IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilson; of the Borough and County of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING
MACHINES." A communication from abroad by James Seeley Taylor,
DL
TT
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd. August 1867.
I, WILLIAM WILSON, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FELTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in felting machines, and
the machine is applicable to the hardening of hat bodies and similar articles.
The machine consists of two fluted rollers which are coned in both directions,
being larger 'at their outer ends than in the centre; they are mounted on axes
in a cistern or tank containing hot water. The axes are parallel to each
other, as seen in plan, but they incliné slightly from a horizontal plane and
in opposite directions; they are driven at the same speed and in the same
direction, and are immersed in-the-water in the tank to such a depth that
each roller is entirely covered up to the centre of its length. Over these

page_text: rollers a rocking frame is suspended; it carries two grooved bars or rollers, as
seen in plan; they are parallel the one to the other and at an angle to
the first-mentioned or conical rollers; they incline to small and opposite
angles from the horizontal, as seen in front. By a crank and connecting
rod the frame is caused to rock to and fro across the tank and the
lower or conical rollers. The hat bodies or similar articles are rolled up
in a cloth and laid in the hollow between the conical rollers underneath
the rocking frame, and are pressed and worked by the bars or rollers
which it carries; afterwards 'the roll of work escapes from under the
rocking frame at the end of the machine, and remains on the conical
rollers. This operation is repeated as often as the workman finds..necessary.
In order that the pressure may be increased or diminished according to the
state of the work the suspending links carrying the rocking frame, of which
there are two on each side, are at their upper ends connected with nuts on
right and left handed screws. By turning the screws, so as to draw the nuts
towards each other, the rocking frame is depressed, and its pressure on the
work increased; so also by turning the screws in the opposite direction the
pressure is rendered lighter
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd February 1868:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILSON, of the Borough and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said.
William Wilson, Her special licence, that I, the said "William Wilson,
my, executors,, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Wilson, 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN FELTING MACHINES," a communication to me from abroad by: James
Seeley Taylor, a person resident. at Danbury, Connecticut, United States of
.

page_text: America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Wilson, 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 Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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 felting machines.
The machine, is .composed of rollers, preferably conical rollers, revolving
in the same direction, and mounted side by side on axes. The hollow between
the rollers forms a bed on which the articles to be felted rest whilst they are
acted on by felters, either grooved or plain, which are above the rollers and
are rocked to and fro across the bed formed between them. The hat
bodies or similar articles, to be felted are rolled up in a cloth and laid
on the rollers, and as the rollers revolve the felters are rocked to: and fro.
The rocking felter can be, raised or lowered from the bed to diminish or
increase the pressure on, the work. The revolving rollers which form the bed
for supporting the work are by preference partially immersed in hot water,
The machine is more especially adapted for felting hat bodies formed of fur, or
wool and fur, as these require lighter manipulation and treatment than those
formed only of wool.
On Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is shown one arrangement
of a machine so constructed. Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine;
Figure 2, a longitudinal vertical section through the line x, x, Figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a vertical cross section through the line o, o, Figure 1.
In these Figures A-represents the rectangular frame of the machine,
within which is built a vat B for containing the hot water used in felting;
C, C, are two fluted rollers larger at each end than in the centre and having
their bearings in the ends of the frame, so that their central portions shall
be below the top of vat B; these rollers are provided at one end with cog
wheels c, c, which are driven by a smaller pinion a on the pulley shaft d, so
as to revolve the rollers in the same direction. The rollers C are so arranged
with respect to each other that viewed vertically, as in Figure 1, their axes
are parallel, and viewed.horizontally, as in Figure 2, their. axes are diagonal,

page_text: crossing at the centre. The rollers are driven by a belt 6 passing from
pulley D to a smaller pulley E on the driving shaft F; G is the vibrating
"felter," consisting of two small fluted or plain cylinders or bars fastened to
metallic cross heads, which are pivotted to the swings H, H, and are made to
vibrate diagonally across the rollers B. The swings H, H, are pivotted to
traversing nuts I, I, which are traversed by the right and left screws K, K',
which are (diagonally with relation to each other) suspended over the rollers
from their standards L, L. The "felter" is vibrated and reciprocated by
means of the connecting rods P and cranks N on the crank shaft O, which is
driven rapidly by a large pulley e on the main shaft F. By turning the
screws K, K¹, so as to draw together the traversing nuts I, I, the felter is
depressed so as to bring it nearer to the rollers and increase its pressure upon
the article being felted. An opposite effect is produced by turning the screws
reversely.
.:
The operation of the Invention is as follows:-The hat bodies (or other
article) are in the first place "formed" by machinery or by hand in the usual
manner. A workman then rolls up one or more hat bodies in a cloth about
eighteen inches square, and places this roll in the concave formed by rollers C
at their right-hand end. The revolving motion of the rollers imparts to the
báts a rolling motion, and the diagonal position and shape of the rollers gives
the hats a longitudinal motion in the direction of the axes of the rollers:
By this means the hats are carried under and in contact with the felter G.
The action of this felter imparted by its rapid, gentle, positive, vibrating motion
upon the roll of goods to be felted causes the fibres of the goods to be rapidly
"felted" together. As the process continues the roll passes under the felter G
and out at its left-hand end and in the concave formed between the rollers.
The roll is then opened and inspected by the workman, and the hats are again
rolled up in another direction and again passed through the machine.
The process is completed by running the roll of hats through the machine
from thirty to eighty times, according to the nature of the goods. When hat
bodies (or other goods) are first put into the machine their fibres cobere very
slightly and they are very liable to be torn, distorted, or otherwise injured.
While in this condition the motion given to them must be light and delicate;
this is accomplished by regulating the felter so as to barely touch and but
lightly press. upon the goods, thus giving them what is termed "light work"
at the beginning of the felting process; as the process is continued the
goods become firmer in their texture and capable of enduring the greater
pressure which-is-needed. to more firmly knit together the fibres. By means
t

page_text: of the screws I can increase this pressure as the work advances at the dis-
cretion of the operator, giving very light work or only a very few ounces of
pressure in the first stage, and gradually increasing until in the last stages there
will be very heavy work with a pressure of many pounds.
.
A modified arrangement of the machine is shown on Sheets 2 and 3 of the
Drawings. In this arrangement in place of the rollers C being each made
to taper towards the centre of its length, as in the machine above described,
they are each made to taper from one end to the other, the large end of one
roller being placed against the small end of the other, so that the hollow
between them will form approximately a straight and level channel or bed for
the rolls of work to travel in instead of a twisted channel, as.in the machine
above described, the under surface of the felters is also made in a plane nearly
parallel with the channel the work travels in, and the felters are made to
extend from end to end of the rollers.
Figure 4 is an end view, and Figure 5 a plan view of the machine. In
these Figures A is the framing of the machine; B, the hot-water tank; C,
the revolving conical rollers, which may be grooved or be made plain if
preferred; these rollers are supported by adjustable bearings in the end
frames, as shown, and they are as in the machine above described caused to
revolve (in the same direction) by cog wheels c, c, at one of their ends
gearing with a pinion d' on a short shaft d, and this shaft by a pulley D
upon
it is driven by a belt from a smaller pulley E on the driving shaft F. G, G,
are the felters, which are by preference grooved along or across their under
surface, they may however be smooth if desired; these felters are carried by
the lower ends of swing frames H, which turn on an axis at their upper ends.
The felters can be moved to or from each other by right and left hand screws,
as shown. The bearings h carrying the axis of the swing frames H can also be
simultaneously either raised or lowered by turning the shaft K by its hand
wheel K', the bevil wheels K₁ at its end will then turn the nuts L through
which the screws M pass, and these screws being unable to turn by reason of
their lower ends being fixed to the bearings h the screws and bearings will be
raised or lowered when the shaft K is turned. The felters can thus be caused to
press more or less on the work. The rocking motion is as in the machine first
described given to the swing frame carrying the felters by rods passing to
cranks N on the crank shaft O, which is driven by a belt from the pulley e on
the driving shaft, as shown.
In this machine the two felters G are at such a distance apart that the
work to be felted may be dropped down between them-on to the bed or

page_text: channel formed by the rollers.
The work is thus fed into the machine at one-
end and passes out at the opposite end on to a trough P supported by the
framing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM WILSON. (L.B.).