IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Worrall, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Dyer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SINGEING FABRICS."
Sealed the 31st January 1871, and dated the 22nd October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Worrall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd October 1870.
I, JAMES WORRALL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Dyer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR SINGEING FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to effect an economy in the
labour employed in the singeing of pieced goods, such as cotton velvet,
velveteens, and cords.
The fabrics to be operated upon I form into endless bands, and I fit
the singeing apparatus with guide, and tension rollers to receive the

page_text: ·
bands of fabrics. The rollers I suspend above a furnace, which furnace
I construct with two or more parallel flues connected with the fire-place.
In the crown of these flues I insert heating plates of a length corre-
sponding to the widest fabric intended to be singed. Of these plates the
furnace may be fitted with any desired number, and I arrange them in
groups side by side, so that each group may act upon an endless band of
fabric. The guide and tension rollers are intended to traverse the bands
over the plates heated by the flues, and I so contrive the apparatus that
the fabrics may be brought into contact with one, two, or more of the
heated plates of the series, as desired. For this purpose I provide for
each set of plates a pair of rocking arms, which carry a guide bar, and
before joining the ends of the fabric together I lead the fabric under
and over the guide rollers and over this guide bar, which is placed
intermediate of the two rollers nearest the heating plates. By tipping
these rocking arms and lifting the bar the fabric may be lifted clear of
one or more of the heating plates, and thus the singeing action as the
fabric is traversed over the plates will be modified. By depressing this
bar the fabric will be free to traverse over all the plates of the series,
thus intensifying the singeing action and allowing of its being carried on
more rapidly.
Or instead of the rocking arms carrying a single bar two bars may be
carried by a frame suspended above the middle of the furnace from such
arms, and by the raising of the frame the fabric will be lifted clear
of the heating plates. These plates will be rounded on their acting
surface, and they will form a portion of the roof of the flues.
Rotary motion may be imparted to the rollers by steam or hand
power, the same being continued in one and the same direction until the
singeing of the goods is completed.
It will be obvious that instead of using guide bars, as above explained,
one of the tension rollers may be made to perform the same office by a
being mounted in adjustable bearings.
The apparatus is fitted with spark brushes and with damping rollers,
and also with heating or drying rollers for preparing the fabric for a
repetition of the singeing operation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Worrall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WORRALL, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Dyer, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by. Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Worrall, Her special licence
that I, the said James Worrall, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Worrall, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATus
FOR SINGEING FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Worrall, 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 James Worrall, 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 following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
The chief object of this Invention is to effect an economy of labor in
the singeing of piece goods, such as cotton velvet, velveteens, and cords.
The fabrics to be operated upon I form into endless bands, and I fit
the singeing apparatus with guide and tension rollers to receive the
bands of fabrics and traverse them over the singeing plates until the

page_text: singeing operation is completed. The singeing plates I insert in
the crown of the flue of the furnace used for heating the plates. I make
them of a length corresponding to the widest fabrics intended to be
singed. Of these plates the furnace may be fitted with any desired
number, and I arrange them side by side in groups, each group being so
disposed as to act upon an endless band of fabric.
The guide and tension rollers are intended to traverse the bands over
the heated plates continuously in one direction until the singeing
operation is completed. Each endless band of fabric is held down in
contact with its respective group of singeing plates by a bar carried by
adjustable crank arms, and for each set of plates I provide also a pair
of rocking arms which carry a guide bar for lifting the fabric clear of
the heating plates.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shows in sectional elevation
my improved arrangement of singeing apparatus; Fig. 2 is a longi-
tudinal section through the centre of the furnace and heating flue,
shewing a provision for acting upon two endless lengths or bands of
fabrics simultaneously, and Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same.
In these Figures A is the furnace fire-place, and B the flue formed of
thick brickwork for retaining the heat leading to the chimney. The
crown of this flue is made of thick plates of cast iron C, C, having
longitudinal openings for the reception of two groups of thick singeing
plates of copper D, D. These plates D project inwards so as to come
well into contact with the flame and heated gases as they pass through
the flue B, and they project upwards beyond the plates C, and are
rounded on their upper surfaces that they may present no sharp angles
to the fabrics that are intended to be traversed at tension over them.
The flue of the furnace is cased in iron, and it is carried by the framing
E, E', which also serves to support certain of the guide rollers and the.
mechanism in connection therewith for traversing the fabrics over
the two groups of singeing plates.
The Drawings show two precisely similar arrangements of apparatus
for submitting the endless lengths of fabric to the action of the singeing
plates, the same description will therefore serve for both sets of traversing
apparatus. F and F¹, (Fig. 1,) are two metal rollers mounted in the
frame E on either side of the flue, and abreast and at such a level with
regard to the singeing plates, as that the fabrics to be singed when
passing at tension from one roller to the other will be caused to bear_

page_text: upon the plates, as indicated by the red line. The roller F receives
steam through a hollow axle for the purpose of heating the fabric as it
passes under that roller on its way to the singeing plates, and cold
water is supplied in a similar manner to the roller F¹ for the purpose of
cooling the fabric as it leaves the singeing plates. The length of fabric
to be operated upon is led in a serpentine form over and under a series
of guide rollers G, H, and coming from this series of rollers it passes
under and over two guide rollers I, I', carried by the framing E, and
thence to the roller F. The guide rollers G, which impart also a traverse
motion to the fabric are mounted in a swinging frame G', which has for
its fulcrum the axle of the end roller G*; this frame is held up in
position by means of a counterweight G², which allows it when required
to be drawn down to the dotted position shewn in Fig. 1. The rollers H
are mounted in a fixed frame H³ resting on the floor, and are free to
rotate by friction of contact with the travelling fabric. The rollers G
are driven by an endless band G³ for the purpose of passing the fabric
to the singeing plates. This band G³ receives its motion from a grooved
pulley on the axle of the roller K, which roller is covered with card cloth.
The fabric after passing over the singeing plates is led under the
roller F", as before mentioned, and then upwards to the card roller K,
it being led around guide rollers k on its way to the card roller K.
The fabric is then led back over a series of guide rollers L mounted on
the top of the framing to a second roller K³, and from this roller the end
of the fabric is brought down that it may be joined by coupling wires to
the opposite end of the piece. In Fig. 1 the red lines shew the piece
as joined up to form an endless band, and the arrows shew the course
of the fabric through the machine.
-
.
Supposing a piece to have been just finished in the machine, the
course will be in the act of discharging the finished piece to lead in a
fresh piece to take its place. This is to be done in the following
manner -The coupled ends of the finished fabric having been brought
up to the position shewn at Fig. 1 are to be unwired, and the fresh piece
having been brought up to the machine and placed on the floor, as
shewn by the blue lines, one end thereof is led over a fixed bar M, and
wired to the rear end of the finished piece while still travelling through
the machine. The forward end of the finished piece is then laid over
the inclined board N, down which it will pass to the floor where it will
accumulate in a heap. While the fresh piece is being coupled to the

page_text: finished piece, the attendant will require to retain a hold of the end of
the finished piece, and to allow of this without stopping the machine,
the counterbalance frame G₁ is used. The end of the fabric being
arrested and retained in the hands of the attendant, and the traverse of
the fabric through the machine being continued, a drag will be put upon
the frame G³, causing it to move towards the dotted position of Fig. 1,
and give out a considerable length of cloth. So soon however as the
wiring of the fabric is completed, and the attendant ceases to retain a
hold of the fabric, the frame G¹ will be free to rise to a horizontal
position. When the whole of the new piece has been drawn in, the
coupled ends of the finished and unfinished piece will have come round
to the attendant, his duty will then be to disconnect the two pieces and
to connect the ends of the new piece together. To give him time for
effecting this coupling of the ends without the necessity of stopping
the traverse of the fabric the counterbalance frame G¹ will be caused to
descend and give out a length of fabric as before, and meanwhile the
fabric falling from the roller K¹ will accumulate in a heap upon the
floor. So soon however as the ends have been connected and the
frame is free to rise by the action of the counterweight, the fabric
which has accumulated on the floor will be gradually taken up and held
at tension. The guide rollers are so arranged as to be capable of
receiving a maximum length of piece goods and holding the whole length
at tension while undergoing the singeing operation.
The motion for traversing the cloth through the machine is transmitted
from the shafting of the mill to a horizontal shaft 1, Fig. 3, which has
its bearing in the framing E, E¹. This shaft carries a pair of spur
wheels 2, which are loose thereon, and are made fast to the shaft when
required by means of clutches 3%; into these wheels 2 gear the spur
pinions 4, which are keyed to the inner ends of their respective shafts 5,
which shafts are mounted in bearings in their respective frames E, E¹.
The opposite ends of these shafts are fitted with band pullies 6, from
which driving bands 7 pass to pullies 8 on the axles of the card
rollers K; these rollers are each provided with band pullies 9, which
receive the driving bands G³ before mentioned as employed to give rotary
motion to the guide rollers G. Of this series of rollers it is necessary
that the direction of rotation of every alternate roller should be reversed.
For this purpose the axle of each roller is provided with two pullies, one
being a fast and the other a loose pulley, and on a stud on the end of
the frame G a loose return pulley is mounted.

page_text: This arrangement is clearly shewn in the partial plan view Fig. 4.
In this Figure a, a, a, are the fast pullies, and b, b, b, the loose pullies.
The driving band G³, it will be seen, passes alternately under and over
the pullies a, b, of their respective rollers, and thus these rollers are
driven the one to the right and the other to the left throughout the
series, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. On a level with the
roller F¹ is a spark brush O, which is mounted in bearings external
of the framing E, and rotates in contact with the face of the singed
fabric. At a higher level and immediately above this brush is mounted
a whisk P, which also rotates in contact with the face of the singed
fabric, and serves to clear its face from any charred fibre that may be
left thereon by the spark brush. Rotary motion is communicated to
the whisk by means of a belt 10, which passes over a pulley on the
overhead shafting of the mill, and round a pulley 11 keyed on the inner
end of the axle of the whisk. The opposite end of this axle is fitted
with a pulley 12, which through a belt 13. and a pulley 14 gives
rotary motion to the brush O. Q, Fig. 1, is one of a pair of crank arms,
which carry a transverse bar Q¹ for pressing down the fabric upon the
singeing plates. The pressure of this bar is regulated by means of an
adjustable stop screw Q, which bears against the framing. By turning
this screw in the tapped lug which carries it, the bar Q¹ may be adjusted
to any desired level. For the purpose of throwing the fabric up clear of
the singeing plates, the transverse. bar R is used; this bar which
underlies the fabric is carried by a pair of rocking arms R' pivotted on.
the same centre as the crank arms Q, and fitted with a pendent chain
or cord. By the attendant pulling on this chain the bar R will be
thrown up into the dotted position of Fig. 1, when it will lift the fabric
clear of the singeing plates.
From the foregoing explanation it will be understood, that on rotary
motion being imparted to the machine the endless lengths of fabrics will
receive a continuous forward course (at a uniform speed or nearly so)
over the singeing plates, which traverse motion may be continued for
any desired time or until the singeing operation is completed, the
fabric when its ends are wired up requiring no manipulation during
the singeing operation.
I would remark that the guiding and feeding in rollers G and H play
an important part in reducing the cost of the singeing operation, for
without their use there is a great tendency for the fabric to crease

page_text: as it is taken up from the floor. To prevent this it has hitherto been
necessary to employ attendants to straighten out the fabric as it is drawn
over the first guide bar or roller; but even with this assistance the
creasing of the fabric is not altogether avoided, and when a crease is
presented to the singeing plates its pile will be burned while the
adjacent portions of the face of the fabric escape the action of the
singeing plates; by the use however of the feeding in arrangement,
the tendency of the fabric to crease on its passage to the singeing plates
is entirely removed.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved
Apparatus for Singeing Fabrics," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in
part recited Letters Patent I claim, presenting endless bands of piece
goods to the action of singeing plates by a continuous traverse motion in
one and the same direction (until the singeing operation is completed),
such motion being obtained by the means, and for the purpose above
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Worrall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.