AN IMPROVED MEANS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Eastwood, of Blackburn, in the County of
Lancaster, Machine Maker, and William Wadsworth, of Manchester, in
the same County, Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MEANS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Eastwood and
William Wadsworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 24th November 1864.
We, JAMES EASTWOOD, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Machine
Maker, and WILLIAM WADSWORTH, of Manchester, in the same County,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MEANS OR METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR 'FINISHING
COTTON PIECES IN THE GRAY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a process and apparatus for finishing cotton pieces
in the gray (or before such pieces have undergone the process of bleaching),
which we effect by means of the application of steam to such cotton pieces,
which are carried on rollers to a steam chest or box, through and across the
inside of which steam chest or box the said cotton pieces are caused to travel.
Inside the steam chest or box and under the cotton piece to be steamed, is one
or more perforated pipes, through which perforations the steam is admitted
to the steam chest or box, and to the cotton piece travelling therethrough.

page_text: The cotton pieces after passing through the steam chest or box are received
by a roller, and wound thereon.
The effect produced on cotton pieces by the process above described is that
the size or other stiffening matter used in dressing the yarn from which such
cotton pieces are woven (and which is shaken loose in such pieces during the
process of weaving) is again fixed, the finish, stability, and handling of the
same being greatly improved.
The steam chest or box above described may be of any convenient size
and form, and the steam may be admitted as above described, or in any other
manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Eastwood and William Wadsworth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 22nd May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EASTWOOD, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Machine Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Eastwood, and to William Wadsworth, of
Manchester, in the same County, Gentleman, since deceased, Her special
licence that we, the said James Eastwood and William Wadsworth, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Eastwood and William Wadsworth, our executors, 'administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVED MEANS OR METHOD OF AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR
FINISHING COTTON PIECES IN THE GRAY," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said James Eastwood and William Wadsworth, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should paricularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to

page_text: be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Eastwood, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This Invention relates to a process and apparatus for finishing cotton pieces
in the gray (or before such pieces have undergone the process of bleaching),
which we effect by means of the application of steam to such cotton pieces,
which are carried on rollers to a steam chest or box, through and across the
inside of which steam chest or box the said cotton pieces are caused to travel.
Inside the steam chest or box and under the cotton piece to be steamed is ono
or more perforated pipes, through which perforations the steam is admitted to
the steam chest or box, and to the cotton piece travelling therethrough. The
cotton piece after passing through the steam chest or box is received by a
roller, and wound thereon.
The effect produced on cotton pieces by the process above described is that
the size or other stiffening matter used in dressing the yarns from which such
cotton pieces are woven, and which is shaken loose in such pieces during the
process of weaving, is again fixed, the finish, stability, and handling of the
same being greatly improved.
The steam chest or box above described may be of any convenient size and
form, and the steam may be admitted as above described, or in any other
manner.
Such being the nature and object of our said Invention, I will now proceed
to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be performed,
and in order that the same may be distinctly understood, I have hereunto
annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same
with letters of reference corresponding with those in the following explana-
tion thereof, similar letters of reference being placed upon corresponding parts
of the apparatus in the various Figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of our apparatus for steaming cotton pieces;
Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a vertical section; and Figure 4
is a sectional plan.
A, A, A, are rollers supported by the brackets a, a, over and under which
the cotton piece B is carried to the steam chest or box C, which steam chest
we prefer to construct of iron plates (other material may be employed) with
an inner lining of wood, for the purpose of preventing corrosion and the too

page_text: rapid condensation of steam within the said steam box or chest; D, D, are
perforated steam pipes, above which the cotton piece is carried through an
opening or slit E in each end of the steam chest or box, and submitted to
the action of the steam during its passage across the said steam chest or box,
and thence over and under the series of rollers F 1, F 2, F 3, and G, to the
"piece roller" H, supported by the brackets h, h, or instead of the rollers F, F¹,
two or more steam pipes or steam cylinders may be employed for the pur-
pose of drying and imparting smoothness to the surfaces of such cotton piece
in its passage over and under the said steam pipes or steam cylinders.
H', H', shews a lever and weight at each end of the piece roller H for
At J
applying pressure to the cotton piece when on the said roller.
(Figures 3 and 4) are shewn the pipes for supplying steam to the perforated
pipes D, D.
Having thus fully described and ascertained the nature and particulars of
this our said Invention for "An Improved Means or Method of and Appa-
ratus for Finishing Cotton Pieces in the Gray," together with the manner in
which the same is to be performed or carried into practice, I wish it to be
understood that I claim as our Invention, and which I believe to be new
within this realm, the means of fixing the size or other stiffening matter in
cotton pieces by the application of steam to such pieces, together with the
apparatus for effecting such application of steam to cotton pieces, as herein
fully described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Eastwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed and sealed by the within-named
James Eastwood in the presence of
JOSEPH BRIERLEY,
Civil Engineer,
Blackburn.
JAMES EASTWOOD. (L.S.)