Apparatus Employed in its Manufacture.
Year: 1885

page_text: Apparatus Employed in its Manufacture.
I EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER of 36 Southampton Buildings in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature
of said invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED ORNAMENTAL FABRIC AND PROCESS
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN ITS MANUFACTURE" (a communication to me from
abroad by Pierre Victor Renard of Fontenay-sous-Bois in the Republic of France)
to be as follows
-
This invention consists of a novel fabric produced by fixing in any suitable
manner pieces of natural furs, and skins of birds or other suitable ornamental
materials onto a web or riband of woven fabric-cutting the web or riband thus
covered into narrow strips or thongs say for example of a width of one millimetre
or thereabouts and combining together the said narrow strips or thongs by weaving,
cementing, (by preference using india rubber or gutta percha cement) or sewing so
as to produce a novel ornamental fabric composed of a mixture of various kinds of
furs or skins and feathers of birds of different shades and quality
In carrying out this invention the foundation fabric is first cut into a strip or
riband of the required width The skins or furs are then cut into strips of the
width of the riband and cemented thereon care being taken to lay the hairs in one
and the same direction inclining across the riband the same applying to the down
or feathers in the case of using the skins of birds The riband having been thus
garnished or covered it is passed through a cutting machine and cut into narrow
strips or thongs of a width corresponding to the distance between the knives of the
cutting machine The strips thus obtained are of the same length as the riband
on which they have been cemented and can then be woven together The direction
of inclination of the hairs may if desired be varied-in cementing them to the
rbands before cutting or in weaving them to produce a fancy fabric
The skins in
heu of being cemented to a riband may be cemented end to end before being out
into thongs. The thongs in lieu of being woven together may be cemented or
stitched to a fabric to obtain the result above described
"

page_text: The cutting into narrow strips or thongs may be effected in any convenient
manner but it is preferred to employ a cutting machine specially adapted for that
purpose comprising a beam or roller and break on which the fabric to be cut is
wound, a number of rotary knives or cutters mounted on a spindle and adjustable
laterally to suit the width of strips required, pressing feed rollers for drawing the
web or riband past the cutters and adjustable guides for guiding the material
during the cutting process If desired reciprocating cutter blades may be sub-
stituted for the rotary disc cutters Provision is also made for the sharpening of
the cutting edges of the cutters without removing them from their shaft
Apparatus Employed in its manufacture.
I EDWIN POWLEY ALEXANDER of 36 Southampton Buildings in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature
of this invention (communicated to me from abroad by Pierre Victor Renard of
Fontenay-sous-Bois in the Republic of France) and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
-
This invention has for its object the manufacture of a new kind of ornamental
fabric of the nature of fur obtained by the cutting of the skins of all kinds of
animals in strips or bands sufficiently fine to be woven cemented or sewn
In the application of the said process I commence by cutting a suitable fabric so
as to produce a band or riband of the required width I then cut the skins into
strips of the width of the riband and cement them onto the latter taking care
always to place the hairs in the same direction and inclination across the riband
The same applies to the down or the feathers when operating on the skins of birds
As the skins are of irregular size it will be readily understood that the width of
the strips may vary according to the size of the skins, the same applies to the
utilisation of the small pieces, they are cut in order to be afterwards cemented in
such manner as to cover the riband When a riband is covered with fur as above
described it is caused to pass over a cutting machine and according as the knives
are more or less spaced strips of greater or less width will be obtained
strips will of course be of the same length as the riband upon which the skins have
been cemented The said strips may then be woven by any of the known methods
a brush being employed to lay the hairs over the fabric as in the weaving of
feathers, with this difference that the hairs being always inclined from one side
These

page_text: only care should be taken to lay them in the same direction if it be desired to
reproduce the appearance of natural furs. If desired the order of the direction of
the hairs or their inclination may be inverted or changed either by cemonting them
on the riband before the cutting operation or by weaving them so as to produce
fancy furs The skins in lieu of being cemented to a riband may be cemented
together end to end before being cut The strips or thongs in place of being
woven may be cemented or sewn upon a fabric to produce the result indicated
above Any suitable cement may be employed for effecting the adhesion of the
skins to the riband, but I reserve more especially the right to employ for that
purpose Caoutchouc or Gutta percha,-whilst the skins may be cut with a view to
the cementing or sewing of the strips or thongs thus obtained, end to end, the said
strips or thongs may be cemented breadthwise upon the riband Any method of
obtaining narrow strips, thongs, or bands, capable of being woven, cemented or
sewn may be employed If desired the skins may be prepared in any manner
which will facilitate the cutting operation. With a view to the obtaining of strips
or thongs such as I have described I have devised a special cutting machine which
is represented on the Drawing annexed
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the said machine.
Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same
Figure 3 is a side elevation thereof and Figures, 4, 5, 6, and 7 show detached
portions of the said machine
This machine consists essentially of a beam or roller A upon which the riband B
18 rolled and maintained in position laterally by the cheeks or flanges C D is a
cord maintained in a state of tension by a weight or otherwise and which serves as
a break to the roller A and for maintaining the riband covered with fur in a
condition of more or less tension The rollers E, F, serve to draw off the said
rband from the roller A which riband on its way to the said rollers first passes
over the guide rollers G, H, I The roller F is driven direct as shown in
Figure 3 and the roller E is caused to revolve by contact therewith maintained by
suitable pressing springs acting on sliding bearings at each end thereof Upon the
transverse shaft L are mounted a number of circular or discoidal cutters J main-
tained at equal distances apart by interposed washers The spaces between the
cutters may therefore be obviously varied according to requirement When cutting
skins of sufficient strength the cutters are sufficiently close together to produce at
one cut, thin or narrow strips or thongs suitable for being woven sewn or cemented,
but if on the contrary the skin to be subdivided or cut is too thin or weak to be
cut up into a number of narrow strips at a single operation it is advisable to
further separate the cutters so as to produce wider strips or bands to be afterwards
subdivided at one or more operations Whilst reserving the right to this method
of cutting I prefer to employ the following arrangement in cases where strips
which have been already cut are required to be redivided Without altering the
mounting and the spacing of the cutters I replace the plain guide roller G (shown
separately in Figure 6) by a guide M consisting of a spindle provided with annular
projections or rings equally spaced The space between two consecutive rings con-
stitutes a guide for the narrow strip already cut Above the cutters I place
another guide N shown in cross section and plan at figure 4 This guide consists
of a plate of which the two ends are tubular to facilitate the fixing of the same in
the machine by the aid of bolts or pins passing through the tubes. Parallel oblong
openings are made in the said plate for the passage of the cutters and it is
provided between each opening with vertical projections which serve as guides to
the strips or thongs the perfect guiding of the said strips being essential in order to
obtain a good result One half only of the cutters is in operation each strip
passing between the guides a a¹ a" The other half of the cutters works between
the strips, in the openings situate in the same vertical plane as the annulir pro-
Jections of the guide M Hence the necessity for altering the positions of the cutters
upon their shaft or spindle is obviated As it may in some cases be advantageous
to sharpen the cutters without removing their shaft or spindle I have placed near

page_text: to the circumference of the cutters a sharpener (Figure 7) consisting of a cylindrical
spindle or shaft P and small sharpening stones O equally spaced By means of a
handle the sharpening stones are brought in contact with the cutters and as the
shaft P is susceptible of a slight displacement laterally the two faces of the cutters
can thus be sharpened
It is obvious that the arrangements herein before described may be modified
for example the circular cutters may be replaced by parallel blades receiving a
longitudinal reciprocating movement. The improved method of cutting already
described permits of the cutting of very thin strips, of say one to two millimetres
and of a width perfectly adapted for being woven, which constitutes the new and
important feature of the invention by the aid of which strips, furs which have been
cut may be either reconstituted in a superior manner by dispensing with the
defective parts or by producing various kinds by different classification of the
various portions of the skin, or by the production of fancy goods by combining
together various kinds of furs By this invention therefore a new class of goods
can be produced of a quality as substantial as natural or entire furs whilst
presenting at the same time a superior appearance since all defective parts can
be rejected
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1 The improved ornamental fabric obtained by fixing pieces of natural fur skins
of birds, and the like, upon a band of woven fabric then cutting the said band thus
treated into thin narrow strips and combining the same together by weaving,
cementing, or sewing so as to reconstitute the original fur or to produce fancy
goods composed of fuis or feathers of different pieces shades and qualities as
specified
2 The herein described cutting machine for cutting narrow strips of furs or
skins comprising more particularly the combination of a cutting drum or cylinder
and guides for guiding the strips in the manner and for the purpose specified
Dated the 23rd day of February 1886