A NEW MACHINE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, DRESSING, AND FINISHING OF WOOLLEN CLOTH
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FRYER, of Rastrick, in the Parish of Halifax, in the County of York, Surgeon,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
5 His Letters Patent. under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of this instant May, in the forty-second year
of His reign, give and grant unto me, Joseph Fryer, my executors, admini-
¡strators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said Joseph Fryer, my executors, administrators, and
(assigns, and every of us, by myself or themselves, or by my and their deputy
or deputies; servants or agents, or such others as I, the said Joseph Fryer, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
.others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend
5.my Invention. of "A NEW MACHINE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CUTTING, DRESSING,
AND FINISHING OF WOOLLEN CLOTH," within that part of His Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said
Joseph Fryer, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should
in my and their discretion seem meet, and that I, the said Joseph Fryer, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and
enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time
coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of my said Invention, for
and during the term of years therein mentioned; in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Joseph Fryer, should not par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal; and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that the said Letters Patent should be void (any-
thing thercin-before contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwith-
standing), as by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may
imore fully and at large appear:
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Fryer, in compliance with the
said proviso, do hereby declare my said Invention to be as described in the fol-
lowing Specification and Drawings annexed, with the references thereto, that
is to say:
A machine for cutting, cropping, or shearing the shag, fur, or pile from all
kinds of cloth or woven fabrications which require the same, made of. woollen
or worsted yarn, down, silk, hair, cotton, or linien, used for wearing apparel, 'in
a more regular and expeditious manner than hath heretofore been accomplished,
and afterwards 'finishing the same by the application of steam brushes and
cylinders kept hot by the admission of steam or otherwise.
The form and size of this machine may be varied without affecting the
principle. That which I have constructed is as follows:-The frame consists
of four upright posts, connected together by rails nearly in the form of a
weaver's loom, a plan of the top part of which is represented in Fig. I., and an
elevation of one side in Fig. II, and also the upper part of an elevation of the
front in Fig. III, in all of which the same letters refer to the same parts. On
the axis of the wheel A, which is put in motion by the winch a or other
mechanical power, is fixed a worm or endless screw a, Fig. I., which runs in
the teeth of and turns the small wheel 6,. fixed on the diagonal shaft or arbor
B, at the lower end of which is fixed another worm b, Fig. II., which gives a
slow motion to the wheel'd and cylinder D.. This cylinder draws the piece or
web from one end to the other in slow and regular progression, while at the
same time it is exposed to the action of the blades or shears described here-
after: After its oblique ascent from over and under the rails E, E, Fig. II., as
expressed by the dotted lincs e, e, it passes over a ridge n, attached to the

page_text: use
moveable frame F, which I call the elevating frame; this turns on two pivots
9, 9, Fig. II, and III. In the projecting arms F, F, are fixed two adjusting
screws, the lower ends of which rest on two firm brackets G,.G; their
is to depress or elevate the ridge of the frame (which may be done to the
thousandth part of an inch) in order to shear the cloth to any degree of close-
ness.. This ridge, which is made of metal or other suitable substance, runs
immediately under and parallel with the sharp edge of the lower shearing
blade, but so far asunder.as. to admit the piece or web to pass between. I now
come to describe the shearing blades, which consist in the junction or combina-
tion of three together, that is, two short ones with one long one, as represented
by H, II,, connected together at the extremities of the long one, as repre;
sented in Fig. I. These blades act on the same principle as scissor blades,
and are pressed together by the springs J, J, and which pressure may be
increased or diminished by the screws j,j, the springs acting as levers, one
end of which presses on the blade I, the fulcrum being at j, where the blades
and springs are joined together by pins or screws. The lower blade is made
straight; the upper ones are a little curved or convex on the cutting side, so as
to cause them to intersect or decussate the- lower blade always at nearly the.
same angle, on the same principle, as the rumb.lime crosses or, intersects the
different meridians. They are somewhat concave on the under side.
The advantages of combining. three blades together as above described, that
is, one long with two short ones, are various and important; the short ones
may be made of about one-fourth part of the weight of one long one, and hence
much less power will be required to keep them in motion. Another advantage
acquired is, that both blades in their course of descussating the long one, move
only over one-half of the space or area which a single blade opened to the
same angle would do, as will appear by Fig. IV., where the line O, P, represents
the long blade, and 0, 0, and P, p, the short one. It is here evident that if
the line O, o, was extended to Q, the area contained in the angle O, Q, P.,
would be twice as large as both the angles O, 0, 9, and P, p, q.
The blades I, I, are put in motion by the spears or connecting rods L, L, from
the doubled cranked arbor M, M, on one end of which is fixed the nut or
pinion m, which is turned by the wheel A, and being considerably smaller,
makes about three revolutions for every circumvolution of the winch a, each of
the blades I, I, making the same, number of alternate, decussations, one always
advancing, while the other is returning.
After the cloth has undergone the operation of shearing or cropping, in its.
descent to the cylinder D, it is exposed to a current of steam thrown out from

page_text: a horizontal tube with a number of small apertures, so as to give it softness
and pliability. A brushing cylinder is next made to move against it, by which
the remaining wool or fur is laid in one direction. It then passes between two
polished metal hollow cylinders, kept hot by the admission of steam or other-
wise, which press it firmly and dissipate all the water imbibed from the steam.
A section of the steam tube appears at S; the brushing cylinder at R; and
the pressing cylinders at T, T, Fig. II.
.
In some cases, especially in finishing broad cloths, instead of drawing the
piece from end to end, it may be more convenient to cause it (or a part of it)
to move under the shearing blades from list to list, or from one side to the
other. This will require a machine considerably larger though the same
blades will suffice; or I find it equally convenient to cause the blades, at the
time they are cutting, to move over the cloth in any direction, but more
especially from list to list, and these must be preceded by the elevator attached
to the frame which carries the blades; this is accomplished by means of a rack
fixed to the stage frame, on which the cloth is stretched, and in which a worm
or screw is made to run by turning the winch a.
.
The steam I employ is procured from a small boiler kept hot for the purpose,
or I make use of a small steam engine for working the machine, of the fol-
lowing construction; a piston is alternately pressed upwards and downwards by
means of elastic steam in a cylinder closed at both ends, with a wadded hole
for the piston rod to move through, which gives motion to a crank and fly or
balance wheel. Instead of condensing the steam, as in other steam engines, I
suffer it to escape after it has forced the piston in either direction to the end of
the cylinder. It is then conducted through proper vessels to soften the cloth
and heat the pressing cylinders, or made use of for any other purpose where
heat is required, such as heating drying-houses, stoves, hot-houses, &c.
:
Having thus described by machine, I again observe that it may be con-
structed in various forms without changing the principle. The elevating frame,
the combination of three blades pressed together by springs, the curvilinear or
rumb line figure of the upper blades, with the manner of using steam as
before described, are-what-I claim-particularly as my own Inventions, and the
privilege of making, vending, and using them, either combined as before
described, or in a separate state, as circumstances may require.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Fryer, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and two
-
JOSEPH
(L.S.) FRYER.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1802, the aforesaid Joseph Fryer, came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the
Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and two.