IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY THEREFOR
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Barclay, of the Caledonia Foundry,
Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Engineer, for the
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND FABRICS,
AND IN MACHINERY THEREFOR."
Sealed the 27th March 1863, and dated the 4th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Barclay at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1862.
I, ANDREW BARCLAY, of the Caledonia Foundry, Kilmarnock, in the
County of Ayr, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND
FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say:―
This Invention comprises improvements more particularly designed for
printing yarns or warps to be afterwards woven into piece goods, but also in
part applicable for printing woven fabrics.
In one modification of machinery or apparatus for carrying the Invention
into practical effect the yarns or warps having been first beamed or wound
in a regular way upon one or more beams or rollers, and such beam or beams
having been placed in supports provided for them in the machine are drawn
thence and made to pass round more or less of the circumference of what
may be termed the impression oylinder. In passing round such impression
cylinder, the warps receive the desired impressions from one or more printing
D93.

page_text: rollers in one or more colors, the impressions being by preference produced
by relief surfaces, and the printing rollers being disposed with their color
supplying details according to any suitable arrangement such as is at present in
use for printing woven fabrics. The printing roller may be supplied with color
either by a sieve or small endless blanket passed round two rollers, the lower
one dipping down into the color trough, or it may be supplied by means of a
series of two or more elastic surface rcllers, the lowest revolving in the color
trough and imparting its color to the next in contact with it, and this one
again either to a third or directly to the printing roller. There is interposed
between the warps and the surface of the impression cylinder an endless
blanket or glazed or varnished cloth to form a suitable back surface behind
the warps, and which receives the portions of color which pass through or
between the warps. This endless cloth or blanket is of sufficient length to
be passed over guide rollers to a little distance from the impression cylinder,
and it is made to pass through washing apparatus which may consist of a
trough of water with frictional appliances contrived to act on the cloth or
blanket. From the washing apparatus the cloth or blanket passes between
squeezing rollers to remove the moisture, and if necessary in contact with a
rubbing surface when it is rendered fit to re-enter upon the impression drum
without any possibility of spoiling the warps with which it comes in contact.
In some cases when a blanket is used it need not be washed, but is subjected
to a drying heat at a part of its traverse away from the impression cylinder
so that any color any part of it may receive in one transit may not soil the
warps in contact with it in a subsequent transit. Or instead of employing
an endless blanket or cloth as described, there may be used a piece or pieces
of blanket or cloth which is or are introduced as the printing proceeds, each
piece being washed or cleansed between each time of using it. Or again the
blanket or cloth may be of equal length with and be fixed to the surface of
the impression cylinder, and rubbing or frictional cleansing rollers or scrapers
may be arranged to remove the color from it at the part passing from where the
printed warps leave the cylinder to where the unprinted warps enter upon it.
The printed warps are made to leave the impression cylinder by preference in
a horizontal direction, and are immediately subjected to the drying action
of heat obtained, for example, from a series of gas jets, from hot air
currents, or from superheated steam, either free or confined, and it is by
preference arranged that they do not come in contact with any guide or other
roller or surface until they have crossed the drying space. The warps may
then be wound upon a beam or roller ready for the loom, or their subsequent

page_text: treatment may be modified in various ways. According to one plan they are
wound upon a beam or roller, along with a "cosey" or piece of woven fabric,
the folds of which serve to separate the folds of the warps, and the beam or
roller is perforated so that steam admitted intotheinside thereof may permeate
through the warps and effect the "steaming" of the colors. The beam of
warps may be finally transferred to another machine or portion of the apparatus
for the purpose of having the superflous color washed off, such apparatus
consisting principally of a trough or troughs through which the warps are
passed by the aid of guide rollers, the several parts being arranged so as
not to disturb the relative positions of the individual threads, but to retain
the printed devices or pattern as true as possible.
The herein-before described combination of operations and apparatus may
be used for printing woven fabrics, and in particular the washing of the
endless blanket or its equivalent, and the drying of the printed material or
fabric on its passage from the impression cylinder to a guide or receiving
roller in the manner described are improvements upon the corresponding
operations as hitherto practised in calico printing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Barclay in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
BARCLAY, of the Caledonia Foundry, Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr,
North Britain, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Andrew Barclay, Her special licence that I, the said
Andrew Barclay, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Andrew Barclay, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING TEXTILE MATERIALS AND
FABRICS AND IN MACHINERY THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others)

page_text: that I, the said Andrew Barclay, 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 Iuvention
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 Andrew Barclay, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement that is to say: -
This Invention comprises improvements more particularly designed for
printing yarns or warps to be afterwards woven into piece goods, but also
in part applicable for printing woven fabrics.
.
In one modification of machinery or apparatus for carrying the Invention
into practical effect, the yarns or warps having been first beamed or wound
in a regular way upon one or more beams or rollers, and such beam or beams
having been placed in supports provided for them in the machine, are drawn
thence, and made to pass round more or less of the circumference of what
may be termed the impression cylinder. In passing round such impression
cylinder the warps receive the desired impressions from one or more printing
rollers, in one or more colors, the impressions being, by preference, produced
by relief surfaces, and the printing rollers being disposed with their color
supplying details according to any suitable arrangement such as is at present
in use for printing woven fabrics. The printing roller may be supplied with
color either by a sieve or small endless blanket passed round two rollers, the
lower one dipping down into the color trough, or it may be supplied by means
of a series of two or more elastic surface rollers, the lowest revolving in the
color trough, and imparting its color to the next in contact with it, and this
one again either to a third or directly to the printing roller. There is inter-
posed between the warps,and the surface of the impression cylinder an endless
blanket or glazed or varnished cloth to form a suitable back surface, behind
the warps, and which receives the portions of color, which pass through or
between the warps. This endless cloth or blanket is of sufficient length to be
passed over guide rollers to a little distance from the impression cylinder,and
it is made to pass through washing apparatus, which may consist of a trough
of water with frictional appliances contrived to act on the cloth or blanket.
From the washing apparatus the cloth or blanket passes beetween squeezing
rollers to remove the moisture, and if necessary in contact with a rubbing

page_text: surface, when it is rendered fit to re-enter upon the impression drum, without
any possibility of spoiling the warps with which it comes in contact.
In some cases when a blanket is used it need not be washed, but is subjected
to a drying heat at a part of its traverse away from the impression cylinder,
so that any color any part of it may receive in one transit may not soil the
warps in contact with it in a subsequent transit. Or instead of employing
an endless blanket or cloth, as described, there may be used a piece or pieces
of blanket or cloth, which is or are introduced as the printing proceeds, each
piece being washed or cleansed between each time of using it. Or again the
blanket or cloth may be of equal length with, and be fixed to the surface of
the impression cylinder, and rubbing or frictional cleansing rollers or scrapers
may be arranged to remove the color from it at the part passing from where
the printed warps leave the cylinder to where the unprinted warps enter upon
it. The printed warps are made to leave the impression cylinder by preference
in a horizontal direction, and are immediately subjected to the drying action
of heat obtained, for example, from a series of gas jets, from hot air currents,
or from superheated steam, either free or confined, and it is by preference
arranged, that they do not come in contact with any guide or other roller or
surface, until they have crossed the drying space. The warps may then be
wound upon a beam or roller ready for the loom, or their subsequent treat-
ment may be modified in various ways.
"
According to one plan they are wound upon a beam or roller along with
a "
cosey or piece of woven fabric, the folds of which serve to separate the
folds of the warps, and the beam or roller is perforated so that steam admitted
into the inside thereof may permeate through the warps, and effect the
steaming" of the colors. The beam of warps may be finally transferred to
another machine or portion of the apparatus for the purpose of having the
superfluous color washed off, such apparatus consisting principally of a
trough or troughs, through which the warps are passed by the aid of guide
rollers, the several parts being arranged so as not to disturb the relative
positions of the individual threads, but to retain the printed devices or
pattern as true as possible.
The herein-before described combination of operations, and apparatus may
be used for printing woven fabrics, and in particular the washing of the
endless blanket or its equivalent, and the drying of the printed material or
fabric on its passage from the impression cylinder to a guide or receiving
roller in the manner described, are improvements upon the corresponding
operations as hitherto practised in calico printing.

page_text: EXPLANATION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the machine, and Fig. 2 is a corresponding
plan.
The standards or framing A, A, upon which the impression cylinder Bis
mounted, form the main framing of the machine, and are extended sufficiently
in either direction to carry the different rollers required; on this framing the
impression cylinder B rests on suitable bearings. On the periphery of the
impression cylinder B is a spur wheel C, taking into a spur pinion D, keyed
on the main driving shaft; E, E, E, are the printing rollers on which the
pattern intended to be impressed on the warp or cloth is formed; these rollers
are carried by adjusting studs passing through the circular part of the main
framing; these studs as formed so as to carry an adjustable bush, regulated
by two set screws, so that the printing roller may be easily set to the proper
position; the color is supplied to the printing rollers E by means of an endless
blanket passing over the rollers F,the lower roller of which works in the color
box G, and may be driven by suitable gearing, as shewn by the dotted
circles H, H. Instead of an endless blanket a roller or series of rollers may
be used, the lower of which works in the color box, and supplies color either
directly to the printing roller or through the series of rollers in contact with
each other. The coloring rollers I may be covered with any elastic material,
so as to yield to the inequalities of the printing roller's surface.
Fig. 3 is a detached view of a color box with a two-roller arrangement. The
roller supplying the color to the printing roller in any of these arrangements is
supported by an oscillating frame J, which is pressed in contact with the
printing roller, either by means of a spring or weighted lever, so that the
attendant can instantly remove the coloring arrangement, as required.
A steam cylinder K is mounted on the framing A at some distance from
the impression cylinder, and is heated by steam inside. This cylinder is used
for the purpose of drying the endless blanket L after having done duty on the
impression cylinder, and before it again returns to it; this blanket L may be
dried by one or more of these cylinders, or it may pass over a series of gas
jete, arranged so as to dry the blanket more effectually; or instead of the
endless blanket just described, a blanket may be fixed around the impression
cylinder, and an endless glazed cloth or other material substituted. This
cloth, shewn on the accompanying Drawing by dotted lines, passes through
the machine for the purpose of being washed in the washing machine. This
machine consists of a cistern M, containing the liquid used for washing the

page_text: glazed cloth N before it again returns to the impression cylinder. 0, 0, 0, 0,
are guide rollers, two of which revolve in the cistern M,over which the glazed
cloth N passes during the washing operation. Two rubbing rollers or
brushes P may be arranged as shewn in dotted lines, for the purpose of more
thoroughly cleansing the glazed cloth N. Two squeezing rollers Q are
mounted in a frame with a weighted lever arrangement to act as a squeezer,
for the purpose of drying the surface of the glazed cloth N before passing on to
the impression cylinder. In its transit the glazed cloth may be more com-
pletely dried by an arrangement of steam pipes or gas jets, similar to that
shewn at b,b, c, . In some cases the glazed cloth may be sufficiently cleansed
by a system of rubbers, without the use of the washing cistern, and dried by
any of the aforesaid arrangements. The beam R contains the warps or cloth
to be printed, and is supported by the main framing, as shewn at S, or other-
wise placed convenient to it; from this beam the warp or cloth a to be printed
passes along and is guided by the roller T, thence through the reed U, and
over another guide roller V on to the impression cylinder along with the
glazed cloth or blanket, and is printed in its further course around the
impression cylinder as it pas es the printing rollers E. From this cylinder the
printed cloth or warp a passes over the heated air from a series ofgasjets b, b,
or an arrangement of steam pipes, as shewn at c, c, and is wound upon the
beam d, which receives its motion from the roller e, driven by the bevil
wheels F and shaft I, which again receives their motion from the impression
cylinder; or instead of the cloth or warp being beamed at d it may be
returned and wound on to the beam at g, shewn in dotted lines, driven by
the roller h, in a similar manner to that described for the roller e; in its
return passage the cloth or warp may again be subjected to the action of a
series of gas jets or steam pipes, as shewn at j. j. The gas or steam pipes
may be arranged transversely or longitudinally, as found most convenient.
The drying operation may be performed either wholly by steam or wholly
by gas, or by both combined, as shewn on the Drawings. A supply of
heated air may in some cases be preferred to the steam pipes and gas jets
above described. Steam may be used in the large impression cylinder.
Having thus described the whole nature of my Invention, I have now
state that I claim,-
1st, the general arrangement of the machine, as herein-before described.
2nd, the use of two or more surface rollers for printing warps, herein-
before described.
3rd, the use of an endless blanket or other material passing round the
impression and drying cylinders, herein-before described.

page_text: 4th, the use of a glazed cloth or other similar material passing round
the impression cylinder and through the washing apparatus, herein-before
described.
5th, the use of gas jets for drying the printed yarns or cloth and blanket.
6th, the use of a series of steam pipes for drying the printed cloth and
blanket, as herein-before described.
7th, the system of driving the receiving or take-up beam by frictional
contact.
8th, the returning of the printed yarns or cloth and subjecting both sides
to the drying apparatus, herein-before described.
9th, use of an endless oil or glazed cloth passing to and from the im-
pression cylinder.
10th, the use of a reed for guiding the yarns in a regular manner on to
the impression cylinder.
11th, the use of a cleansing or washing apparatus, herein-before
described.
12th, the use of two or more printing rollers working one color.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Barclay, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
ANDREW BARCLAY. (L.S.)