Improvements in the Manufacture of Figured Pile Carpets.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 21st Mar., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Figured Pile Carpets.
I, JAMES DUNLAP, Carpet Manufacturer, of the City of Philadelphia, State
of Pennsylvania, United States of America, 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 :-
My invention relates to that class of carpets in which the face consists of a cut
or uncut pile, like velvet, tapestry, Wilton, Brussels and the like. It has for its
object to produce a carpet of that class which shall show upon its face more perfect
and more varied patterns or designs than it has been possible to produce heretofore,
and to do this even more economically than the present relatively imperfect
patterns can be produced.
The invention consists of the process herein described.
Heretofore patterns have been produced commercially in pile fabrics in one of
A Brussels carpet is an exemplar of the first, and a tapestry carpet of
the second way.
two ways.
A Brussels carpet is woven of face warp threads of which each one is dyed one
solid color from end to end usually four or five colors appear in the warp, there
being also usually an equal number of threads of each color, all the threads of one
color being carried in one frame. At any given point in the pattern the Jacquard
can select any one of the four or five colors and bring it to the top, the other three
or four threads at that point being buried in the heart of the fabric.
This gives
thickness and body to the fabric, but makes it expensive in material.
A tapestry carpet is woven, of face warp threads, each one of which is dyed with
various colors along its length, and the entire body of face warp threads, when
properly drawn in, ready for weaving, exhibits varying colors across its width as
well as along its length; but these variations of color are such and are so placed
that, when the simple predetermined tapestry fabric is woven, (without Jacquard
and without variations of weave so far as the face warps are concerned) nevertheless
the woven fabric exhibits upon its face the desired pattern or design.
The pattern of a Brussels carpet is produced by variations of the weave, in con-
junction with uniform or simple dyeing of the yarns; the pattern of a tapestry
carpet is produced by variations in the dyeing of the yarns, in conjunction with
uniform or simple weaving. A Brussels carpet is expensive in the weaving as well
as expensive in the quantity of yarn necessarily consumed in its manufacture. A
tapestry carpet is expensive in the necessary operations of dyeing the yarns.
A Brussels carpet is economical in the operations of dyeing the yarns. A tapestry
carpet is economical in the operation of weaving and in the quantity of material
required.
My improved process of manufacturing combines both economies; and at the
same time produced more perfect and varied patterns.
In carrying out my invention I discard the complicated and expensive yarn-
dyeing operations of tapestry carpet manufacture, and I also discard the complicated
and expensive Jacquard operations of Brussels weaving; and, instead of dyeing the
yarns for the pattern effects before weaving as is done in both tapestry and
Brussels, I weave the yarns first, and then dye them to produce the pattern. I
preferably weave the yarns in the gray, that is, undyed, but they may be all dyed
of a uniform basic color or tone, if desired. I preferably weave as a tapestry or
velvet carpet is woven, that is to say, without a Jacquard machine and of a simple
and uniformn and continually repeating weave and with the same continuous warp
threads forming the loops or piles throughout the fabric from end to end, although
this is not essential. I weave preferably an exact tapestry carpet, except that the
yarns are all undyed.

page_text: In this way I employ simple loom mechanism, and produce a simple fabric.
After the fabric-is woven (the pile being cut or uncut as desired) I submit it, after
suitable preparation, to the action of a color printing machine, and then treat it in
a suitable manner, as hereinafter described, the color printing machine resembling
in its general features the .machines employed in calico printing, that is to say, a
machine embodying a large pressure drum or roller on which and with which the
undyed carpet revolves, face outwards, and pattern rollers, one for each color,
mounted so as to be supplied with color from color-boxes, and to revolve in
contact with the face of the undyed carpet, and engraved to produce the pattern
desired.
By careful trial I have discovered that the ordinary machines and processes
employed in calico printing are utterly unsuccessful and useless as pattern producing
devices and methods in the manufacture of tapestry and velvet and other pile
carpet fabrics.
By careful and long continued experiments I have discovered that complete
success can be attained and economically, but only by applying the coloring matter
in a peculiar and novel state of mass distribution and in a peculiar way, and by
peculiar and novel instrumentalitics and preferably by supplementing this appli-
cation by a peculiar and novel treatment. I am aware that it has frequently been
suggested to print the patterns upon pile fabrics, including carpet fabrics, and that
both block and roller printing devices have been described for that purpose, and 1
do not broadly claim that herein. But pile carpets have never been successfully
printed for the market and for commerce, and, so far as I am aware, no efficient or
successful method or apparatus has ever been devised or described to that end.
Pile carpet fabrics, such as tapestry or velvet carpets, and Brussels or Wiltons,
present peculiar difficulty when the attempt is made to print a pattern upon them.
The pile, whether cut or uncut is a comparatively soft, yielding mass.
To be
successfully colored or dyed it must be colored or dyed not only on the exposed
tips of the pile but down deep to the very roots of the pile and even into the back,
that is to say, it must be a dyeing of the woven yarn, ratchet than of the surface of
a woven fabric, for the pile in use will be trodden and exposed in every direction
and on every side, and will be gradually worn down by use. Every side of a given
tuft or pile must be thoroughly colored and dyed, and the same is true of the entire
pile throughout its mass and down into its roots. Moreover, the color must be so
applied that the yielding or wearing of the pile in use will not distort the pattern.
Great pressure must be employed in order to force the color into and through the
pile, and coloring matter must be employed in considerable quantity, but it must be
so employed and applied as not to "flush" or "bleed" under the great pressure,
that is, not to squirt or fly or run laterally in the pile beyond the exact and
predetermined limits of the particular figure of the pattern being printed at that
point.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown how my invention may be conveniently
and advantageously carried into practice.
In carrying out my invention in the best form known to me, I proceed as follows,
mentioning here all the steps which I employ, both those which I deem essential
and those which I do not deem essential, and distinguishing between the two
hereafter.
First. I weave a simple tapestry fabric with face warps or worsteds that are in
the gray or undyed and on an ordinary tapestry loom. If velvet carpet is desired, I
cut the pile in the usual way. The face warps may of course be dyed if desired-
but it is unnecessary as the pattern is produced at a latter stage of the process.
Secondly. To prepare the yarn for the reception of the color, I damp the surface
of the carpet by means of a revolving brush with a preparation as follows.
nine gallons olive oil with nine gallons oil of vitriol, let it stand forty eight hours.
Take three forty gallon casks; put into each thirty pounds common salt and ten
gallons hot water; add twenty gallons cold water, and three and three eighths
gallons of the first mixture; stir briskly and fill with water, let it stand two or
Mix

page_text: three days. Take the oil rising to the surface add to each gallon of such oil one gill
of caustic soda and use on the carpet in the proportions of one of the mixture to
twenty of water.
Thirdly. I run the carpet over hot cylinders or coils of pipe to dry it.
Fourthly. I apply the coloring matter (called for by the pre-determined pattern)
in liquid or semi-liquid masses of a medium consistency; said masses resembling in
cross section a pellicled layer or sheet; that is a solid layer or sheet of coloring
matter with pellicles or piles projecting from its main mass, arranged close together
like the piles of the fabric, but with definite spaces between them. This cross
section is illustrated in Figure 6 of the drawings. To that end :-
Fifthly. I run the carpet at suitable speed through a suitable printing machine
having a large drum to carry and support the carpet, and having copper or other
suitable rollers one for each color, and each revolving in a color box of its own,
and each previously cut or engraved (according to that part of the predetermined
pattern which is to be represented by that color) as follows:-The figure say that
of a leaf or part of a flower, is marked out by the engraver on the surface of the
copper cylinder, and is cut out, first to an even depth of about one one-hundredth of
an inch, and preferably with a bevelled cut at the edges, that is, the cut gradually,
not at once, attaining the full depth of one one-hundredth of an inch; then further
and deeper cuts are made in the form of cells, or cups or depressions, evenly
distributed over the entire figure, of a uniform depth of about one thirty-second of
an inch below the general surface of the roller of about one-sixteenth to one thirty-
second of an inch in diameter, circular or otherwise in shape, about one-sixteenth of
an inch apart, and preferably bevelled like the outline cuts of the figure. The
character of this cut is clearly shown in the drawings Figure 5, where A represents
a portion of an axial section of a roller a a being the original surface of the
roller, being the cut or engraved portion showing the cells or cups cc.
The
usual doctor blades are arranged so as to scrape the surfaces a a of the roller
clean and clear of all coloring matter but to leave the engraved portions bec
full of the coloring matter flush with the general surface a a, so that the appearance
of the engraved roller with the coloring matter disposed upon it ready to be
pressed into the pile of the carpet would be as illustrated in Figure 6, where A
as before represents the roller and B represents the pellicled mass or body of
coloring matter held by the roller and ready to be pressed into the pile of the
carpet by the roller. This pellicled mass of coloring matter when applied to
the pile of the carpet with the great pressure which I employ strikes down into
and through the pile and to the very bottom of the same and the solid walls of
the roller between the pellicles of coloring matter drive the coloring matter down
deep into the pile and the heads of the pile press into the cells cc of the roller
and take up all the coloring matter. Thus all parts of the pile are certainly and
thoroughly colored and dyed and nevertheless the great pressure does not force
the coloring matter sidewise in the pile, but produces sharp true outlines and
of a pure free character of drawing hitherto unattainable in either Brussels or
tapestry carpets, for in both the latter fabrics all pattern outlines are necessarily
rectilinear and all angles right angles, and the crude appearance of other angles
and of curves is produced, as it would be in fine mosaic work, only by a manipulation
of short straight lines and right angles. Again, the indefiniteness of pattern outline
almost necessarily incidental to tapestry carpets as made at present, and due to the
impossibility of continuously and absolutely accurate registering of the dyed yarns
of the warp is wholly avoided by my process.
Sixthly. I employ very heavy pressure-many thousand pounds-between the
color rollers and the large drum (and directed perpendicularly of the fabric) to
effect the intimate and absolute application of the coloring matter to the yarn of the
pile. This pressure is preferably a pressure of several tons.
Seventhly. I blow free steam directly and forcibly on and into the face of the
pile or directly and forcibly against and through the back of the carpet, or both,
after the carpet has passed the printing rollers. This drives the coloring matter

page_text: Color to push or run, and at the same time, tends to raise and restore the pile
from the crushing effect of the great pressure employed in the printing. This
steam I blow forcibly from a steam pipe, or pipes, perforated with holes about
an inch apart, the pipes being placed close to the pile. face or to the back of
the carpet.
Eighthly. I pass the carpet, both front and back, over drying cylinders, until it
is about half dry.
Ninthly. I suspend it in a steam room where it is steamed about an hour under
five to ten pounds pressure.
Tenthly. I wash the carpet by passing it over a revolving brush that is wet with
water.
Eleventhly. I stiffen the back by passing the back over a revolving brush
running in a mixture of starch and glue. This stiffening may be done before the
printing.
Twelfthly. I dry thoroughly and then the carpet is ready for rolling and shipping
and use.
Of the above recited steps of my usual method of manufacture those which [
deem essential and which for the purposes of the broad claim hereinafter made I
desire to describe as alone essential, are, first the weaving of the pile fabric
irrespective of pattern; secondly, the arranging the masses or bodies of coloring
matter for the pattern in thin pellicled layers or sheets; thirdly, the forcing the
same in that form upon and into the pile by heavy perpendicular pressure; and
fourthly, the steaming of the pile or of the fabric, either before or after drying or
partial drying.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown a machine well adapted to be
employed in carrying out my process, and diagrams illustrating the process.
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing in vertical section the essential working
parts of the painting and steam blowing devices. Figure 2 is a side elevation of
the printing machine, and Figure 3 is a front elevation of the same. Figure 4 is a
front elevation, partly in section, of the steam blowing pipes. Figure 5 is an
enlarged longitudinal section of a part of one of the pattern rollers, showing the
engraved portions and the depressions, and Figure 6 is a similar view except that
the engraved portions and depressions are here shown charged with color.
The mechanism for weaving the carpet, as well as the mechanism for drying the
same after the preparatory dampening, are not shown in the drawings, as such
mechanisms are of ordinary construction and well known in the art. The next step
of the process, that of applying the color, and several succeeding steps are illustrated
in the drawings.
The carpet marked d in the drawings, is fed into the color applying or printing
machine from a roll d', and passes over a series of rounded bars which afford the
resistance necessary to hold it tightly against the large drum e of the printing
machine. From the bars the carpet passes around the large drum e, and is
successively operated upon by the various pattern printing rollers g g. A thick
elastic blanket is interposed between the carpet and the surface of the drum and
forms an elastic surface to distribute and equalize the pressures between the drum
and the pattern printing rollers. This elastic blanket is endless, passing around
the drum, and then over guide rollers through a washing device to remove any
color its surface may have received and back to the drum.
The pattern printing rollers are engraved in the manner heretofore described,
each roller being adapted to print all parts of one color in the pattern, and the
number of rollers corresponding to the number of colors in the design. Each
printing roller 9 revolves in contact with a color roller g'; and each color roller
dips into a box or trough g, which is charged with the desired color. Doctor
blades are arranged to bear upon and scrape the surface of the pattern printing
rollers and thus remove all superfluous color from these rollers.
The large drum e rotates in bearing boxes e' e' fitted to slide vertically in the side

page_text: frames of the machine. Adjusting screws are provided to regulate the positions of
these boxes, but I prefer to adjust the screws so that they do not touch the boxes el
and thus to allow the entire weight of the large drum e, amounting to several tons,
to bear upon the pattern printing rollersg. The pattern printing rollers rotate in
boxes fitted in radial guides in the frame and pressed by adjusting screws against
the drum e. These devices permit great perpendicular pressure upon the carpet
during the application of the color and allow a nice adjustment and distribution of
the pressure.
21
The pattern printing rollers g are caused to rotate by pinions 93, one on each
roller shaft, meshing into a large gear e, secured on the shaft of the large drum e.
Motion is imparted to the drum shaft from the driving shaft by means of a gear
thereon meshing into the large gear e³. The carpet passes from the printing
machine upward and over guide rollers jj. Between these guide rollers are placed
the steam blowing devices consisting of two perforated steam pipes k and arranged
respectively above and below the carpet. The perforations in these pipes are
placed so that steam will blow directly and forcibly against the carpet. The steam
blowing pipes & are each provided with a valve (see Figure 4) to control and
regulate the supply of steam. I have found it advisable at times to shut off the
lower pipe and blow steam only from the upper pipe directly against and into the
pile. At other times I shut off the upper pipe and blow the steam only against
the back of the carpet. The control of this steam supply depends largely upon
the consistency and character of the color employed. When the color does not
readily diffuse through the pile, I find it advisable to blow the steam from both
pipes and directly against both the back and the face of the carpet.
The subsequent drying, steaming, washing and stiffening processes are performed
in a manner well understood and the means employed are of ordinary construction
and are therefore not shown in the drawings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is:-
First. The method of manufacturing patterned tapestry, velvet, or other pile
carpet, which consists in first weaving the pile fabric, then disposing the masses or
bodies of colouring matter called for by the pattern or design in thin pellicled layers
or sheets, then forcing the same in that form on and into the pile by heavy per-
pendicular pressure and then applying steam to the pile or fabric, substantially as
and for the purposes set forth.
Second. The method of manufacturing patterned tapestry velvet or other pile
carpet, which consists in first weaving the pile fabric, then disposing the masses or
bodies of colouring matter called for by the pattern or design in thin layers or
sheets, then forcing the same on and into the pile by heavy perpendicular pressure,
then blowing free steam forcibly on and into the fabric, then partially drying the
fabric, and then subjecting it to the continued action of steam in a steam room,
substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 10th day of February 1891.-
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.