IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORMING BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Falconer at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th May
1870. A communication from abroad by Lyman Robinson, o
Matteawan, State of New York, United States of America.
I, JOHN FALCONER, of New York, United States of America, but now
residing at the Charing Cross Hotel, in the City of Westminster, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR FORMING BATS OF WOOL FOR FELTING PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the use of improved mechanism for crossing
the fibres of sheet sliver for the formation of bats for felting purposes,
after the manner described in a Patent granted to William Edward
Newton the 23rd day of November 1868, No. 35,60.
According to this process the produce of two carding engines is so
combined as to present layers of wool the fibres of which are laid
alternately in the direction of the length of the bat and diagonally
across it in opposite directions, one crossing being perpendicular to the
other, and both at an angle of about 45 degrees. The sheet of fibres
derived from one carding engine is received on to an endless apron that

page_text: has a continuous traversing motion over a stationary table. By this
apron the sheet sliver is passed beneath the traversing rollers of laying
machinery which is supplied with a sheet of fibres from the second
carding engine placed at right angles to the first, and by these traversing
rollers the sliver from the second engine is laid upon the first in a
diagonal direction. The sheet slivers are fed continuously on to the
travelling apron, that from No. 1 engine being always in the same
direction, while that from No. 2 engine is laid in a zig-zag direction.
At the second rotation, beneath the traversing rollers of the growing
endless bat, the sliver then delivered diagonally will overlie the spaces
missed by the first zig-zag delivery, and so on throughout the production
of the bat, which may be made of any desired thickness, the sliver from
No. 1 engine being interposed between the diagonal layers throughout the
formation of the bat. By this means a bat of considerable length, of even
thickness, and great strength is obtained, while a great economy as respects
time is produced in the manufacture. The endless carrying apron
extends a convenient distance beyond the table over which the laying
machinery is mounted, and it is led downwards and caused to take a
serpentine course over and under adjustable guiding, tightening, and
pressing rollers mounted in the frame of the bat forming machine.
Endless belts are introduced between the folds of the carrying apron to
support the bat at the parts where its position is inverted with respect
to the carrying apron. When a sufficient thickness of bat has been
built up upon the carrying apron the bat may be severed and taken up
by a roller provided for the purpose. The table under the carrying apron
be mounted on springs and its upward pressure regulated as desired,
and the carrying apron may be driven by suitable gear from either of
the carding engines, as may be found most convenient.
may