AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY ' OR APPARATUS USED FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING' CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WOVEN FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hacking Riley, of Bury, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY
'
OR APPARATUS USED FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING' CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF
WOVEN FABRICS."
Sealed the 11th July 1871, and dated the 4th April 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hacking Riley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th April 1871.
I, JOSEPH HACKING RILEY, of Bury, in the County of Lancaster, do
5 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED FOR FOLDING OR • PLAITING' CERTAIN
DESCRIPTIONS OF WOVEN FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to machinery for folding or "plaiting" woven
fabrics, and the object of the said Invention is to render such machinery
O applicable to folding or "plaiting" calendered or highly glazed goods,
which hitherto have not been folded or plaited by machinery but by
hand only.

page_text: In the machinery hitherto used for the purpose of folding or plaiting
woven fabrics there is at each side of the machine a bar or rail faced
with wire cards, which holds or grips cach fold or plait whilst the
"knives" are taking the fabric across to form a fresh fold or plait; and
it has been found that when attempts have been made to fold or plait
highly glazed or calendered fabrics by such machines these bars or rails
had not sufficient "grip" on the fabric to prevent its slipping, and hence
the folding or plaiting of such highly glazed or calendered fabrics by
machinery has been heretofore considored impractible.
My Invention consists principally in applying to the holding surface ]
of such gripping bars or rails a peculiar preparation of india-rubber,
which gives such a power of tenacity to the said gripping surfaces as
will enable the machines to fold or plait such highly glazed or calendered
goods as have not hitherto been folded or plaited by machinery.
The preparation of india-rubber which I employ for this purpose is 1
that known in the trade as "corrugated india-rubber," which is a puro
india-rubber worked cold through the calendering rollers, which process
gives it a peculiar rough spongy surface, having a great power of
adhesion, at the same time that it is very durable and not liable to be
worn smooth as any ordinary preparation of india-rubber with a 2
roughened or indented surface would be liable to become. This corru-
gated india-rubber surface I back up with a thickness of (say) about
one inch of ordinary vulcanized india-rubber; and in order to increase
the "grip" I make the quadrant weights which raise the table much
heavier than usual; and I also make the table, plaiting knives, and 2
gripping bars stronger in proportion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Hacking Riley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joseru
HACKING RILEY, of Bury, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said Joseph Hacking Riley, Her special licence
that I, the said Joseph Hacking Riley, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Hacking Riley, my
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 IMPROVEMENT IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED FOR FOLDING OR PLAITING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS
OF WOVEN FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Hacking Riley, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven
tion, and in what manner the same was to 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 Joseph Hacking Riley, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say):-
This Invention relates to machinery for folding or "plaiting" woven
fabrics, and the object of the said Invention is to render such machinery
applicable to folding or "plaiting" calendered or highly glazed goods.
and other fabrics, which have hitherto not been folded or plaited by
machinery but by hand only.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention for "An In-
provement in Machinery or Apparatus used for Folding or Plaiting'
certain Descriptions of Woven Fabrics," I will now proceed to describe
more in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, and in order that the same may
be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings
illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures and letters
of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof.
Fig. 1 in the annexed Drawing represents so much of an ordinary
folding or plaiting machine as is necessary to illustrate the application
of my Invention thereto. a, a, being part of the framing of the machine;

page_text: "
b, b, the inspection table; c, c, the folding table; and d, d, the "knives."
There is at each side of the machine a fixed bar or rail e, c, which in the
machines hitherto employed is faced with wire cards, and which holds
or grips each fold or plait whilst the "knives d, d, are taking the
fabric across to form a fresh fold or plait, and it has been found that
when attempts have been made to fold or plait highly glazed or
calendered fabrics by such machines these bars or rails had not
sufficient "grip" on the fabric to prevent it slipping, and hence the
folding or plaiting of such highly glazed or calendered fabrics by
machinery has been heretofore considered impracticable.
My Invention consists principally in applying to the holding surface
of such gripping bars or rails a peculiar preparation of india-rubber
which gives such a power of tenacity to the said gripping surfaces as
will enable the machines to fold or plait such highly glazed, calendered,
or other goods as have not hitherto been folded or plaited by machinery.
The preparation of india-rubber which I employ for this purpose is that
known in the trade as "corrugated india-rubber," which is a pure india-
rubber worked cold through the calendering rollers, which process gives
it a peculiar rough spongy surface having a great power of adhesion, at
the same time that it is very durable and not liable to be worn smooth
as any ordinary preparation of india-rubber with a roughened or indented
surface would be liable to become.
This corrugated india-rubber surface I back up with a thickness of
(say) about one inch of ordinary vulcanized india-rubber or wood, as
shown full size in section and plan views at Fig. 2. f, f, being the
rail; g, g, the corrugated rubber, and h, h, the backing; and in order to
increase the "grip" I make the quadrant weights which raise the table
much heavier than usual, and I also make the curved table, plaiting
knives, gripping bars, or card rails, quadrant shaft, and rocking shaft
much stronger in proportion than heretoforc.
'
In some cases I prefer to use the corrugated india-rubber only about
half the width of the rail and to fill in the rest of the groove in the
rail with wood or other suitable material, as shown at i, i, in Fig. 3.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention
for "An Improvement in Machinery or Apparatus used for Folding or
Plaiting' certain Descriptions of Woven Fabrics," together with the
manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention,

page_text: the use and application to the gripping bars or card rails of such
machines of corrugated india-rubber in place of wire cards, substantially
in the manner and for the purposes herein-before particularly set forth
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hacking Riley, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
onc.
0 Witness,
JOSEPH HACKING RILEY. (L.S.)
GEORGE DAVIES, C.E.,
Office for Patents,
Manchester.