CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING VELVETS OR OTHER SIMILAR PILED FABRICS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Hill, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Weaver, and John Moore, of Salford, in the same County, Small-
ware Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING VELVETS OR OTHER SIMILAR PILED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 23rd February 1858, and dated the 25th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Hill and John
Moore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 25th August 1857.
We, PHILIP HILL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Weaver, and
JOHN MOORE, of Salford, in the same County, Smallware Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING VELVETS OR OTHER SIMILAR PILED
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention applies solely to cutting such peculiar manufacture of
velvets, plush, or other similar piled fabrics as are woven face to face and
combined by the warp threads, which when cut apart form the pile of the two
fabrics that is woven upon what is called the "double cloth" principle.
Our improvements consist in a novel arrangement of apparatus wherein we

page_text: are enabled to cut or sever the double cloths apart by means of a small
cutting knife or instrument having cutting edges, which will act upon the
cloth as the knife travels rapidly from selvedge to selvedge of the cloth
backwards and forwards as the cloth passes through the machine.
Each separate cloth (as divided) is rolled upon an upper and lower roller
turning in opposite directions, and the cutter or knife passes rapidly to and fro
from side to side, between, and in front of the rollers, but in contact with the
distended pile of the cloth, thus cutting the pile, and severing or cutting apart
the double cloth, and so forming or completing two cloths, each having a cut
pile, as velvet or plush.
The cutting apparatus travels with the speed or rapidity which may be
necessary to perform a clean cut, which may be regulated as required, and is
maintained in a perfectly square and horizontal traverse by being mounted' in
a small carriage or frame, and sliding or running on parallel slide rods or bars
extending across the machine, and made perfectly true and sufficient for such
purpose, the cutter being driven, drawn, or impelled by any suitable arrange-
ment of self-acting mechanism attached to and receiving motion from any
convenient part of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Philip Hill and John Moore in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, PHILIP
HILL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Weaver, and JOHN MOORE,
of Salford, in the same County, Smallware Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Philip Hill and John Moore, Her especial license that we, the said
Philip Hill and John Moore, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Philip Hill and John Moore, 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

page_text: of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR CUTTING VELVETS OR OTHER SIMILAR PILED FABRICS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that we, the said Philip Hill and John Moore, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the 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 Philip Hill and John Moore, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to say: -
Our Invention applies solely to cutting such peculiar manufacture of
velvets, plush, carpet, or any other piled fabrics as are woven face to face
and combined by the pile warp threads, which when cut apart form the pile
of the two fabrics, that is, woven upon what is called the "double cloth"
principle.
Our improvements consist in a novel arrangement of apparatus wherein we
are enabled to cut or sever the double cloths apart by means of a small
cutting knife or instrument having cutting edges, which will act upon the
cloth as the knife travels rapidly from selvedge to selvedge of the cloth
backwards and forwards as the cloth passes through the machine.
Each separate cloth (as divided) is rolled upon an upper and lower roller
turning in opposite directions, and the cutter or knife passes rapidly to and fro
from side to side, between, and in front of the, rollers, but in contact with the
distended pile of the cloth, thus cutting the pile, and severing or cutting apart
the double cloth, and so forming or completing two cloths, each having a cut
pile, as velvet or plush...
"
The cutting apparatus travels with the speed or rapidity which may be
necessary to perform a clean cut, which may be regulated as required, and is
maintained in a perfectly square and horizontal traverse by being mounted in
a small carriage or frame, and sliding or running on parallel slide rods, bars,
or beds extending across the machine, and made perfectly true and sufficient
for such purpose, the cutter being driven, drawn, or impelled by any suitable
arrangement of self-acting mechanism attached to and receiving motion from
any convenient part of the machine, or by manual labour if preferred.
In order that our Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of

page_text: about two inches to a foot, having similar letters of reference marked upon
corresponding parts of the apparatus.
Fig. 1 is and end or side view of the machine, shewing more particularly the
gearing for turning the cloth rollers and giving motion to the carriage sustaining
the knife or cutter; Fig. 2 is a front view of the same, shewing the horizontal
bars or beds upon which the said carriage slides; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged
sectional Diagram illustrative of the manner in which the knife is brought
into contact with and cuts the pile. In Fig. 1, a, a, is the framing of the
machine, and 6 is the roller upon which the piled fabric in the state of
"double cloth" is wound previously to being cut (such cloth being represented
by the red lines); c is the main driving shaft, from which motion is trans-
mitted through the spur and worm wheel gearing d, d, d, to the top and
bottom rollers e, e, over which the cloth passes, and by the action of which
the fabric is drawn through the machine and the pile presented to the knife
or cutter f, which is driven or impelled from the driving shaft c through the
spur wheel and eccentric g, which by means of the bevil gearing imparts
a rocking motion to the shaft h, and the beam or bar i, to each end of which
is attached a band or cord from each end of the carriage k, sliding upon the
bed l, and supporting or carrying the knife, or cutter f; by this rocking or
oscillating bar the required to-and-fro motion is imparted to the cutter. The
cutter may be either fixed in the carriage k or be caused (if circular) to rotate
on its axis. The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The "double cloth"
passes from the roller b, between the steadying bars m, m, close between the
front edges of which the knife or cutter f projects, and as it slides to and fro
cuts apart the "double cloth" by dividing the pile between the two cloths,
which, when thus divided, are wound upon the top and bottom rollers e¹, e¹,
which may be caused to "take up" the cloth as cut by any ordinary gearing.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with the
method of performing the same, we would remark, in conclusion, that we
claim cutting apart or separating the "double cloth" (and thereby forming or
completing two cloths, each having a cut pile, as velvet or plush) by means
of a knife, blade, or cutter supported or contained by or in a carriage, and
whether stationary or fixed in such carriage, or rotating on its own axis and
supported in such carriage, having a lateral backwards and forwards or
reciprocating motion from selvage to selvage of the cloth, as herein-before
described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached, in contra-
distinction to the well-known methods of effecting the separation of such
ordinary "double cloths" by cutting the intermediate pile by means of circular

page_text: rotating discs or knives and other such contrivances, and either used sepa-
rately or in connection with the looms for weaving, and also without being in
any manner limited or confined to the shape or form of the knife, blade, or
cutter, or to the precise arrangement of mechanism for effecting such sliding
reciprocating action of the same.
In witness whereof, we, the said Philip Hill and John Moore, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, the Twenty-fourth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
PHILIP HILL. (L.S.)
JOHN MOORE. (L.S.)