IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Rostron, Felt Manufacturer and Printer,
and William Walker Whittaker, Mechanic, both of Waterfoot, near
the City of Manchester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT."...
i
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Rostron and
William Walker Whittaker at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd April 1868..
We, EDWARD ROSTRON, Felt Manufacturer and Printer, and WILLIAM
WALKER WHITTAKER, Mechanic, both. of Waterfoot, near the City of
Manchester, do hereby declare the nature, of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT," to be
as follows:
Our Invention consists in an improved mode of working the top
rollers of the hardening machine employed in the manufacture of felt
for working the fibres together..
In the ordinary hardening machines the top rollers are worked 'endwise
to and fro by a shaft with eccentrics. Now our Invention consists' in

page_text: the application of one or more side shafts which are connected by
levers to the axles of the top rollers, and they are moved alternately to
and fro by discs, with elevators and depressors on their circumference,
thereby moving the top rollers rapidly endwise to and fro to felt the
fibres which pass on an endless belt between the top rollers and bottom
rollers as usual. By this arrangement the weight on the top rollers is
equalized at both ends, whereas in the old machines considerably more
weight is given at the driving end of the rollers than at the other end,
and the work produced is more uniform in quality and consistency
throughout.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Rostron and William Walker Whittaker
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; we, EDWARD
ROSTRON, Felt Manufacturer and Printer, and WILLIAM WALKER
WHITTAKER, Mechanic, both of Waterfoot, near the City of Manchester,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Edward Rostron and William Walker
Whittaker, Her special license that we, the said Edward Rostron and
William Walker Whittaker, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Edward Rostron and William Walker
Whittaker, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELT," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edward Rostron and
William Walker Whittaker, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: said Invention, 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 we, the said Edward Rostron and William
Walker Whittaker, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to
say):-
Our Invention consists in an improved mode of working the top
rollers of the hardening machines employed in the manufacture of felt
for working the fibres together.
In the ordinary hardening machines the top rollers are worked endwise
to and fro by a shaft with eccentrics. Now our Invention consists in
the application of one or more side shafts which are connected by levers
to the axles of the top rollers, and they are moved alternately to and fro
by discs with elevators and depressors on their circumference, thereby
moving the top rollers rapidly endwise to and fro to felt the fibres which
pass on an endless belt between the top rollers and bottom rollers as
usual. By this arrangement the weight on the top rollers is equalized
at both ends (whereas in machines of the usual construction con-
siderably more weight is given at the driving end of the rollers than at
the other end), and the work produced is more uniform in quality and
consistency throughout.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
Figure 1 is an elevation, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end view of
a hardening machine of the usual construction to which our improve-
ments are applied.
a represents a batch or fleece of fibres prepared in the ordinary
manner, and resting upon the endless belt b, which passes over the
bottom rollers c, and around the roller d and carrier roller e. All these
parts of the machine are made and driven in the ordinary manner.
Above and between the rollers c are the top rollers f. When the machine
is at work the fleece of fibres from the batch a is gradually carried
forward by the belt 6 between the top and bottom rollers.

page_text: And our Invention consists in, an improved mode of giving the
requisite rapid vibrating motion to the top rollers f by which the fibres
are felted or worked together, and this we accomplish in the following
manner: To the driving shaft g are fixed the two discs h and h', the
circumferences of which are made with three or any other convenient
number of elevators and depressors. These discs in revolving give a
vibrating motion to the side shafts i and j; to the side shaft'i is fixed
the lever having studs in it for two antifriction bowls, one fitting on
'each side of the disc h, and the shaft having a similar lever j', which
is actuated by the disc h'. To the shafts i and j are fixed the forked
levers and j, into each of which the end of thic axle of one of the top
rollers enters. The levers i act on the alternate top rollers, and the
levers jact on the intermediate ones, as shewn in Figure 2, con-
sequently when the machine is at work a rapid reciprocating motion in
contrary directions is given to the top rollers.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described tlie
manner of performing the same, we declare that we claim the 'improved
machinery described and shewn in the Drawing for imparting the
reciprocating motion to the top rollers of hardening machines employed
in the manufacture of: felt.
In witness whereof, we, the said Edward Rostron and William
Walker Whittaker, have hereto set our hands and seals, the
Nineteenth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.