting the pile of weft pile
fabrics, or other machines employed in finishing fabrics, and have for objects
effecting the travel of the fabric or piece of cloth to be operated upon, in one con-
tinuous direction, against a cutting knife, while disposing, for the time being, of
the non-operative portions of the piece of fabric in a convenient and effective
manner, without undue creasing thereof or friction thereon.
To accomplish this, and to effect the improvements, a convenient framing is
provided with suitable journals for a driving roller or rollers, which is caused to
pull the piece of cloth continuously forward under the requisite resistance or friction
from tension, or geared or other rollers, or bars, or both."
By preference, the fabric or cloth is joined at its two ends, so as to form an
endless web, as is well understood. The intervening portions of the piece of fabric
are conveniently and effectively disposed of, for the time being, underneath the
running surface of the fabric undergoing operation, by the following means: which,
combined with a drawing forward mechanism as already described, form the principal
portion of the present invention.
A linked or other chain or band is formed on each side of the machine, and is
carried on wheels or pulleys or other carriers. These chains are endless and are
guided along the top, ends, and bottom portions of the machine, and are formed of
or provided with levers projecting radially from the links or bands, in the plane of
the motion thereof. The projecting levers of one chain or band are connected by
rods to the opposite projecting levers of the other chain or band, and one or more of
the driving or carrier wheels for the chains or bands are geared to the driving parts
of the machine either by star wheel, ratchet and pawl, or other or ordinary con-
tinuous gearing, for the purpose of giving the chain of transverse rods a forward
notion, which is in some cases preferably of an intermittent character, while in
others the continuous forward motion is preferable. Near each end of the machine
where the chains pass over the carriers, the radial rods open out and thus allow
the cloth, as it falls from the draw rollers, to fall between them, forming a
loop of the required length, when the chain of rods is driven forward and the
next rod comes in front of the constantly falling cloth, thus forming a succession
of hanging loops over the rods, which loops, as they present themselves at the
other end of the machine, are readily and easily drawn straight by the draw
rollers and the operation may be continuously repeated as many times as required.
Although we prefer the chain of travelling rods to be attached to radial levers
projecting from endless chains or bands as described, nevertheless a succession-of
"

page_text: with
rods may be presented to the falling cloth in various ways which are the equivalents
of the foregoing, and for the same purpose. And also, although the improvements
more especially refer to the cutting of pile on weft pile fabrics, they may,
some modifications, be adapted to the other operations of an analogous character
which are required in the finishing of fabrics of a kindred nature.
The usual forms of driving apparatus may be employed, such as strap or other
friction driving, or clutch gearing; but for convenience of stopping the machine
quickly, we prefer to employ a special form of driving apparatus, consisting of a
combination of a clutch-gear with a driving strap and pulleys, in such manner that
neither of these will drive the machine without the other; by which means, when
the machine is running, the release of the clutch will allow the machine to stop
quickly, thus allowing the strap to run off the driving pulley after such stoppage
lias taken place.
But that the invention may be better understood, we will, with the aid of the
accompanying drawings, proceed more fully to describe means employed by us.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 shows a side elevation, Fig. 2 a plan view, and Fig. 3 a front elevation of
a machine arranged in accordance with our improvements; while Fig. 5 shows a
side elevation, and Fig. 4 a front view of a detail enlarged.
The same letters indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur.
a. a. is the main framing of the machine, and b. b. is the draw roller forward,
while bb is the draw-back roller, or forward delivery roller. It is in most cases
convenient to arrange the apparatus with this capacity of backward motion, but
where such is not required it may be dispensed with and a fixed bar may be
substituted for the roller b¹¹.
The rollers c. c. and c¹ c¹ deliver the fabric to the travelling looping rods, and,
in the example shown, are driven by friction with the draw rollers; but in the
case of strong fabrics, it is preferable to gear the first of the rollers c. c. and c¹ el
by means of toothed wheels or other positive gearing, to the draw rollers, and
to clothe the latter with card clothing; but in most cases, it is preferable to
give the rollers c. c. and c c a slightly quicker forward surface speed, than the
run of the cloth. d. d. is the fabric, which, in work, passes over the draw roller b. b,
partly round the same and over the first delivery roller c. c. where it is nipped by
the second roller, which has pressure put thereon by means of a spring presser e. e.
From these nip rollers, the cloth falls by its own gravity between a pair of the
transverse rods f. f. These rods are carried on the ends of levers the
other ends of which are linked together as two endless chains, passing round
the four pulleys g. 9. on each side of the machine.
One or more of these
pulleys on each side, carrying the chain of levers, is geared by any suitable
gearing with the draw rollers, so as to cause the chain of levers to travel forward
either continuously, by means of continuous gearing, or intermittently by means
of the star wheel intervening as shown, or by other intermittent means.
When a tranverse rod, over which the fabric is looped, arrives underneath the
small clip or presser, h. h. the gravitational fall of the cloth is arrested and thus a
new loop is formed, and the operation may be continuously repeated. It will be
seen that the chain of levers, by passing over the pulleys 9. g, fringe or open
out at those points and so give room for the fabric to fall in a loop between them.
For convenience, the chain of levers, while travelling horizontally, rests on bars or
rails at each side of the machine.
1. j. are tension bars and rollers, over and underneath some or all of which the
cloth may pass, to give the requisite strain or stretch thereto for the operation of
cutting the pile, which may be accomplished by any suitable knife. As every loop
of the fabric arrives at the back end of the machine, such loop is drawn up through
the nip rollers e cand over the roller b' by the run of the cloth; and it will
be seen that the fabric has been disposed of, in the interim, within the machine,
by means of hanging loops, without pressure.or.creasing, during-the-process.

page_text: In the cutting of weft pile fabrics by machinery, it is important to be able to
stop the machine instantly or as quickly as may be, for the prevention of accidental
damage. To this end, we provide a special arrangement of stopping and starting
gear, consisting of the joint action of an ordinary interlocking clutch and ordinary
strap driving, but in such manner that neither of these means will alone connect or
put the machine in motion, without the assistance of the other. The foot
lever k. k. on being depressed will by means of the intervening cord, pulleys and
lever as shown, put the balf of the clutch 1. 1. (which slides on a key upon the
shaft of the machine, in the usual or other manner) into gear with the other
half attached to or forming part of the pulley m. m. which latter, without so
being in gear, will run loose, like unto the ordinary loose pulley n. n. That is to
say the pulleys m. m. and n. n. are primarily both of them loose pulleys, so that
whether the driving strap be on the one or the other, without further action, the
machine will not move. But when the sliding half of the clutch 1. l. is held into
the locked position with the other half upon the pulley m. m. this latter becomes,
for the time being, equivalent to a fast pulley, and remains so as long as such
interlocking is preserved. But when the foot lever is released, the spring (or it
may be weight) which counteracts the same, withdraws the sliding half of the
clutch, when the machine is instantly free of the forward power, and will stop very
quickly, as there is little or no accumulated momentum, although a brake may be
added, if desired. It will be seen that when the connection of parts is thus broken,
the driving strap may be liberated and slide on to the loose pulley proper, at
leisure. o. o. shows a trip catch to hold on the strap lever p. p. while the clutch is
in gear; but which is released whenever the clutch is allowed to go out of gear.
A separate driving strap is shown for the forward and backward driving.
Instead of the clip levers h. h. being used, a small fixed brush may be employed,
or other means for arresting the gravitational fall of the cloth at the right time,
such as a small sharp spike (or several) upon each transverse rod; and other
variations in detail may be made without departing from the peculiar character of
the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In machines for cutting weft pile fabrics, or for analogous purposes, the
endless chain of transverse rods which open out, at suitable points in their travel,
to enable the fabric to fall over & be carried on the same, in the form of loops, for
the purpose and in manner substantially as herein shown and described.
2. In machines for cutting weft pile fabrics, or for analogous purposes, the endless
chain of levers carrying transverse rods, which levers radiate or open out, at suit-
able points, for to enable the fabric to fall over and be carried by the rods, in the
form of loops, for the purpose and in manner substantially as herein shown and
described.
3. In machines for cutting weft pile fabrics, or for analogous purposes, the
stopping and starting apparatus consisting of the two loose pulleys n. n. and m. m.
the latter being attached to or forming part of a clutch-box gear 11, combined
with a sliding half of a clutch-box gear 1. 1. upon the driving shaft, actuated by a
lever, all arranged for the purpose and in manner substantially as herein shown and
:described.
:
4. The combination, construction and arrangement of apparatus, substantially for
the purpose, and in manner as hereinbefore described and as illustrated by the
-accompanying drawings.
WILLIAM GADD, C.E.,
64, Barton Arcade, Manchester, Agent.