IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR STENTERING, STRETCHING, AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mather, of the Firm of Messieurs Mather and
Platt, of the Salford Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
STENTERING, STRETCHING, AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mather at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st March 1881.
WILLIAM MATHER, of the Firm of Messieurs Mather and Platt, of the Salford
Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR STENTERING, STRETCHING, AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS."
This Invention consists in improvements upon the machinery for stretching and
drying textile fabrics, for which Letters Patent were granted to Joseph Keim,
dated July 26th 1876, No. 2956.
In performing my Invention I use a stationary central hollow shaft or cylinder
supported by a standard at each side of the machine, and on this shaft near one
end I place a circular wheel shaped frame; to this frame I fix a number of studs
(equidistant from the central shaft) on which are antifriction rollers, which carry
an annular internally toothed wheel to which are attached the stretching clips and
guide rollers. I communicate a varying speed to this annular wheel by a pair of
elliptical wheels or otherwise. On the periphery of the circular frame are fitted the
segmental guides actuated by hand wheels for regulating the opening or stretch of
the fabric. An eccentric is connected to this frame to impart a lateral to and fro
motion to it. I place a second circular frame at a suitable distance from the first
on the central hollow shaft, which second frame also supports an annular toothed
wheel and segmental guides; at the end of the hollow shaft I fit a single hand
wheel and screw connected to the second frame by which it can be moved nearer
to or further from the first frame, according to the width of the fabric to be
stretched; the annular internally toothed wheel carried by the second frame is also
Price 621

page_text: driven at a varying speed by a pair of elliptical wheels (or otherwise), the annular
wheels being driven alternately quickly and slowly, so as to impart an elastic finish
to the fabric being operated upon. The eccentric connected to the first named
circular frame is to move the frame inwards when one side of the fabric is in
advance of the other. The circular frames slide on the central shaft, but do not
revolve. The hollow shaft opens into a central expanding air chamber (formed of
jointed plates or otherwise), which communicates by radial pipes with an expanding
annular air chamber contiguous to the fabric, and air heated or cold is driven by a
fan through the shaft and pipes against the fabric; I also apply a semicircular
casing (connected with the heater) extending over half the circumference of the
fabric in the machine, on the inner side of which casing are holes through which
air is forced against the outer side of the fabric, at the same time that air is driven
against the inner side of the fabric. The segmental guides and the stretching clips
are or may be mounted and actuated (and the annular wheels may be driven) as
described in Joseph Keim's Specification, numbered and dated as above, or if
desired pins may be used instead of clips for holding the fabric.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Mather in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th August
1881.
WILLIAM MATHER, of the Firm of Messieurs Mather and Platt, of the Salford
Iron Works, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR STENTERING, STRETCHING, AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS."
My Invention consists in improvements upon the machinery for stretching and
drying textile fabrics, for which Letters Patent were granted to Joseph Keim, dated
July 26, 1876, No. 2956.
In performing my Invention I use a stationary central hollow shaft or cylinder
supported by a standard at each side of the machine, and on this shaft near one end
I place a circular wheel shaped frame; to this frame I fix a number of studs (equi-
distant from the central shaft) on which are antifriction rollers which carry an
annular internally toothed wheel to which are attached the stretching clips and
guide rollers. I communicate a varying speed to this annular wheel by a pair of
elliptical wheels or otherwise. On the periphery of the circular frame are fitted the
segmental guides actuated by hand wheels for regulating the opening or stretch of
the fabric. An eccentric is connected to this frame to impart a lateral to and fro
motion to it. I place a second circular frame at a suitable distance from the first
on the central hollow shaft, which second frame also supports an annular toothed
wheel and segmental guides; at the end of the hollow shaft I fit a single hand
wheel and screw connected to the second frame by which it can be moved nearer to
or further from the first frame according to the width of the fabric to be stretched;
the annular internally toothed wheel carried by the second frame is also driven at

page_text: a varying speed by a pair of elliptical wheels (or otherwise), the annular wheels
being driven alternately quickly and slowly so as to impart an elastic finish to the
fabric being operated upon. The eccentric connected to the first named circular
frame is to move the frame inward when one side of the fabric is in advance of
the other. The circular frames slide on the central shaft but do not revolve. The
hollow shaft opens into a central expanding air chamber (formed of American cloth
or other suitable material) which communicates by radial pipes with an expanding
annular air chamber contiguous to the fabric, and air heated or cold is driven by a
fan through the shaft and pipes against the fabric. I also apply a semicircular
casing (connected with the heater) extending over half the circumference of the
fabric in the machine, in the inner side of which casing are holes through which
air is forced against the outer side of the fabric at the same time that air is driven
against the inner side of the fabric. The segmental guides and the stretching
clips are or may be mounted and actuated (and the annular wheels may be driven)
as described in Joseph Keim's Specification numbered and dated as above, or if
desired pins may be used instead of clips for holding the fabric.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect, I will describe the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, reference being had to
the Figures and letters marked thereon.
:
Fig. 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 is a front elevation partly in section of my
improved machine; Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are enlarged views of parts of the same.
Similar letters refer to similar parts in the different views.
a is a stationary central hollow trunk or shaft (supported by suitable standards)
on which are mounted two circular wheel shaped frames b, b'; the frame b¹ is free
to slide but not to revolve on a, and it may be traversed nearer to or further from
the frame b to adjust the machine to the width of fabric by a hand wheel c and
screw c', which turns in bearings connected to the trunk a; the frame b may be
fixed on a, or it may be fitted to receive a lateral to and fro motion imparted by
the adjustable crank pin c² on the disk c³ fixed on the shaft c¹. On the frames b, b¹,
are studs on which are antifriction rollers d carrying the annular internally toothed
wheels e; on the wheels e are fitted so as to slide laterally jointed segments e¹ on
which are mounted the clips e (see Fig. 4) or other devices for holding the fabric
to be stretched or dried; the clips e² are opened by two cams i to receive the fabric,
and similar cams are used to release the fabric. On the frames b and b¹ are also
mounted adjustable jointed segmental cams which are moved inward or outward
by the screws and hand wheels f' to regulate the stretch of the fabric; connected
to the segments el are guide rollers e³ which run on each side of the cams f when
the wheels e revolve, and thus impart the requisite stretch to the fabric; g is the
driving shaft made in two parts connected by a clutch 9 for ordinary stretching;
on this shaft are two pinions gearing into the internally toothed wheels e; h is the
shaft used when an elastic finish is to be given to the fabric; h¹ and h² are two
elliptical wheels keyed on h, gearing into two elliptical wheels g¹ and g² keyed on g
(the clutch g' being disengaged) and by their action the wheels e are alternately
driven quickly and slowly; the frame b is moved to and fro laterally by the crank
pin c² driven from the shaft h by bevel wheels c³, indicated by dotted lines, one of
which is keyed on the shaft c; the frame is moved inward as one edge of the
fabric is carried in advance of the other, and the frame is moved outward as the
edges of the fabric become parallel with each other, thus preventing the fabric being
torn or injured when the elastic finish is given.
On the first motion shaft 8 is a pinion g³ which gears into a spur wheel 96 to
drive the shaft g; the pinion g³ slides on the shaft 8 and is moved into gear with a
wheel on the intermediate shaft s¹ to give motion to the wheel h³ keyed on the
shaft h when an elastic finish is to be given to the fabric and the clutch g* is
disengaged. The two parts of the shaft g are connected by the clutch g' and the
pinion g³ is moved out of gear with the wheel on the intermediate shaft 8¹ and
into gear with the spur wheel 9° on the shaft g when the fabric is to be
stretched in the ordinary way; K is an annular expanding air chamber formed

page_text: l
of American cloth or other material surrounding a portion of the hollow
trunk a; K¹ is an annular expanding air chamber the periphery of which is
formed by the fabric being operated upon; the chambers K and K' are con-
nected by radial pipes provided with mouth pieces to distribute the air into
the chamber K¹. The air, either heated or cold, is driven by the fan m through
a multitubular heater m', and through the pipe n into the hollow trunk a
whence it issues through the apertures a into the chamber K and through
the pipes into the chamber K³, the air being forced against and through
the fabric; O is an external air chamber (connected to the multitubular heater m²)
as wide as the widest fabric the machine will stretch; the inner side of this chamber
is perforated, and through it air is impelled by the fan or otherwise against the
outer surface of the fabric under operation, at the same time that the air is driven
against the inner side of the fabric. Mounted in bearings on a swivel frame is the
self adjusting roller t over which the fabric passes on leaving the machine; this
self-adjusting roller is used to compensate for the irregular action of the fabric
when the elastic finish is imparted to it.
Having stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner of
performing the same,
I declare that I claim,-
1. The frame b mounted on the hollow shaft a actuated by the crank pin c³, and
the frame b' on the shaft a actuated by the screw c' as shown and described.
2. The elliptical wheels h¹, g', h², 92, or their equivalents for communicating a
varying speed to the internally toothed wheels e for imparting an elastic finish to
the fabric; substantially as shown and described.
3. The expanding air chambers K and K' and the distributing pipes 7, as shown
and described.
4. The external air chamber O, described and shown.
5. The combination and arrangement of the parts forming the improved machine
for stentering, stretching, and drying textile fabrics, shown and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mather, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty seventh day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and eighty one.
W. MATHER. (L.S.)