Improvements relating to Calenders and Ironing Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 10th May, 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Calenders and Ironing Machines.
I, EDWARD FUHRMANN CLARKE, of Curzon Chambers, Paradise Street, in the
City of Birmingham, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention consists of improvements relating to calenders and ironing
machines and especially to such machines as are arranged for ironing both sides
of any material at the one process, my object being to provide simple and effective
means whereby the materials shall be fed or conveyed through the machine and
be ironed on both sides by the one process without risk of damage, or obstructing
the working of the machine.
In the application of my invention to an ironing machine for ordinary laundry
service where the ironing process is usually performed by one or more heated
cylinders, covered by blanket, sheeting, or other suitable materials, and which
revolve in crescent shaped steam heated troughs polished on their concave face,
I employ a positively driven lower feed roller covered by blanket or other suit-
able material, and supported at its ends in suitable bearings in the frame work
of the machine. In conjunction with such feed roller I employ a hollow polished
and heated upper roller which may be positively driven and which is supported
in bearings, preferably fitted in slots, and controlled by springs or other suitable
mechanism for giving a constant pressure towards the axis of the lower or covered
feed roller. At the rear of the covered feed roller I place a positively driven feed
roller such rear roller being supported in bearings at its ends, and which also may
be supported in intermediate roller bearings to permit of its being the more readily
revolved; I drive this roller from the shaft of the lower or covered feed roller
or from any other suitable shaft of the machine, and I preferably give it a
peripheral speed in excess of the peripheral speed of the lower roller. I also
employ a lower shaft fitted with loose sleeves and collars for serving as guides for
the conveyor bands or tapes.
For the purpose of conveying the materials fed between the lower and covered
feed roller and the upper or polished ironing roller, towards the crescent ironing
surfaces of the machine, I stretch endless conveyor bands over the lower or covered
roller, beneath the upper or ironing roller, over the rear feed roller, and also over
the sleeves on the lower shaft hereinbefore described, in such a manner that the
bands are driven in the required direction by the feed rollers. To raise the
material from the conveyor bands and to deliver it on to the crescent ironing
surfaces, I arrange on a suitable cross bar mounted on brackets attached to the
crescent ironing trough a series of stripping pieces which project through the
spaces between the edges of the conveyor bands to the under side of the same.
The upper edge or surface of the strippers is of such configuration as to cause the
material to automatically rise from the bands or tapes without danger of damage

page_text: or distortion and to travel to the crescent shaped ironing surfaces and on towards
the discharge end of the machine.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to Calenders and Ironing Machines.
I, EDWARD FUHRMANN CLARKE, of Curzon Chambers, Paradise Street, in the
City of Birmingham, 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:-
This invention consists of improvements relating to calenders and ironing
machines and especially to such machines as are arranged for ironing both sides
of any material at the one process, my object being to provide simple and effective
means whereby the materials shall be fed or conveyed through the machine and be
ironed on both sides by the one process without risk of damage, or obstructing
the working of the machine.
In the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings to be hereinafter referred
to,―
Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation and Figure 2 a plan of a portion of an
ironing machine fitted with my improved conveying or feeding apparatus.
In the application of my invention to an ironing machine, such as illustrated,
for ordinary laundry service where the ironing process is usually performed by
one or more cylinders, which may be heated, covered by blanket, sheeting, or other
suitable materials, and which revolve in crescent shaped steam heated troughs, such
as A, polished on their concave face, I employ a positively driven hollow and polished
and heated ironing roller as B, supporting its gudgeon like ends in suitable
bearings in the frame work of the machine. Beneath the upper ironing roller B
I arrange the feed roller C, covered by blanket or other suitable material, and
supported at each end by a spring bearing mounted in a housing as D. pivotted
on the gudgeon like end of the roller B. The roller C is kept in its working posi-
tion against the roller B, or against the clothes or materials passed under the
roller B, by the action of the weighted lever E connected to the pivotted housing D
by the rod F, but the said roller will automatically adjust its position to meet the
variation in the thickness of the materials to be passed through the machine.
At the rear of the covered feed roller C I place a positively driven feed roller G,
such rear roller being supported in bearings at its ends and which also may be
supported in intermediate roller-bearings-to permit of its being the more readily
revolved.
For the purpose of conveying the materials fed between the lower and covered
feed roller C and the upper or polished ironing roller B, towards the crescent
ironing surfaces of the machine, I stretch endless conveyor bands or tapes as H
over the lower or covered roller C, beneath the upper or ironing roller B, and over
the rear feed roller G, as illustrated, the upper part of the bands being caused to
travel in the direction indicated by the arrow at Figure 1. To raise the material
from the conveyor bands and to deliver it on to the crescent ironing surfaces,, I
arrange on a suitable cross bar as J and the crescent ironing trough A a series of
stripping pieces, consisting preferably of curved lengths of wire as K which pass

page_text: through the spaces between the edges of the conveyor bands H. The strippers
are of such configuration as to cause the material to automatically rise from the
bands or tapes H without risk of damage or distortion and to travel to the crescent
shaped ironing surfaces and on towards the discharge end of the machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
claim is:
1. In calenders and ironing machines, means substantially as described whereby
the materials are fed or conveyed through the machine and ironed on both sides
without risk of damage or of obstruction to the working of the machine.
2. The combination in a calender or ironing machine of feed rollers with con-
veyor bands or tapes having strippers arranged between them, substantially as
and for the purpose described.
3. In a calender or ironing machine the arrangement and combination of feed
rollers as C and G carrying bands or tapes as H, the rollers C-being supported at
each end by a spring bearing mounted in a pivotted housing as I supported by the
weighted lever E, substantially as and for the purposes described and as illustrated.
4. In a calender or ironing machine, the arrangement and combination of the
strippers K with the crescent ironing trough A and cross bar J, substantially as
and for the purpose described and as illustrated.
Dated this 8th day of February 1898.
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents for the-Applicant.