IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ASPHALTED FELT
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
deceased
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ASPHALTED FELT."-A communi-
12 A
D
Sealed the 29th June 1866, and dated the 26th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th January 1866.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ASPHALTED FELT,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for the manufacture
of felt containing resin or mineral resinous substances, such as tar, bitumen,
pitch, and colophany. Machines for this purpose as at present constructed do
not allow of more than one breadth of felt being manufactured in the same
machine. Now by this Invention I am enabled to manufacture in the same
machine felt of any breadth, from a yard or more to two inches or less,
according to requirement.

page_text: I proceed to describe the parts of the machine which from this Invention,
mentioning briefly the ordinary well-known parts :-The tow or other material
is drawn from a hopper or other receptacle by two grooved rollers, which feed
a drum fitted with cards. On leaving this drum the tow, owing to the drawing
or sucking action produced by a fan beneath, falls on to a plain drum open
worked or otherwise. The fan also draws off any dust or foreign matters
mixed with the tow and deposits it in any convenient receptacle.
The parts forming this Invention for widening or narrowing the sheet of
tow as required are connected with the last-named drum. I fit to each end
of the drum a movable rigid cheek; the lower parts of the cheeks are of
circular form to correspond to the form of the drum, and are each connected
by means of an apron of leather or other flexible material to a nearly vertical
roller. The cheeks are moved inwards and outwards by means of double
crank handles formed with a screw thread which takes into the frame of the
machine. The axis of each roller is also fitted with a crank handle, which is
worked as required to roll up the apron. Thus if it is required to reduce the
breadth of the sheet 6 inches each of the cheeks is moved 3 inches inwards,
the aprons unwinding themselves freely from their rollers. If it is required
to widen the breadth the reverse movement takes place, that is to say, the
crank handles fitted to the cheeks are turned in the contrary direction until
the desired increase in breadth is obtained, after which the loosé part of the
aprons must be wound up by turning the crank handles fitted to the rollers.
To prevent the parts becoming disarranged during the working I form any
convenient catch or locking apparatus on the axes of the rollers; as the
cheeks and rollers diminish the length of draught or suction on the drum I
cover its ends with leather, caoutchouc, or other suitable material. The sheet
on leaving the drum is pressed between a pair of grooved rollers, and then
passes along guides to and between a pair of plain cylinders heated internally.
These cylinders impregnate the sheet with the resinous composition contained
in a trough and form the felt; they are moved nearer to or farther from
each other according to the thickness of the sheet by means of a pressure
screw which I substitute for the levers and weights ordinarily employed.
The pressure of this screw exerted upon the bearings of the upper cylinder
may be regulated for greater precision by a graduated disc. The felt then
passes on to cold smoothing rollers, and finally to a table, which it reaches in
a finished state:

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,,filed
by Amelia Susannah Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AMELIA
SUSANNAH BROOMAN, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Widow
and sole Executrix of Richard Archibald Brooman, late of 166, Fleet Street;
in the City of London, Patent Agent, deceased, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Amelia Susannah Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, 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 MACHINERY FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF ASPHALTED FELT," (communicated to the said Richard
Archibald Brooman from abroad by Antoine d'Azambuja, of Paris, France),
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Amelia Susannah
Brooman, 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 Amelia Susannah Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists of improvements in machinery for the manufacture
of felt containing resin or mineral resinous substances, such as tar, bitumen,
piteb, and colophany. Machines for this purpose as at present constructed do
not allow of more than one breadth of felt being manufactured in the same

page_text: machine. Now by this Invention I am enabled to manufacture in the same
machine felt of any breadth, from a yard or more to two inches or less,
according to requirement.
I proceed to describe, with reference to the annexed Drawings, the parts of
the machine which form this Invention, mentioning briefly the ordinary well-
known parts: Figure 1 is a face view of the machine, partly in section; and
Figure 2 is an end view. The tow or other material is drawn from a hopper
or other receptacle a by two fluted rollers b, b, which feed a drum c fitted with
cards. On leaving this drum the tow, owing to the drawing or sucking
action produced by a fan in the channel d beneath, falls on to a plain drum t,
open worked or otherwise. The fan also draws off any dust or foreign matters
mixed with the tow and deposits it in any convenient receptacle.
The parts forming this Invention for widening or narrowing the sheet of
tow as required are connected with the last-named drum. I fit to each end
of the drum ta movable rigid cheek j; the lower parts of the cheeks are of
circular form to correspond to the form of the drum, and are each connected
by means of an apron g of leather or other flexible material to a nearly
vertical roller f. The cheeks; are moved inwards and outwards by means of
double crank handles k, k, formed with a screw thread which takes into the
frame of the machine. The axis of each roller f is also fitted with a crank
handle-m, which is worked as required to roll up the apron g. Thus if it is
required to reduce the breadth of the sheet 6 inches each of the cheeks j is
moved 3 inches inwards, the aprons g unwinding themselves freely from their
rollers f. If it is required to widen the breadth the reverse movement takes
place, that is to say, the crank handles fitted to the cheeks; are turned in
the contrary direction until the desired increase in breadth is obtained, after
which the loose part of the aprons 9 must be wound up by turning the crank
handles m fitted to the rollers f. To prevent the parts becoming disarranged
during the working I form any convenient catch or locking apparatus on
the axes of the rollers f. As the checks j.and rollersf diminish the length of
draught or suction on the drum t I cover its ends with leather, caoutchouc, or
other suitable material u. The sheet on leaving the drum is pressed between
a. pair of fluted rollers m, n, and then passes along guides which maintain it
breadthwise to and between a pair of plain cylinders, p, p, heated internally.
The distance between these guides is variable according to the breadth of the
sheet; they are kept in position by means of a bar z, their flat end passing
between the cylinders p, p, is retained by a plate y¹ which is free to slide on a
tenou fixed to the frame 7 (see the detached view Figure 3); a nut ³ keeps

page_text: this plate, and consequently the corresponding guide, in the position required
by the breadth of the sheet. The cylinders p, p, impregnate the sheet with
the resinous composition contained in a trough g and form the felt; this
trough is formed with divisions, that is to say, that its breadth is made
dependent upon that of the sheet by the employment of a double partition A
at each side of the trough (see the plan, Figure 4, and the detached views,
Figures 5 and 6). Each of the partitions A is provided on its horizontal
surface with holes which engage with tenons or screws on the trough q to
allow of the partitions being moved nearer to or further from each other, and
thereby avoid all loss of resin, which is spread regularly upon the sheet. The
cylinders p, p, for forming the felt are moved nearer to or farther from each
other according to the thickness of the sheet by means of a pressure screw r
which I substitute for the levers and weights ordinarily employed. The
pressure of this screw exerted upon the bearings s, 5, of the upper cylinder
The felt
may be regulated for greater precision by a graduated disc v.
supported between guides o', Figure 7, arranged as the preceding then
passes on to cold smoothing cylinders 2, and finally to a table y, which it
reaches in a finished state.
To obviate obstruction of the tow, and consequently loss of time, I some-
times employ the feed mechanism represented in Figures 8 and 9; this
mechanism which may be advantageously substituted for the fluted rollers b, b,
is composed of a single cylinder C not fluted but dentated as shown, this
cylinder turns on journals in a sort of trough D fixed to the frame of the
machine.
The characteristic features in this Invention are,-
1st, the movable cheeks at the ends of the drum, each connected to a
roller by means of a flexible apron.
2nd, the particular arrangement of the trough which contains the resin or
composition.
3rd, the employment of guides as described, which maintain the sheet and
prevent deterioration of its edges.
4th, the employment of a pressure screw in substitution for levers and
weights ordinarily employed to effect the movement towards or from each
other of the heated cylinders, also of the cold cylinders according to the
5 thickness of the sheet.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
machinery for the manufacture of asphalted felt arranged and combined

page_text: Bubstantially in manner herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Amelia Susannah Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand.and seal, this Twentieth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-six.