In- PROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING FELTED FABRICS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William IIirst, of Bath, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING FELTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 17th November 1857, and dated the 28th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hirst at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
July 1857.
I, WILLIAM HIRST, of Bath, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING FELTED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements and a new process in
manufacturing felted fabrics by which I make fine cloths equal in beauty
and superior in wear to the finest cloths now worn. For these purposes a
suitable accumulation of sliver having been produced, as is well understood, the
same is spread on a stout wrapper of open or gauze weaving, and of some-
what greater width and length than the sliver. The sliver and wrapper are
wound tightly on a roller of about 10 inches diameter, which is arrange to
revolve in a trough containing hot water or hot water and soap. A bar which
I call a beating lever, parallel with the axis of the roller on which the sliver
and wrapper are wound, is caused to be moved in an up-and-down direction

page_text: from and towards the axis of the roller; the said bar in its up-and-down
motion causes the roller, by a small rack attached to the frame of the machine,
to shift or turn a small distance at each stoke, so that the bar shall beat a
fresh place at every movement, by which, as the roller revolves, the accumulated
sliver will be subjected to and released from pressure alternately for some
length of time, 10 or 15 minutes being sufficient for a 10 yard sliver, which
length I prefer, the said lengths being capable of being pierced or joined in the
milling to any length required. The sliver and wrapper are then drawn or
unwound from the roller, and the desired hardness is obtained by being wound on
to a smaller roller and placed into a similar trough with a similar lever, first with
soap and water and afterwards dry; it is then hardened so as to be milled by
any milling process, or the milling can be completed in the same machine, by
which the flatness or straightness of the surface of the cloth is better
preserved.
Having thus described my Invention, I would have it understood that
what I claim as new is,―
First, the rolling the sliver with the open wrapper round the drum or roller
in the trough with the pressure at top and bottom.
Second, the beating lever.
Third, the mode of using the open wrapper as connected with the beating
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hirst in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I; WILLIAM
HIRST, of Bath, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, 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 me, the said
William Hirst, Her special licence that I, the said William Hirst, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Hirst, 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

page_text: 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 MANUFACTURING
FELTED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Hirst, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their 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 I, the said William First, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in manufacturing felted
fabrics, and a new process by which I make fine cloths equal in beauty and
superior in wear to the finest cloths now worn. For these purposes a suitable
accumulation of sliver having been produced, as is well understood, the same
is spread on a stout wrapper of open or gauze weaving, and of somewhat
greater width and length than the sliver. The sliver and wrapper are wound
tightly on a roller of about 10 inches diameter, which is arranged to revolve.
in a trough containing hot water or hot water and soap. A bar which I
call a beating lever, parallel with the axis of the roller on which the sliver and
wrapper are wound, is caused to be moved in an up-and-down direction from.
and towards the axis of the roller; the said bar in its up-and-down motion
causes the roller, by a small rack attached to the frame of the machine, to,
shift or turn a small distance at each stroke so that the bar shall beat a fresh
place at every movement, by which, as the roller revolves, the accumulated
sliver will be subjected to and released from pressure alternately for some
length of time, 10 or 15 minutes being sufficient for a 10 yard sliver, which
length I prefer, the said lengths being capable of being pieced or joined in
the milling to any length required. The sliver and wrapper are then drawn
or unwound from the roller, and the desired hardness is obtained by being
wound on to a smaller roller, and placed into a similar trough with a similar
lever, first with soap and water and afterwards dry; it is then hardened so as
to be milled by any milling process, or the milling can be completed in tho
same machine, by which the flatness or straightness of the surface of the cloth.
is better preserved.

page_text: b
In carrying out my Invention I wind a sliver of wool as it is delivered from
the carding engine on to a drum of about 10 feet diameter, and when a
suitable thickness is accumulated thereon (according to the thickness of cloth
to be made), it is cut through in a direction parallel to the axis of the roller
and wound off on to a small roller a. This roller is shewn at Figure 1, which
is a longitudinal section of a preparing machine, and also at Figure 2, which
is a plan of the same when the sliver is wound on the roller a which is placed
on the wrapper 6 resting on the table c of the machine. For the wrapper 6 I
prefer to employ a fabric-formed of coarse twine or fine string hard twisted
and woven loosely together into an open or gauze fabric. This wrapper is
wound on the roller b. from which it passes over the table c and is connected
to the drum or roller d, which is covered with similar open or gauze weaving:
The sliver a and the wrapper bare then wound together on to the drum or
roller d, which is caused to rotate by means of the crank handles d¹; jets of
steam are admitted to the under side of the drum or roller d through the
perforated steam pipe e, so as to impart heat and moisture to the sliver; e', e',
are solid wooden rollers (also covered with open or gauze weaving) which rest
on the upper surface of the drum or, roller d, and they are caused to rotate
by the surface friction of the roller d. The sliver after being subjected to the
action of the rollers e', e', in this preparing machine for about 15 to 20 minutes
becomes partially felted, and is then wound off the drum or roller d. with
another open or gauze wrapper on to a smaller roller,, and subjected to the
beating process with soap and hot water in the machine shewn in plan and
section at Figures 3 and 4. The sliver and wrapper wound tightly on the
roller are placed in the trough a containing hot water or hot water and soap,
and the sliver is then subjected to the action of the beating bar or lever b,
moved by hand or by any suitable mechanical contrivance; and the roller c
with the sliver is caused to partially rotate after each blow of the beater by
a clanker b' attached to tho lever 6 taking into the teeth of the ratchet wheel
e fixed on the axis of the roller c, by which arrangement the beater will be
caused to strike a fresh place each time it descends. The sliver having been.
subjected to the beating process on the roller c for about 10 or 15 minutes, it
is unwound from the roller c and wound with the wrapper on to a smaller
roller and placed in the trough f and subjected to a similar beating process,
first with soap and water, and afterwards dry, it is then hardened so as to be
milled by any suitable milling process, or the milling can be completed in the
machines previously described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-

page_text: forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the
exact details described; but what I claim is the winding a sliver of wool or
felting fibre together with a wrapper on to a roller, and the subjecting the roll
when in a moist state to the action of beaters or pressers, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hirst, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE BEERE.
W HIRST. (L.S.)